[Archived] Attendances

[only2garners]

1 hour ago, Mattyblue said:

Interesting that only2garners got the impression from the last Fans Forum that the club was planning it for the Peterborough game, yet it didn’t transpire...

At the meeting the club were certainly considering some form of ticket incentive and gave the impression that the Peterborough game was the most likely. Although we were suggesting a £5 ticket offer it could well have been something different they were planning. But I think the meeting was before the Burnley game had been moved, so it may well have fallen foul of that.

[chaddyrovers]

4 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I still don't reallly see why we should do a fiver game for a crucial match on the run in. Anyone who has the Club's interests at heart will want to be there regardless of price for a make or break fixture on the run In. If the importance of the situation doesn't inspire anyone to come down I doubt tbey'll flock down in large numbers simply because the price has been reduced.

 

I agree. Fans should come cos of the love of club and not because it is cheap 

[JHRover]

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/15185819.Fans_snap_up___5_tickets_for_Wanderers_home_clash_with_Spireites/

Bolton - same division as us last season, similar position to us now, a club that didn't have two pennies to rub together yet still recognized the value in reducing admission to boost the gate for a crucial home game.

Can anyone explain to me why Bolton could do it yet we can't? Also why we couldn't expect 20,000+ if that's what Bolton got?

Sitting on a computer doing daft tweets with the players all day is nice but there's actually more to it than that. 

 

[JHRover]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

I agree. Fans should come cos of the love of club and not because it is cheap 

Bolton averaged around 14,000 at home last season. Twice they reduced prices to £5 a head anywhere in the ground and by amazing coincidence they put 10,000 on top of their average gate. How do you explain that? People reacting to cheap tickets or do you think they'd have had 20,000+ on at £25 a ticket?

[RevidgeBlue]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

Only if it's a celebration, not if we need to win. 

Obviously a lot of people Don't understand the concept of supply and demand. Reducing ticket prices for the most attractive games doesn' t make any commercial sense.

Plus, see the response of MG Pensioner above. Ticket prices wouldn't make any difference whatsoever to many so called supporters.

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, MGPensioner said:

Different owners then and all this filthy water was still to flow under the bridge. 8000 of us will go back when the owners leave. £5 or £25

What, even when there's only "8 games left to save the Club?"

 

[JHRover]

Just now, RevidgeBlue said:

Obviously a lot of people Don't understand the concept of supply and demand. Reducing ticket prices for the most attractive games doesn' t make any commercial sense.

Plus, see the response of MG Pensioner above. Ticket prices wouldn't make any difference whatsoever to many so called supporters.

I don't think 'commercial sense' is an excuse at Rovers. We haven't seen much of that for quite a few years. Not being able to even secure a shirt sponsor as a Premier League club for one.

[RevidgeBlue]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

So thats the 30,000 that turned up for the Liverpool game under these owners plus another 8000 that will only come back when they've gone. We're going to need a new ground if we ever get back in the Prem.

Support appears to have dropped off substantially since that Liverpool game. We didn't get anything like those numbers when we played Man United in the Cup. About 14k home fans on?

[Mattyblue]

Just now, RevidgeBlue said:

Obviously a lot of people Don't understand the concept of supply and demand. Reducing ticket prices for the most attractive games doesn' t make any commercial sense.

 

Then why did we do it for Huddersfield in the promotion run in then? Why did Bolton do it last season?

It was a big game, so surely the club should have charged top whack?

No, the club back then realised that an enormous Ewood crowd would help the team to promotion - with the greater commercial opportunities that brings.

Big picture and all that!

[chaddyrovers]

Just now, JHRover said:

Bolton averaged around 14,000 at home last season. Twice they reduced prices to £5 a head anywhere in the ground and by amazing coincidence they put 10,000 on top of their average gate. How do you explain that? People reacting to cheap tickets or do you think they'd have had 20,000+ on at £25 a ticket?

that's Bolton, doesn't mean it will happens with Us. 

on Thursday I seen a number of new supporters who had a bought a ticket for just for that game where I sat. probably about 10 or 12 new people. 

