Friday night football the facts

[Highlands Blue]

We have played 6 League 2 Saturday matches total attendance 39596 = Av per match 6599
We have played 5 League 2 Friday Night matches total attendance 25389- Av per match 5078

The difference per match is 1521, so over 5 matches we are down 7605 compared with average Saturday attendances, lets take an average cost of £17 per ticket, which results in a loss of revenue for the club of £129,285.
I know the Saturday figures are skewed a little by the York match attendance 9018, but even so can we afford to lose around £100k revenue (so far) for a whim of "we all love Friday Night Football", when the facts state that obviously we don't.
The main reason most of my mates do not get a season ticket is due to the number of Friday night matches.
I will be going to the Newport match tomorrow, but it is my first Friday match of the season, whereas I've hardly missed a Saturday match

 

[Jam_Man]

Welcome to the board Phill.

Have you factored in that the team is doing better since we played more Saturdays so more people are coming back, some as a result of the York game, which could therefore mean that attendances would have increased for Friday's too ?

Lets see if there is a drastic drop in attendance tomorrow.

For what its worth I like the odd Friday game but there have been too many so far.

 

[mrsblue]

Friday football is too much hassle for us normally,Get home from work and the simple choice is either rush around and battle through horrific traffic or leisurely get ready and go to the pub and get rat arsed.

Pub wins.

 

[Jai]

The article in All At Sea a couple of months back (not written by myself) looks back over several years and paints a very different picture.

I can't always make Saturday games, but Friday is terrific for me and better atmosphere too.

 

[MK Shrimper]

I hate them. It would be an absolute nightmare to get to or back again if I ventured down.

Historically we may have loved a Friday night game but times have changed - do away with them and play on Saturday afternoon at 3pm.

 

[mrsblue]

I hate them. It would be an absolute nightmare to get to or back again if I ventured down.

Times have changed - do away with them.

This,

Even one game per season would be ok yet there has been several.No good.

 

[slapheadsteve]

Its also worth noting that our lowest crowd of the season for a league match was Dagenham and Redbridge
our closest rivals on a Tuesday night. That says something about people attending evening games!!

I was a big fan of Friday Night Football but the population of Southend and surrounding district and the world is changing.
People dont go out on a Cold Friday evening as much as they used too.
Not like we did in the 70's and 80's and even the 90's

Saturday afternoon, we are much more likely to get families (so the amount of cash taken in phill.major's excellent reaserch
is a little closer than the actual amount he mentions but he makes a very good point.

People dont buy season tickets as he mentions due to friday night games. So should the club state next season we will only be playing say two friday evening games one just before xmas due to crimbo shoping, and a friday eve when its warmer early season.
If all other clubs in Div 2 had agreed to switch to friday as asked by S.U.F.C. we would have had no Saturday games this season.

 

[Jam_Man]

Its also worth noting that our lowest crowd of the season for a league match was Dagenham and Redbridge
our closest rivals on a Tuesday night. That says something about people attending evening games!!

I was a big fan of Friday Night Football but the population of Southend and surrounding district and the world is changing.
People dont go out on a Cold Friday evening as much as they used too.
Not like we did in the 70's and 80's and even the 90's

Saturday afternoon, we are much more likely to get families (so the amount of cash taken in phill.major's excellent reaserch
is a little closer than the actual amount he mentions but he makes a very good point.

People dont buy season tickets as he mentions due to friday night games. So should the club state next season we will only be playing say two friday evening games one just before xmas due to crimbo shoping, and a friday eve when its warmer early season.
If all other clubs in Div 2 had agreed to switch to friday as asked by S.U.F.C. we would have had no Saturday games this season.

Says more about Tuesday games than anything...

 

[Gremlin]

We have played 6 League 2 Saturday matches total attendance 39596 = Av per match 6599
We have played 5 League 2 Friday Night matches total attendance 25389- Av per match 5078

The difference per match is 1521, so over 5 matches we are down 7605 compared with average Saturday attendances

To make the above stats meaningful, in addition to factoring in the York match, we'd need to know whether the remainder of the percentage drop is made up by home fans or visitors.

 

[slapheadsteve]

Says more about Tuesday games than anything...

That's why the football league did our finances a favour when the league started this season early.
Less midweek games. More weekend means more cash for the clubs. Brilliant decsion!!

