Season Tickets 2018/19

[tomphil]

Sadly we have to concede we have a huge number of lapsed Prem era fans who've now for a variety of reasons become just fair weather supporters and only another golden era would get them coming regularly again. Bizarrely price for a lot of them wouldn't even be an issue with loads of televised games when the likes of UTD & Liverpool are pitching up they'll turn up.

Barely 4 thousand home fans for the recent Everton friendly yet nearly 10k for the Liverpool one, that's very Blackburn !

Edited July 31, 2018 by tomphil

[Stuart]

9 minutes ago, Paul said:

I can’t see where I’ve said that at all. The closest would be i suggested at £10/ticket we’d be lucky to get 13,500 - half the 27000 who turned out against Oxford. Ergo it’s pointless dropping the price to £10.

If the 7-8000 were to drop, which I don’t believe it will, adding £1-2 doesn’t make up the difference. 

In the heady PL days I knew 30+ people who regularly went to Ewood - probably all ST holders. Today four still go - that’s the problem. The missing thousands probably are/were Rovers fans but not fully committed, come what may Rovers. We both know the difference - diehards or daft, not sure which.

You said you don’t think it’s reasonable to charge less that £15/match. That means £345 a ST is your minimum price. Rovers have been charging £249 in the past, hence the comparison.

Under Waggott’s watch, it won’t be long before the cheapest ST is over £400. Then things will really start to bite.

I’d prefer he didn’t take us to that point but unfortunately some fans seem to back him up. Make the tickets cheap enough and then market them and target them in such a way as to sell more. I’m not saying it is easy but that is the job. Squeezing Moreno out of loyal fans and not even trying to increase numbers is lazy and dangerous.

Last season, 8 clubs had season tickets below £300 including all threee of the promoted clubs. (Fulham’s was £254).

[Paul]

19 minutes ago, Stuart said:

You said you don’t think it’s reasonable to charge less that £15/match. That means £345 a ST is your minimum price. Rovers have been charging £249 in the past, hence the comparison.

Under Waggott’s watch, it won’t be long before the cheapest ST is over £400. Then things will really start to bite.

I’d prefer he didn’t take us to that point but unfortunately some fans seem to back him up. Make the tickets cheap enough and then market them and target them in such a way as to sell more. I’m not saying it is easy but that is the job. Squeezing Moreno out of loyal fans and not even trying to increase numbers is lazy and dangerous.

Last season, 8 clubs had season tickets below £300 including all threee of the promoted clubs. (Fulham’s was £254).

No Stuart I did not say this. I said “I don’t think it’s reasonable to ask to pay less.” This means I don’t think as fans we should expect to pay less. 

If the club chooses to sell STs that is the club’s choice and it’s perfectly reasonable for the club to make that decision. Personally I think it would be daft. After 40 years in sales I’m well placed to know the first priority is to sell at a profit, second is to retain the customer base and third to protect the product value. Drop the price to £10 and all three go out the window.

I’m not up to date with what the marketing effort is to increase support. I do know though a £1-2 increase per match is at best generating £16000 which isn’t exactly squeezing the existing support. Match day costs will have increased and so therefore STs do. 

Offering £10 STs is not the solution. For one reason it’s going to upset the existing support. If the guy figuratively sat next to me is paying £10 then that, quite reasonably, is all I am prepared to pay. I’d hazard a guess all existing ST holders would feel the same. Where would we put these £10 tickets?

£10 tickets for some will simply alienate anyone charged more. 

Edited July 31, 2018 by Paul

[Stuart]

1 minute ago, Paul said:

No Stuart I did not say this. I said “I don’t think it’s reasonable to ask to pay less.” This means I don’t think as fans we should expect to pay less. 

If the club chooses to sell STs that is the club’s choice and it’s perfectly reasonable for the club to make that decision. Personally I think it would be daft. After 40 years in sales I’m well placed to know the first priority is to sell at a profit, second is to retain the customer base and third to protect the product value. Drop the price to £10 and one and three go out the window.

I’m not up to date with what the marketing effort is to increase support. I do know though a £1-2 increase per match is at best generating £16000 which isn’t exactly squeezing the existing support. Match day costs will have increased and so therefore STs do. 

Offering £10 STs is not the solution. For one reason it’s going to upset the existing support. If the guy figuratively sat next to me is paying £10 then that, quite reasonably, is all I am prepared to pay. I’d hazard a guess all existing ST holders would feel the same. Where would we put these £10 tickets?

£10 tickets for some will simply alienate anyone charged more. 

Fair enough. A very subtle difference but the point is the same. Clubs charge what fans will (and therefore ‘ask’ to) pay so we are our own worst enemy.

If the additional money made us so tiny then why pass on that burden to the individual?

But why would anyone need to pay more if STs work out at £10 per game? And we’d almost certainly double out paltry 8k. Making more money over all and filling the ground far more.

It’s hard to see the argument for increases when current ST sales are so poor.