Not everyone has Sky Sports so didn't watch the games. 

Just now, RevidgeBlue said:

Obviously a lot of people Don't understand the concept of supply and demand. Reducing ticket prices for the most attractive games doesn' t make any commercial sense.

Plus, see the response of MG Pensioner above. Ticket prices wouldn't make any difference whatsoever to many so called supporters.

exactly, so its would be pointless dropping the prices so much. and no way have 8k gone cos of the owners, it will be number of factors like no Premier league football, lower quality of football, certain managers at the club, losing games. all these are factors

[JHRover]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

that's Bolton, doesn't mean it will happens with Us. 

on Thursday I seen a number of new supporters who had a bought a ticket for just for that game where I sat. probably about 10 or 12 new people. 

Not everyone has Sky Sports so didn't watch the games. 

exactly, so its would be pointless dropping the prices so much. and no way have 8k gone cos of the owners, it will be number of factors like no Premier league football, lower quality of football, certain managers at the club, losing games. all these are factors

By any measure Bolton are a similar club to us. Similar recent history, similar size town, similar fanbase, similar average attendances, similar demographics. I'd say there's a fair reason to believe that we'd have a similar return if we made similar efforts to what they did when in an almost identical league position at this time last season. If it wasn't similarly successful then its perhaps time to worry about the true scale of damage done here in the last few years.

If you don't try you don't find out. Just carrying on with £25 a ticket and ludicrous £2 surcharges for Thursday night tv games won't achieve anything.

The attendance on Thursday was slightly higher than average. Not much. There's been a home attendance increase of about 1,000-2,000 over the course of the season from around 10,000 at the start to 12,000 now. That's despite a very impressive run of results and being in promotion contention. Still 2,000 less than were turning up watching Championship football a couple of years ago under Bowyer. 

[Mattyblue]

Bolton are a very similar sized club, so of course you can make a comparison.

17,000 empty seats every week, so £25-30 a ticket is obviously not working, but we shouldn’t even try and fill them with a cheap ticket deal, even as a one off that could help us to promotion.

Why? ‘Well, people should come anyway like I do’, even though the evidence says they aren’t and they won’t. 

Just bizarre.

 

 

[RevidgeBlue]

Just now, JHRover said:

Bolton averaged around 14,000 at home last season. Twice they reduced prices to £5 a head anywhere in the ground and by amazing coincidence they put 10,000 on top of their average gate. How do you explain that? People reacting to cheap tickets or do you think they'd have had 20,000+ on at £25 a ticket?

It can only be explained by people coming down simoly because the tickets were cheap.  However if the average figures you quote are accurate it wouldn't appear many of the 10k returned  once ticket prices reverted to normal.

[chaddyrovers]

Just now, JHRover said:

By any measure Bolton are a similar club to us. Similar recent history, similar size town, similar fanbase, similar average attendances, similar demographics. I'd say there's a fair reason to believe that we'd have a similar return if we made similar efforts to what they did when in an almost identical league position at this time last season. If it wasn't similarly successful then its perhaps time to worry about the true scale of damage done here in the last few years.

The attendance on Thursday was slightly higher than average. Not much. There's been a home attendance increase of about 1,000-2,000 over the course of the season from around 10,000 at the start to 12,000 now. That's despite a very impressive run of results and being in promotion contention. Still 2,000 less than were turning up watching Championship football a couple of years ago under Bowyer. 

what are using as recent history? 5 or 10 or 20 years? 

If you figures are right about the attendance being down 2k from Bowyer's era to Mowbray's era then success on pitch doesn't matter or being in top 2 of the league. 

is the cost still the same as back then in Bowyer's era? 

 

[blueboy3333]

11 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Obviously a lot of people Don't understand the concept of supply and demand. Reducing ticket prices for the most attractive games doesn' t make any commercial sense.

