Club Revenue Generators

[Stuart]

Hot on the heels of increased season ticket prices (marketed as a price freeze), the club have now increased has begun marketing the match day entry use of the Blues Bar at £2.60 [per game] - and that’s the member rate. This is marketed as being good value - maybe even better value if we go far in the cups and if you attend friendlies. A quid was too much.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/june/blues-matchday-memberships-now-available/

Waggot really seems to be going after the coin of the loyal following.

Edited July 1, 2018 by Stuart
Edited for clarity as Waggot’s latest fan rip off scheme is turning into a semantic debate

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, Stuart said:

Hot on the heels of increased season ticket prices (marketed as a price freeze), the club have now increased the match day entry fee to the Blues Bar to £2.60 - and that’s the member rate. This is marketed as being good value - maybe even better value if we go far in the cups and if you attend friendlies. A quid was too much.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/june/blues-matchday-memberships-now-available/

Waggot really seems to be going after the coin of the loyal following.

Going for the money but seemingly either not realising or not caring that hes at risk of knocking peoples nose out of joint, closing the Darwen End, rolling over to allow early kick offs to convenience away fans etc.

[Ladyboys of Bank Top]

£2.60 to enter what is essentially a pub is a joke, especially when people have already forked out upwards of £450 for a ST. I can't say I'm keen on Waggott. 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

55 minutes ago, Ladyboys of Bank Top said:

£2.60 to enter what is essentially a pub is a joke, especially when people have already forked out upwards of £450 for a ST. I can't say I'm keen on Waggott. 

He's been given a clear mandate from Pune...screw the fans for all their worth.

Problem is with the local financial demographics you can only go so far.

 

Edited June 30, 2018 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Ladyboys of Bank Top]

Just now, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

He's been given a clear mandate from Pune...screw the fans for all their worth.

Problem is with the local financial demographics you can only go so far.

 

Or he's told Pune that's what he'll do. After all he said he made all the decisions. I doubt anyone in Pune told him to raise the Blues bar entry price  to £2.60.

[Herbie6590]

Rovers seem to be trying the budget airline pricing model. The aim is to keep s/t price increases low but start to charge for the additional items that were previously either free or not required. The 1875 club was always a stealth s/t price increase and frankly isn’t needed for any reason other than to raise income via the back door.

A football club’s membership is its season ticket holders. The fact that priority can be paid for rather than loyalty really sticks in my throat. The 1875 club was a transparent attempt at income generation by means other than raising s/t prices.

Charging more to buy your match ticket on the day....what on Earth is that all about ? We are not a rail operating company. Encourage people to attend, make walk ups easier, don’t discourage any potential fan. 

Charging to go in a bar and selling one of the benefits as being able to watch the 2nd half in the bar - rather than you know, from your seat...seems perverse in the extreme.

It seems clear that Waggott has a mandate to raise turnover - I don’t have a problem with that, we need money to buy players, pay fees etc but it’s very interesting to compare and contrast with the style and approach of Andy Holt at Stanley who makes it plain that ripping off the fans is at best a short-term option.

Some strategic thinking wouldn’t go amiss here...

[JHRover]

Just now, Herbie6590 said:

Rovers seem to be trying the budget airline pricing model. The aim is to keep s/t price increases low but start to charge for the additional items that were previously either free or not required. The 1875 club was always a stealth s/t price increase and frankly isn’t needed for any reason other than to raise income via the back door.

A football club’s membership is its season ticket holders. The fact that priority can be paid for rather than loyalty really sticks in my throat. The 1875 club was a transparent attempt at income generation by means other than raising s/t prices.

Charging more to buy your match ticket on the day....what on Earth is that all about ? We are not a rail operating company. Encourage people to attend, make walk ups easier, don’t discourage any potential fan. 

Charging to go in a bar and selling one of the benefits as being able to watch the 2nd half in the bar - rather than you know, from your seat...seems perverse in the extreme.

