Season tickets 2022/23

[Mattyblue]

But they have added a few thousand members this season. Had 17,000 on last week, miles up.

It doesn’t seem to be taking off anywhere else, but an interesting experiment all the same…

[BigUts]

11 hours ago, Ben Frost said:

I like this idea and I'd probably take it up if it was an option, but there is a very simple reason why it won't ever be for a club in the Championship. 

Income completely dries up in the summer because there are no fixtures. Clubs (not just us) totally rely on ST sales to be able to pay wages and operating costs from May though to August. 

Also, finance providers like V12 take on the risk of default, so Rovers get the ST money when it's needed. If the club offered this subscription model themselves and had a crap start to the season, maybe a couple of thousand fans cancel their direct debits - that's a massive hit to projected income. 

I bank with Nat West, and they have just launched a Buy Now Pay Later virtual Mastercard, 0% interest for purchases over £50 which you can then pay off over 4 months. This is the future (it's like Klarna but respectable) so I will use that to pay for my ST next season. It's a much better option than V12 finance. 

This isn't a reason to keep STs, surely it's the opposite? I'm sure any business would prefer a consistent stream of income throughout the year / season and not have huge peaks and troughs. 

Its a fantastic idea and one which is in place at my local club Southport. Its also not an instead of, its an as well as STs and comes with benefits over and above getting a ST.

[BigUts]

56 minutes ago, Hasta said:

Hull's average attendance last year was their lowest since 1990.

If there's a month with only 1 midweek game, and you were  it precious about your seat, you would you cancel for that month. Would you bother renewing if you had something alternative the following month?

Also in those years when the season is dead by the start of February think how much the sales would fall away.

It's a good idea for the fans but surely would lead to less revenue for the club .

The way to increase season ticket sales is price them ok to start with, and then give discount for every year you've had a season ticket. If the discount was healthy enough, the churn would certainly be less. I wouldmt have given mine up last year if I was throwing away a 20% discount I'd built up over a few years.

I don't think that's quite how it works. Looks like the Hull membership is for 12 months so you'd be expected to pay if you just stopped your DD.

[JohnD]

In Turkey a season ticket doesn't guarantee you a seat it's just a way of supporting your club.

[Hasta]

1 hour ago, BigUts said:

I don't think that's quite how it works. Looks like the Hull membership is for 12 months so you'd be expected to pay if you just stopped your DD.

For the first season yes but not for subsequent seasons.  In your second season at Hull if you've had enough by November you can just stop going. Looks like you have to give 2 months notice. 

I'm not sure its a massive benefit to us as fans, and unless it attracts more fans (which doesn't seem to be the case at Hull) then it's not in the interests of the club. 

 

Edited August 10, 2022 by Hasta

[BigUts]

1 hour ago, Hasta said:

For the first season yes but not for subsequent seasons.  In your second season at Hull if you've had enough by November you can just stop going. Looks like you have to give 2 months notice. 

I'm not sure its a massive benefit to us as fans, and unless it attracts more fans (which doesn't seem to be the case at Hull) then it's not in the interests of the club. 

 

I think its a huge benefit, personally. Would certainly have meant I bought one this season as the ST was too much in a short period. Paying something like £35 a month feels like chicken feed as opposed to finding £400 in 6 weeks.

Didn't realise Hull was a 12 month and then effectively month-to-month. I really think this would have legs but agree it would need an annual commitment.

[Hasta]

3 hours ago, BigUts said:

I think its a huge benefit, personally. Would certainly have meant I bought one this season as the ST was too much in a short period. Paying something like £35 a month feels like chicken feed as opposed to finding £400 in 6 weeks.

Didn't realise Hull was a 12 month and then effectively month-to-month. I really think this would have legs but agree it would need an annual commitment.

I'm fortunately enough to be able to commit to my ST up front so never really look at the monthly payment options we offer, but on the website it says "An eight-month payment plan is available for supporters wishing to spread the cost of their Season Ticket ".  

Which equates to about £55 a month until April for a season ticket at Ewood.

 

[Claytons Left Boot]

A big problem that the town of Blackburn continues to face, is the fact that unlike some other towns, it has barely grown over the last sixty years or so.