Plus, see the response of MG Pensioner above. Ticket prices wouldn't make any difference whatsoever to many so called supporters.

Supply and demand!? There are 30000 seats and 13000 fans. It makes no commercial sense NOT to reduce prices, with the added bonus that if someone comes along and enjoys it on a fiver ticket they might just come again on a full price one or even get a season ticket next year if we go up. I think they call them rtomotional offers. At the very least with a promo we'll have a bigger crowd and a better atmosphere in a match we may need to win. 

If you are relying on people to attend because its in the 'best interests of the club' you will be waiting a long time. At £20-£27 the casual fan will find something else to do. The die-hards will be there regardless and are paying much less per game with a season ticket.  And there aren't 8000 boycotters as the liverpool game proved

 

[blueboy3333]

17 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

that's Bolton, doesn't mean it will happens with Us. 

on Thursday I seen a number of new supporters who had a bought a ticket for just for that game where I sat. probably about 10 or 12 new people. 

Not everyone has Sky Sports so didn't watch the games. 

exactly, so its would be pointless dropping the prices so much. and no way have 8k gone cos of the owners, it will be number of factors like no Premier league football, lower quality of football, certain managers at the club, losing games. all these are factors

Nonsense. Put a big game on at ewood, make the prices attractive and people will take an interest. Charge £27 for league 1 football and they won't. Thats why there are so few walk-ons. You've also ignored the evidence that bolton put 10k on their gate by charging a fiver. Basic economics in poor towns.

[RevidgeBlue]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

Supply and demand!? There are 30000 seats and 13000 fans. It makes no commercial sense NOT to reduce prices, with the added bonus that if someone comes along and enjoys it on a fiver ticket they might just come again on a full price one or even get a season ticket next year if we go up. I think they call them rtomotional offers. At the very least with a promo we'll have a bigger crowd and a better atmosphere in a match we may need to win. 

If you are relying on people to attend because its in the 'best interests of the club' you will be waiting a long time. At £20-£27 the casual fan will find something else to do. The die-hards will be there regardless and are paying much less per game with a season ticket.  And there aren't 8000 boycotters as the liverpool game proved

 

I understand the loss leader argument but I honestly feel that by and large anyone who wants to be there for the run in will be irrespective of price. I'd liken it to someone like Nando's picking what they know will be their busiest night of the year and offering food at 66% off. Unlke Nando's we have spare capacity but we also have a fairly large proportion of fans who won't come because of the history with the owners.

If I'm wrong on the fact that a £5 offer wouldn't make that much difference at this stage of the season then the offer would be worth doing simply to try and help the team for that game. Don't think it would lead to an overall increase in attendances though. The only way to do that is keep improving the playing staff and keep producing on the pitch not bribe people to come down by practically giving the tickets away. 

[blueboy3333]

7 minutes ago, MGPensioner said:

all true for the casually interested

Surely that's who we are talking about attracting. The die-hards are already attending, unless they are staying away for personal reasons/principles/finances.

[blueboy3333]

Just now, RevidgeBlue said:

fairly large proportion of fans who won't come because of the history with the owners.

That isn't a fact though as the Liverpool game showed. And that wasn't a fiver. But then Liverpool aren't Oxford/Southend. Price is the key factor here. The casual fans will turn up in droves to watch Liverpool for £20 in the 5th round of the cup or whatever it was. They won't to watch Oxford for £20 in League 1. Our crowds are similar to the last time we were in this position in League 1 in 1980. In fact they are a bit higher now. I think we got 26k for the Sheff Weds game but they brought nearly half of them if memory serves.

 

[RevidgeBlue]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

.And there aren't 8000 boycotters as the liverpool game proved

 

We've been relegated again since then. We could barely scrape 14 k home fans when we drew Man Ure in the Cup last season.