It seems clear that Waggott has a mandate to raise turnover - I don’t have a problem with that, we need money to buy players, pay fees etc but it’s very interesting to compare and contrast with the style and approach of Andy Holt at Stanley who makes it plain that ripping off the fans is at best a short-term option.

Some strategic thinking wouldn’t go amiss here...

The amount of extra cash the club will make through 1875 membership, Blues Bar admission and even 18% price increases on season tickets will be minimal, especially when there is no real incentive to have 1875 membership this year. If increasing revenue is the aim then there are far more profitable ways of doing it through sponsorship and corporate but both require greater levels of effort to achieve results. 

I'm not impressed in the slightest by Waggott's across the board price increases but I bet his employers will be.

Having to pay a £10 membership on top of my £350 to get priority for away tickets despite having a 100% purchasing history over the last few years leaves a sour taste in the mouth. If you're doing a priority scheme it needs to be a points based system. Club cash is also a waste of time when the cheapest shirt or training wear item is about £50 and the money can't be used for tickets.

[roverzee]

Blues Bar match day membership has been priced at £60 for at least the last three seasons, so there has been no increase this season.  This has nothing to do with the £1 pay-on-the-door-entrance fee which does not allow admission at half time.

There really is nothing to see here. 

Edited July 1, 2018 by roverzee
.

[Mattyblue]

Thought so.

£1 to a random figure of £2.60 to go in pre game seemed a very strange increase.

As zee says the option to watch the game in Blues has been available for years.

[Stuart]

26 minutes ago, roverzee said:

Blues Bar match day membership has been priced at £60 for at least the last three seasons, so there has been no increase this season.  This has nothing to do with the £1 pay-on-the-door-entrance fee which does not allow admission at half time.

There really is nothing to see here. 

Strange then that the club is marketing it as something new.

But even so would you put up with paying nearly three quid to go into a pub without even getting wmc prices for ale? Some folk really do have more money than sense.

This club has stopped seeing fans as the twelfth man to get behind the team and increase revenue through being a more successful side, and now sees us all as customers to be shaken down.

Shame on those fans who excuse them for doing so.

[Stuart]

16 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Thought so.

£1 to a random figure of £2.60 to go in pre game seemed a very strange increase.

As zee says the option to watch the game in Blues has been available for years.

Random? That’s the cost per match at £60.

[arbitro]

49 minutes ago, JHRover said:

The amount of extra cash the club will make through 1875 membership, Blues Bar admission and even 18% price increases on season tickets will be minimal, especially when there is no real incentive to have 1875 membership this year. If increasing revenue is the aim then there are far more profitable ways of doing it through sponsorship and corporate but both require greater levels of effort to achieve results. 

I'm not impressed in the slightest by Waggott's across the board price increases but I bet his employers will be.

Having to pay a £10 membership on top of my £350 to get priority for away tickets despite having a 100% purchasing history over the last few years leaves a sour taste in the mouth. If you're doing a priority scheme it needs to be a points based system. Club cash is also a waste of time when the cheapest shirt or training wear item is about £50 and the money can't be used for tickets.

We haven't joined the 1875 club yet and probably wont. Pretty much out of principle really as the only benefit to me would be priority on tickets. For the league games I really can't see a situation whereby we will sell out before the allocation goes to phase two for season ticket holders.

I fear Rovers seem to be following the PL trend of treating fans as cash cows.

[Mattyblue]

Yes random as it was being made out that the pre match charge was going up from £1 to £2.60, as far as I can see it isn’t.

Theres two different charges. 

£1 entry pre match 

£60 per season with half time and second half entry (£2.60 per game).

[bob fleming]

So if I’ve got this right, there has been no increase whatsoever with the Blues Bar memberships. It’s exactly the same as it was last year?

Asking for a friend, who’s obviously got “more money than sense” and “no shame”. I’ll point this out to him just before he punches me in the face.

 

[Stuart]

According to one poster yes, apparently they’ve been ripping people fans in this way for a couple of years now but emboldened by the number of apologists are much happier to shout about it.

Panic over Bob.