 

[chapperzUK]

Welcome and nice stats! :thumbsup:

One or two friday night games are good, but too many takes away the novelty of it. Also makes it harder for away fans to get down for the game. We only have 1 home game on Friday night left, which is tomorrow.

We managed to get over 6,000 for the Morecambe game after defeats in the 2 games before that, so it is fair to say that we could have got at least 5,500 for those other games. Take out the York game and it is still 6,115 average.

Not sure £17 is the average, and it is probably more like £12 after VAT. Still, 6 games with losing around 500-1000 ticket sales at £12 is around £36k-72k. About enough to get a few more Strakers :winking:

 

[finny67]

I'm a fan of the friday nighter, but can also see why others find it a pain . Out of interest , has anyone ever done the stats on our win/draw/lose ratio on fridays as opposed to saturdays ??

 

[Jai]

I do think we've overdone it with the Fridays this year. Two or three would make it a novelty and something to look forward to, six is too many I do agree with that.

However I still prefer a Friday.

Article now up at http://www.aas-fanzine.co.uk

 

[DoDTS]

I've not missed a home league match this season, for one match I got the bus in from deepest darkest Hullbridge, and started talking to a man at the bus stop. He told me he was retired and was really looking forward to the game and that he attended most Saturday games but didn't go to evening games as there was no convienent bus service home (either leave before the end or hang around for the last bus at 10.30 which gets in to Hullbridge at 11.30 pm).

So even for those that live quite close getting to evening games can be an issue.

 

[Richard Hearn]

When I began supporting the team Saturday afternoons were the novelty.

 

[tia]

I love a Friday night game and personally think 4 or a 5 season is fine.Roots Hall like many grounds always seems to have a better atmosphere for evening games.Always going to be arguments for and against this but you cant please all of the people all of the time

 

[maninasuitcase]

What are the win/loss/draw statistics on Friday v Saturday games? If the points per game ratio is greater on Friday than on a Saturday then the club may be willing to take the financial hit if means a better chance of promotion.

If we gain more per game on Saturdays then it seems daft to lose points and money by playing on a Friday.

 

[Mick]

To make the above stats meaningful, in addition to factoring in the York match, we'd need to know whether the remainder of the percentage drop is made up by home fans or visitors.

There are many other factors which should be taken in to account if analysing stats. It is widely accepted that a winning team gets bigger gates. Every one of the 6 Saturday matches (bar the opening day of the season), the preceding home league match was a win. Every one of the 5 Friday matches, the preceding home league match was not a win. The Friday match before Christmas was on a traditionally bad week for attendances and as already stated the York match skews the figures somewhat. Generally, our Friday night matches have come when we have been in our lower positions in the table.

It is a shame that the Friday night matches were largely lumped together (three consecutive home league matches) but there is more to it than simply doing the basic sums.

 

[londonblue]

We have played 6 League 2 Saturday matches total attendance 39596 = Av per match 6599
We have played 5 League 2 Friday Night matches total attendance 25389- Av per match 5078

The difference per match is 1521, so over 5 matches we are down 7605 compared with average Saturday attendances, lets take an average cost of £17 per ticket, which results in a loss of revenue for the club of £129,285.
I know the Saturday figures are skewed a little by the York match attendance 9018, but even so can we afford to lose around £100k revenue (so far) for a whim of "we all love Friday Night Football", when the facts state that obviously we don't.
The main reason most of my mates do not get a season ticket is due to the number of Friday night matches.
I will be going to the Newport match tomorrow, but it is my first Friday match of the season, whereas I've hardly missed a Saturday match

I'm a fan of Saturday matches over Friday night, but there's a huge flaw in that argument. Most of the people that miss Friday night matches are likely to be kids because their parents won't let them go. I for one wouldn't take my 5 year old to a night match. Given that I would suggest the loss per ticket is nearer £5-£6, i.e. most of the people that miss the matches are concessions.

 

[dannypav]

In terms of points this season , our 5 Friday home games have yielded less on average than the other 22.

5 Friday Home games ( won 2 , drawn 2 , lost 1 = 1.6 points per game )
22 other league games ( won 11 , drawn 5 , lost 6 = 1.73 points per game )

We have however played 3 of the current top 4 at home on Friday nights.

Stats eh , who'd 'ave 'em !