Anyway if anything that Liverpool game defeats the price argument. 23k home fans came out of the woodwork out of absolutely nowhere at a whopping £30 plus per ticket so price obviously wasn't an issue that night.

The most impressive example of doing something different for me was the Europa Cup tie under Hughes which we moved back to 6p.m. to make it more attractive for kids and we pulled in 24k. I think we charged the normal price at the time though?

[Mattyblue]

No, UEFA Cup was a £1 for kids and cheap for adults too.

The Liverpool game proves there are a load of folk with a passing affiliation to the club that wanted to watch a cup quarter final against a top Premier League team.

You need to approach things differently in the third division.

I’m just amazed this is even a debate, who doesn’t love a well attended Ewood and who would REALLY have an issue with it if the club offered something?

[arbitro]

2 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

We've been relegated again since then. We could barely scrape 14 k home fans when we drew Man Ure in the Cup last season.

Anyway if anything that Liverpool game defeats the price argument. 23k home fans came out of the woodwork out of absolutely nowhere at a whopping £30 plus per ticket so price obviously wasn't an issue that night.

The most impressive example of doing something different for me was the Europa Cup tie under Hughes which we moved back to 6p.m. to make it more attractive for kids and we pulled in 24k. I think we charged the normal price at the time though?

I'm  sure that game was free for season ticket holders due to the inconvenience of an early kick off and a hefty fee from German TV. I thought the non season ticket holders got cheap tickets but I can't be sure.

[West Yorks Rover]

8 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

We've been relegated again since then. We could barely scrape 14 k home fans when we drew Man Ure in the Cup last season.

Anyway if anything that Liverpool game defeats the price argument. 23k home fans came out of the woodwork out of absolutely nowhere at a whopping £30 plus per ticket so price obviously wasn't an issue that night.

The most impressive example of doing something different for me was the Europa Cup tie under Hughes which we moved back to 6p.m. to make it more attractive for kids and we pulled in 24k. I think we charged the normal price at the time though?

The Liverpool game was restricted to 28,000 I seem to remember, for safety reasons(ludicrous), which many at the time thought was done so they could report to

Venky's that it was a sell-out game. If I recall correctly, the last couple of thousand tickets weren't exactly selling like hot cakes.

So probably, just over 20k home fans.

[Hasta]

21 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

 

If I'm wrong on the fact that a £5 offer wouldn't make that much difference at this stage of the season then the offer would be worth doing simply to try and help the team for that game. Don't think it would lead to an overall increase in attendances though. The only way to do that is keep improving the playing staff and keep producing on the pitch not bribe people to come down by practically giving the tickets away. 

I think everyone is making some valid points here. Attendances are down due to a multitude of factors. Whilst ultimately the owners sent us on this course so they are to blame, the nature of following any football club says that attendances will drop if the team is losing games, the football is poor, the manager is a prat etc.. I think one of the differences between the Liverpool and Man U games was there was still an affinity with the team for Liverpool. Fans had taken to Rhodes, Rudy, Cairney etc..and Bowyer was popular. Against Man U we were in a slump on the pitch, and Coyle was on his last legs. Relegation was looming and the mood was probably the lowest point since Kean left.

Now it is much better on the pitch. The rapport between players and fans is much better and there is a bit of a feel good factor. However it will take time for that to feed back to the supporters who have walked away (the "casual lost fan", not the boycotters) What better way to resell the product to lost customers than make it cheap when things are going well. Get people in during the good times and enjoying it rather than when it's turgid on the pitch. For one game it's got to be worth attempting. It may make no difference whatsoever to future attendances but, hopefully with a promotion feel good factor over the summer, it may re-introduce people to this current Rovers team.

 

[RevidgeBlue]

The only way to really gauge the effect of a £5 offer is to assess the normal level of support next season then chuck in a £5 offer for a relatively run of the mill fixture in mid September or October.

I'm not particularly against it but I still Don't think if people aren't prepared to come to a match which could see us clinch automatic promotion, they will come simply because the price is reduced.