#asyouwere

[Scotland1]

You’d think they’d scrap the membership and flood the place on match day and offer beambacks in there. 

 

[tomphil]

The 10-12k are set to be squeezed to the max and on occasion unnecessarily jerked about again with some fixtures which doesn't go down well with some loyal fans. Fixture moving aside though did Burnley do it any differently ?  Sad thing is we need their model these days ?

Waggot = Increase revenue by whatever means.

Charlie = Cut costs at ground floor by whatever means.

Pune and partners = Still run the factory.

[Mattyblue]

I’m not being an apologist for it, merely pointing out that it isn’t a Waggott initiative. 

Ste B sits near me, he partakes in the scheme and I’ve not seen him in a second half for about a decade.

I’d never seen it advertised until this summer though.

[bob fleming]

35 minutes ago, Stuart said:

According to one poster yes, apparently they’ve been ripping people fans in this way for a couple of years now but emboldened by the number of apologists are much happier to shout about it.

Panic over Bob.

#asyouwere

Great news. Thanks for this thread it’s been really special.

[Ladyboys of Bank Top]

Should ha e read this before I commented. 

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/june/blues-matchday-memberships-now-available/

So for £60 you get admittance to Blues and the option of watching the 2nd half in there. Otherwise you just pay £1 on the door every match with no option to watch  the 2nd half in there. 

If you pay a quid on the door pre_match can you go back in for free after the match?

[roverzee]

"More money than sense", "shame on those fans", "apologists" ...

Stuart, is this really the sort of language to be using about Rovers fans, especially coming from someone who preaches constantly about fan unity?

Just so you understand - Blues Bar match day membership has been available to purchase for at least 10 years, probably 15 or more.  In previous seasons I have seen it announced every year on the website, and also advertised with flyers in Blues itself and in the Club Shop, and on the big screen during games.

Do JW Upper Central Season Ticket holders also have more money than sense for choosing to pay 50 quid extra to sit on a padded seat closer to the half way line than their pauper cousins out on the JW Upper Wings?

I guess if you'd bothered to do a tiny bit more research into this rather than rushing to launch another thread to beat up BRFC / Steve Waggott with, you wouldn't now need to be moralising about the spending decisions of your fellow fans ("apologists") in an effort to save face.  Panic over Stuart ... #asyouwere

PS what's your opinion of people who pay for speedy boarding?  In fact why stop there, what's your opinion of people who go on holiday?

[arbitro]

1 hour ago, Mattyblue said:

I’m not being an apologist for it, merely pointing out that it isn’t a Waggott initiative. 

Ste B sits near me, he partakes in the scheme and I’ve not seen him in a second half for about a decade.

I’d never seen it advertised until this summer though.

I just can't get my head around somebody paying for a season ticket and watching the second half in a bar (unless I've misunderstood). 

It takes all sorts I suppose.

[Ladyboys of Bank Top]

Just now, arbitro said:

I just can't get my head around somebody paying for a season ticket and watching the second half in a bar (unless I've misunderstood). 

It takes all sorts I suppose.

Alcohol. Bit sad really. 

[arbitro]

Just now, Ladyboys of Bank Top said:

Alcohol. Bit sad really. 

You are probably correct. I just find it odd.

[RevidgeBlue]

I would have thought the entry fee for Blues was originally designed to keep demand under control when there were more competing Pubs nearby rather than be a Revenue raiser per se. 

The decision to raise the entry fee to £2.60 seems a bit ridiculous to me, the increase in Revenue is neither her nor there at the end of the day and £3 and getting some shrapnel back in your pocket is vastly different to £1.

On the other hand I can't for the life of me understand why people moan about the 1875 membership. Even at £10 I still think It's exceptional value, you get £5 cash back in the Club shop immediately and £2 or £3 off every time you purchase a match day ticket.

The extra match day charge I have no real view on one way or the other. If you know in advance It's going to be more if you leave it until the last minute I'm not sure how you can complain and if you really want to go but can't commit until the last minute because You're not sure what else you've got on I can't see that paying a bit more would necessarily put you off.