[Mattyblue]

End of the day, £250 or £350 we won't be selling 12,000+ season tickets to be treading water in the bottom half of the Championship - without the owners helping build a competitve squad, Waggott will just fulfill his role - to squeeze the trusty 8/9000 for £350+.

Now if we somehow end up having a good season, say lose in the play-offs and next summer the club spends the cash on players and markets STs at £250 with some kind of 'Roar us to the Premier League' campaign then I could see a big spike in sales. (Yeah, yeah what have I been smoking etc!)

We have a limited fanbase who aren't as daft as the club thinks they are, the floating support will just not come out in big numbers for mid table second tier football after signing a couple of young lads and a loanee, they will respond to a bit of ambition on the pitch however - as an example, Forest have just sold record amounts of second tier STs. 

Edited July 31, 2018 by Mattyblue

[AAK]

The pricing structure is bonkers, match day tickets are too. For example Millwall at home is £28 a ticket in the Jack Walker Stand, however hospitality in legends is only £30, so anyone with any common sense is going to go into the hospitality, get a meal and chill in the nice lounge for just £2 more. Surely this is devaluing the hospitality side of things. 

[Paul]

Stuart the club pass on increased costs today because to delay this will eventually result in a significant price rise. When this happened those complaining today would complain even more vociferously. I think Mattyblue made this very point several weeks ago.

Last time I went to Bolton Vue I paid £4.50 for a Monday afternoon over 60s ticket. It was a major release I was very keen to see. There were three people in the cinema, me, my wife being two. It was the first day of showing. I’d guess more money would have been made by not having the performance as I would have paid £9.50 the full evening price. Granted these are not identical entertainments but the point is dropping prices does not necessarily increase attendance. 

@Mattyblue makes his point very well.

£15 is a decent price to watch Championship football from a team I’m sure will do very well. I can’t wait. 

[Blueandwhitemike]

57 minutes ago, AAK said:

The pricing structure is bonkers, match day tickets are too. For example Millwall at home is £28 a ticket in the Jack Walker Stand, however hospitality in legends is only £30, so anyone with any common sense is going to go into the hospitality, get a meal and chill in the nice lounge for just £2 more. Surely this is devaluing the hospitality side of things. 

The £30 one is for juniors, it is £60 quid for adults, I go back to Shanghai end of August so  I'm not getting a season ticket, but paying  £28 for Millwall does seem a  lot to me. 

Re:  season tickets I think @Mattyblue hit the nail on the head so let's hope for that play-off  push this  season.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

£55 and £65 walk on tickets to watch a mid table/bottom half side? ....the world's gone mad...'kin ridiculous!

 

[JHRover]

Sheffield Wednesday are charging £39 an adult for their game against Hull in a couple of weeks. Same price for 'non member' home fans. Members get a £5 discount.

Outrageous prices. Sheffield Wednesday's justification for doing so is that they need to boost income to assist with FFP compliance. Whether that is true or not, it goes to show that those nonsensical rules are actually in some cases punishing supporters. In the absence of a maximum ticket price some clubs are shafting supporters to generate extra funds.

If we get those prices at Hillsborough I certainly hope that Rovers repay the favour.

One way around it would be to charge their fans £39 a piece and then have a members price of £20 a head for 1875 members. Repeat that for Leeds, Norwich and QPR who will screw our away fans and it suddenly brings in a lot of money and also makes the 1875 membership worth buying.

 

[blueboy3333]

3 hours ago, Paul said:

After 40 years in sales I’m well placed to know the first priority is to sell at a profit, second is to retain the customer base and third to protect the product value. Drop the price to £10 and all three go out the window.

Selling a jumper down the market and selling a match ticket are nothing like the same. The club aren't 'buying' the ticket to sell on at a profit for a start. Even if they were you wouldn't lose your customer base if you made it cheaper (see Oxford game) and the 'product value' is relative to the teams fortunes. You can get away with charging top whack in the Prem, you can't in League 1/Championship, which Waggott discovered when crowds hardly moved last season but then as soon as he dropped the price to a tenner we had more home fans in Ewood for a match than any of us could have dreamed. Sadly he whacked the price of an ST up on the back of that. Shame.

[roverandout]

2 hours ago, Paul said:

Stuart the club pass on increased costs today because to delay this will eventually result in a significant price rise. When this happened those complaining today would complain even more vociferously. I think Mattyblue made this very point several weeks ago.

Last time I went to Bolton Vue I paid £4.50 for a Monday afternoon over 60s ticket. It was a major release I was very keen to see. There were three people in the cinema, me, my wife being two. It was the first day of showing. I’d guess more money would have been made by not having the performance as I would have paid £9.50 the full evening price. Granted these are not identical entertainments but the point is dropping prices does not necessarily increase attendance. 

@Mattyblue makes his point very well.

£15 is a decent price to watch Championship football from a team I’m sure will do very well. I can’t wait. 

Do very well based on what? Rovers are looking at a relegation dogfight

[rigger]

2 hours ago, roverandout said:

Do very well based on what? Rovers are looking at a relegation dogfight

Relegation dogfight based on what ? Personally I would wait till after the first ten games before making  a judgement.