My dad used to have an AA atlas from the early 1960s, with information in it from 1960. At the back was a list of all the cities and towns in the UK, together with respective populations. When I followed Rovers away in the 70s to places like Swindon, Peterborough etc., I liked to see how big these places were. Then, they were slightly smaller than Blackburn but now, they are roughly double the size. I remember Northampton, as well, as having the same population as Blackburn but it is now over 225k. Blackburn in 1960 was 107k and now (without Darwen) it is only 117k.

The other thing to factor in, is that whilst the Asian population of Blackburn continues to grow, the whites are effectively moving out. In 1960, the Asian population of Blackburn was probably just a few hundred, whilst now it is approx 40k. That’s a lot of folk who have moved out to places like the Ribble Valley, the Preston to Chorley conurbation and further afield.

The Asians are more than welcome to attend Ewood, by the way, and a percentage of them do. The point I’m making, which is relevant to season ticket sales, is that the further afield Blackburnians choose to live, the harder it is to entice them back to the town every other Saturday to watch Rovers.

The club can rightly be applauded for the work they do within the Asian community but does Steve Waggot even know about, or recognise, the complexities within the town’s demographics, as highlighted above.

Even more reason to have implemented early bird season ticket prices in line with those at Preston and Bolton.

[Mattyblue]

Totally agree, which is why the club can’t just focus its engagement on BwD when more and more of the fanbase lives across Lancashire.

[tomphil]

I think they probably have finally realised about the changing demographic and been panicked into doing something.  It's long overdue and they seem to be doing a good job, the club belongs to the whole town after all.

However it should never be at the expense of long standing fans or lapsed regulars from a bit further afield.  If you can bus local kids in for nowt you can bus a few in from outside town as well for balance.

[Upside Down]

It's hard to entice fans from a run down town with little to no prospects of decent employment when you insist on ripping them off every chance you get.

The message from the club is that all are welcome, Muslims, Christians and all others. But only the wealthy ones, the poor ones can fuck off. 

This is their position and shows a complete lack of respect for the town and the people in it.

[Mike E]

47 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

It's hard to entice fans from a run down town with little to no prospects of decent employment when you insist on ripping them off every chance you get.

The message from the club is that all are welcome, Muslims, Christians and all others. But only the wealthy ones, the poor ones can fuck off. 

This is their position and shows a complete lack of respect for the town and the people in it.

Nutshell ☝️

[chaddyrovers]

10 hours ago, Upside Down said:

It's hard to entice fans from a run down town with little to no prospects of decent employment when you insist on ripping them off every chance you get.

That why you get to look outside 5 miles of your home for work. I have done it several times including travelling to Haydock cos the money was very good. 

[Mattyblue]

‘Get on yer bike!’

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

12 hours ago, Upside Down said:

But only the wealthy ones, the poor ones can fuck off. 

This is their position and shows a complete lack of respect for the town and the people in it.

...And that was NEVER the feeling growing up supporting Rovers through much harder times.

A consequence of People in charge who have no connection nor understanding of the core values of this Club.

Edited August 14, 2022 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[OldEwoodBlue]

13 hours ago, Upside Down said:

It's hard to entice fans from a run down town with little to no prospects of decent employment when you insist on ripping them off every chance you get.

Blackburn was booming when we were in the PL. Many local businesses have gone as a direct result of our self inflicted decline.

Clubs who hit the PL instantly find themselves on the global map. With it brings investment and opportunities to the wider community.

Can anyone point to a single Venky investment into the local area. No because there is none. All they have done is fuck up the club and fuck up the town.

And I don't advocate going out with a begging bowl to the wider areas. This is basically looking for "not fans" with surplus income, to put bums on expensive seats. Will turn up in their 4x4 and immediately scurry off back to their rural village spending no money in the local economy. No atmosphere. Oh yes we had a box at Turf Moor last season but we decided to give this a try. No thanks.

The Venky legacy is 100% a negative one.

[OldEwoodBlue]

1 hour ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

...And that was NEVER the feeling growing up supporting Rovers through much harder times.

A consequence of People in charge who have no connection nor understanding of the core values of this Club.

Amen

[Mattyblue]

It’s not ‘going with a begging bowl to outer areas’, that’s simply where more and more of our fanbase lives as Blackburn has changed massively demographically over the past 25 years. Using my mates from school as an example, out of say a dozen close friends, *one* still lives in the town itself. 

