Juggler90
Youth Team
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2013
- Messages
- 214
I notice quite a lot of people mentioned the attendance last night which led me to question:
If you were offered a crowd of 3,000 with tickets priced at £20 each or a crowd of 6,000 with tickets priced at £10 each, what would you choose?
I’m not suggesting there is a direct correlation of attendances doubling with ticket prices halving and I appreciate I am over simplifying this for the sake of argument. I also appreciate that as a layman, there are probably numerous factors such as the increased cost of stewarding/staffing etc that need to be taken into account and wouldn’t be covered by a higher attendance generating the same income.
However, some clubs have run some form of scheme with reduced ticket prices where it has been suggested that food and drink, merchandise sales and the knock on effect of returnees is beneficial in the medium/long term future of the club. But it can’t be that simple right, or everybody would be doing it? But do we have something that other clubs don’t that might make it more beneficial to us than them? What about this “South Essex catchment area”? There’s 43 football league clubs within 90km of Manchester. The big London plastic clubs aside and given our relative isolation on the east coast, there’s not so much competition.
I’ve never really bought into the whole 12[SUP]th[/SUP] man thing but I know a lot of people do and players reference it a lot. If it’s true, what’s the value of the 12[SUP]th[/SUP] man if we’re talking the difference of another season in League 2 or promotion to League 1? Can you put a price on that?
There’s a huge catchment area in South Essex and I can’t help feeling that we could and probably should almost fill 9,000 (home) seats for league football and that maybe we’re missing a trick. I realise there is a gamble attached to this, and maybe I will be called naive but is it ridiculous to suggest that by:
a) Reducing ticket prices
b) Publicising the reduced prices through a targeted print and social media campaign including to schools and local businesses
c) Assuming the good will and generosity of current season ticket holders who have bought their tickets but offering them some kind of incentive (free cup games, something not necessarily financial but gestures which can speak volumes of a club – meet the players evening, take their children for photos etc (I’m referring back here to the type of things my granddad used to tell me were part and parcel of a proper football club when players had a pint with us)
that we just might get the 12[SUP]th[/SUP] man we need, improve the atmosphere, secure a bigger support “base” for the future and hopefully have minimal economic impact in the short term.
I found myself thinking last night that I’m sure there were 5,000 people in the whole of South Essex that would have been tempted at least to have gone to football last night if they knew it wouldn’t break the bank.
Regards
Naive of Southend
If you were offered a crowd of 3,000 with tickets priced at £20 each or a crowd of 6,000 with tickets priced at £10 each, what would you choose?
I’m not suggesting there is a direct correlation of attendances doubling with ticket prices halving and I appreciate I am over simplifying this for the sake of argument. I also appreciate that as a layman, there are probably numerous factors such as the increased cost of stewarding/staffing etc that need to be taken into account and wouldn’t be covered by a higher attendance generating the same income.
However, some clubs have run some form of scheme with reduced ticket prices where it has been suggested that food and drink, merchandise sales and the knock on effect of returnees is beneficial in the medium/long term future of the club. But it can’t be that simple right, or everybody would be doing it? But do we have something that other clubs don’t that might make it more beneficial to us than them? What about this “South Essex catchment area”? There’s 43 football league clubs within 90km of Manchester. The big London plastic clubs aside and given our relative isolation on the east coast, there’s not so much competition.
I’ve never really bought into the whole 12[SUP]th[/SUP] man thing but I know a lot of people do and players reference it a lot. If it’s true, what’s the value of the 12[SUP]th[/SUP] man if we’re talking the difference of another season in League 2 or promotion to League 1? Can you put a price on that?
There’s a huge catchment area in South Essex and I can’t help feeling that we could and probably should almost fill 9,000 (home) seats for league football and that maybe we’re missing a trick. I realise there is a gamble attached to this, and maybe I will be called naive but is it ridiculous to suggest that by:
a) Reducing ticket prices
b) Publicising the reduced prices through a targeted print and social media campaign including to schools and local businesses
c) Assuming the good will and generosity of current season ticket holders who have bought their tickets but offering them some kind of incentive (free cup games, something not necessarily financial but gestures which can speak volumes of a club – meet the players evening, take their children for photos etc (I’m referring back here to the type of things my granddad used to tell me were part and parcel of a proper football club when players had a pint with us)
that we just might get the 12[SUP]th[/SUP] man we need, improve the atmosphere, secure a bigger support “base” for the future and hopefully have minimal economic impact in the short term.
I found myself thinking last night that I’m sure there were 5,000 people in the whole of South Essex that would have been tempted at least to have gone to football last night if they knew it wouldn’t break the bank.
Regards
Naive of Southend