[blueboy3333]

2 hours ago, roverandout said:

Do very well based on what? Rovers are looking at a relegation dogfight

Can you stop being negative please (I believe that is what you used to say to people in the World Cup thread when anyone had the temerity to criticise England)

[AAK]

5 hours ago, Blueandwhitemike said:

The £30 one is for juniors, it is £60 quid for adults, I go back to Shanghai end of August so  I'm not getting a season ticket, but paying  £28 for Millwall does seem a  lot to me. 

Re:  season tickets I think @Mattyblue hit the nail on the head so let's hope for that play-off  push this  season.

Stand corrected, thought it seemed cheap.

[Hasta]

I've had a season ticket since 1991 but my view is that £400 is probably a threshold.

Already I miss 4 or 5 games a season through work. For the remainder, some days I have to rush around like a lunatic to get home and get down to Ewood for kick off. Plymouth and Fleetwood midweek spring to mind from last season. I attend these purely because I have a season ticket. 

If the cost went over £400 then I'd pick and choose on a match to match basis,  

For my circumstances, Waggott is still operating within my 'budget' but, certainly for those who have a season ticket for convenience but don't attend every game,  there is a limit.

[Paul]

6 hours ago, roverandout said:

Do very well based on what? Rovers are looking at a relegation dogfight

You may feel we are looking at a relegation dog fight. I like to go in to every season with a positive outlook. We have a decent manager, a team which should be full of confidence and we’re in the process of strengthening the squad - I’m not up to date with our signings as I don’t usually worry about this throughout the summer. 

I hope the team and manager have a positive outlook as beginning the season with expectations such as yours would leave us beaten before we started.

[Paul]

6 hours ago, blueboy3333 said:

Selling a jumper down the market and selling a match ticket are nothing like the same. The club aren't 'buying' the ticket to sell on at a profit for a start. Even if they were you wouldn't lose your customer base if you made it cheaper (see Oxford game) and the 'product value' is relative to the teams fortunes. You can get away with charging top whack in the Prem, you can't in League 1/Championship, which Waggott discovered when crowds hardly moved last season but then as soon as he dropped the price to a tenner we had more home fans in Ewood for a match than any of us could have dreamed. Sadly he whacked the price of an ST up on the back of that. Shame.

I don’t know anything about selling jumpers down the market. I do know about production costs and sales. 

A seat is a product which has a cost based on the overheads of running the stadium and the direct costs of putting on an individual match. Expecting current attendances to fully cover overheads would be unrealistic. I suspect Rovers allocate an overhead cost based on 20-25,000 attendance and a direct matchday cost based on the actual cost of putting on the game. 

Making a profit from a seat is an important contribution to the club’s bottom line. It’s unrealistic to do otherwise. 

I didn’t suggest the club would lose it’s fan base by reducing prices though I do believe if it’s done for some it must be for all. In my case I pay £15/match but would expect to pay £10 if that’s the new price. This means every new fan at £10 is actually only generating £5 for the club as 50% is subsiding the £5 lost from me. 

If you believe and can demonstrate the extra +/- 14,000 would turn up for £10 please do so. From what I saw a large proportion of those 14,000 against Oxford were children who I don’t think paid £10. I’d also question how much real interest most of those people really had in supporting Rovers?

In the PL we had great prices, excellent team and good crowds. I can’t recall any games which sold out.

£15/match is hardly top whack.

There’s nothing to suggest £10 tickets would significantly increase crowds but if you have evidence to the contrary I’ll be happy to discuss it.

[Stuart]

£15 v £10 is £345 v £230 over a season.

What’s next, £18 (£414)? Or will they make it £399 next time? There must be a limit for a club like ours.

Just to be clear we are talking cheapest seats, btw.

Perversely, in England, tickets are likely to only become cheaper in the top flight when they can be subsided. How counterintuitive is that?! Obviously, in that scenario I’d bet on Waggott putting prices up for Rovers fans. And fans to chime “can’t expect to watch Liverpool and United for less than £25” and “walk ons need to be £40 to avoid upsetting ST holders.

Edited July 31, 2018 by Stuart

[roverandout]

8 hours ago, blueboy3333 said:

Can you stop being negative please (I believe that is what you used to say to people in the World Cup thread when anyone had the temerity to criticise England)

Touche

[scotchrover]

Mine’s just arrived- it looks more like a bank card, than a season ticket!

[RevidgeBlue]

2 hours ago, scotchrover said:

Mine’s just arrived- it looks more like a bank card, than a season ticket!

Go and see if you can withdraw £400 with it!

[JAL]

The number of season tickets sold reflects the amount of optimism for the coming season. If sales aren't much higher than last season then it shows that the club and Mowbray haven't done enough anywhere near enough to raise the excitement for the forthcoming season.

[HowieFive0]

Yep season ticket arrived arrived today ..a good ten days before the first home game ..for all those that were getting in a tizz !

[Stuart]

Not ours.

Will be 2 days before Rovers season starts - if it arrives tomorrow.