The days of the vast majority of the crowd living in BB1/BB2 has long gone. The club *must* engage and continue to attract fans in these areas if it wants to survive, and these are normal people, by the way, not your bizarre view of a load of poshos living in country villages with gravel drives and 4x4s.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Mattyblue

[OldEwoodBlue]

41 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

It’s not ‘going with a begging bowl to outer areas’, that’s simply where more and more of our fanbase lives as Blackburn has changed massively demographically over the past 25 years. Using my mates from school as an example, out of say a dozen close friends, *one* still lives in the town itself. 

The days of the vast majority of the crowd living in BB1/BB2 has long gone. The club *must* engage and continue to attract fans in these areas if it wants to survive, and these are normal people, by the way, not your bizarre view of a load of poshos living in country villages with gravel drives and 4x4s.

Rovers needs fans from BB1 / BB2 who can walk down and spend spare income before and after locally and in town.

Local working class people on which our club and its values were founded.

Working class people who live out of town are less likely to spend time and money on travel, parking etc AND money in the local shops and town centre.

Think that is just a basic fact.

And sorry but like or not, the more who come from the Ribble Valley etc who don't blink at a £500 ST takes the club further and further away from our heritage and a full stadum.

Special mention to Brentford fans. 10 minutes after the game not one had left the ground. What a credit to what is going on there and in their community.

Our lot are leaving with 10 minutes left to get out the car park and back home.

Edited August 14, 2022 by OldEwoodBlue

[OldEwoodBlue]

And I will add.... you do realise there are folk being born every day in BB1 and BB2 ?

These should be Rovers fans and our targets first and foremost.

Those who left town are already Rovers fans and old enough to choose whether to go down or not.

So I respectfully disagree on this point Matty.

[Mattyblue]

Sorry OEB, I’m totally lost to what point you are trying to make here.

We need both, obviously. Someone that can amble down LBR, but also someone from Langho, from Ossy, from Chorley, from Clitheroe, from Preston. Wherever.

It’s simply a fact that more and more of our fanbase lives outside the town. Ask around you at Ewood for proof of that. These aren’t all ‘Ribble Valley poshos’.
 

It’s the modern world, people are far more transient, amplified here due to the rapid demographic change, but most clubs expect a lot of their support to be from outlying areas.

We will get ‘further away from a full ground’ by NOT focusing on the wider fanbase. We no longer have sufficient support in the town itselfto get 15/20k in Ewood, just a demographic reality, and that’s fine, a Blue is a Blue.

[K-Hod]

Some very strange snobbery in the last few posts. I was born in Accrington and have had a season ticket for 30 years. Despite the fact I’ve spent thousands on home and away tickets, merchandise, food and drink, it seems like I’m not needed any more though….

[Mattyblue]

Lack of knowledge of the club’s history too. We’ve had support across large parts of what is modern day Lancs since day dot, but it’s just increased as the town has changed over the last 20 odd years.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Mattyblue

[K-Hod]

15 minutes ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

Rovers needs fans from BB1 / BB2 who can walk down and spend spare income before and after locally and in town.

Local working class people on which our club and its values were founded.

Working class people who live out of town are less likely to spend time and money on travel, parking etc AND money in the local shops and town centre.

Think that is just a basic fact.

And sorry but like or not, the more who come from the Ribble Valley etc who don't blink at a £500 ST takes the club further and further away from our heritage and a full stadum.

Special mention to Brentford fans. 10 minutes after the game not one had left the ground. What a credit to what is going on there and in their community.

Our lot are leaving with 10 minutes left to get out the car park and back home.

Why can’t people that live in Clitheroe get the train to Mill Hill, then walk down and spend money in local pubs?

Oh wait, yes they can. Your logic is utterly bizarre. People that don’t live in or come from Blackburn support Rovers and their money is as good as someone that does.

[OldEwoodBlue]

3 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Why can’t people that live in Clitheroe get the train to Mill Hill, then walk down and spend money in local pubs?

Oh wait, yes they can. Your logic is utterly bizarre. People that don’t live in or come from Blackburn support Rovers and their money is as good as someone that does.

Of course they can.

But do they ?

I suggest they get the train back and spend it in Clitheroe.

And if they are already doing this, they are not in need of the club enticing them are they so those few not the topic here.

The club must focus on gaining fans from the local area to attend games AND spend their brass locally. Unsure what relevance demography has but if anything sounds like snobbery....