• Welcome to the ShrimperZone forums.
    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which only gives you limited access.

    Existing Users:.
    Please log-in using your existing username and password. If you have any problems, please see below.

    New Users:
    Join our free community now and gain access to post topics, communicate privately with other members, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and free. Click here to join.

    Fans from other clubs
    We welcome and appreciate supporters from other clubs who wish to engage in sensible discussion. Please feel free to join as above but understand that this is a moderated site and those who cannot play nicely will be quickly removed.

    Assistance Required
    For help with the registration process or accessing your account, please send a note using the Contact us link in the footer, please include your account name. We can then provide you with a new password and verification to get you on the site.

Tommy2holes

Life President⭐
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
11,419
Second time writing this post as I submitted and got an error!!!

Seeing that our prices are relatively pricey in terms of what other clubs charge, it got me wondering if the Bradford city approach is something that other clubs should follow.

Would this work at blues?

Bradford do have a very large stadium, and probably have around 25,000 home seats to fill. Roots hall probably has around 9000 home seats at a push.

Lets just say that we can offer 8000 home season tickets which leaves 1000 home ticket day sales.

Lets take the example as follows.

Current season card sales 3500 (estimated)

Adult £380 60%
Concessions £250 20%
Kids £50 20%

We are currently grossing £1,008,000

Let us assume for a moment the we could sell 8000 season cards at an offer price and splits:

Adult £199 60%
Concessions £99 20%
Kids £49 20%

We would gross £1,192,000


Also we have to take into account that with a minimum home support of 8k and an away support average of say 500 would see sales of food programmes etc net the club some extra funds.

The big worry by doing this is that if we only had a take up of 5-6k in season card sales then the club could essentially be at a loss.

A good option would be to price the 1000 on the day home tickets to £26 per match. That would mean that by game 9 of 23 on an individual game basis you would be out of pocket. This would make getting a season card a no brainer.


I personally feel the club do not do anywhere near enough for the fans of the club in terms of offers pricing and facilities.

Roots hall is rocking when its full and to have that for most of the season would be great.

What are your thoughts?
 
I can't counter the argument, but I do remember we had this debate last season and the season before using the Bradford model. Those who are more knowledgeable than me (that's most , by the way) told me that the club had investigated whether it would be beneficial to try it and it wasn't. Somewhere in my bonce I think Ayrshire Blue was the oracle on this, if not I'm sure Rigsby will have a view.
 
Bradford do have a very large stadium, and probably have around 25,000 home seats to fill. Roots hall probably has around 9000 home seats at a push.

Lets just say that we can offer 8000 home season tickets which leaves 1000 home ticket day sales.

Lets take the example as follows.

Current season card sales 3500 (estimated)

Adult £380 60%
Concessions £250 20%
Kids £50 20%

We are currently grossing £1,008,000

Let us assume for a moment the we could sell 8000 season cards at an offer price and splits:

Adult £199 60%
Concessions £99 20%
Kids £49 20%

We would gross £1,192,000

But the "current Grossing" figure doesn't account for the income we get from the current pay on the day people that we would lose in the new 8000 season ticket sales
 
With ideas like this there's always the fear factor of it all falling flat, and simply leaving the club out of pocket due to the reduced revenue. With FFP based on turnover now in play that could also have implications for our ability to maintain the strength of our squad. You can no longer really take a hit one season and hope that it pays off in the long run - even if we were in a position to do so.

If we did want to go down such a road one option possibly worth considering would be to once again make a big thing of wanting to up our attendances, per the 8,000 average target this season, and announce that any (or a proportion of any) additional season ticket revenue over that for the previous season would be returned evenly to all purchasers either in the form of a rebate or credit towards merch. Nag your friends/relatives/neighbours and you'll benefit financially too. Obviously we'd need to crunch the numbers over what would happen if a substantial number of frequent pay-on-the-day supporters then bought seasos, but as a model of incentivising season ticket purchases it would seem to me to offer more certainty over revenues than a two footed leap into the unknown by simply slashing prices.
 
Whilst price is a factor and lower prices would generates a few more bums on seats I seriously doubt it would be anywhere near 8000, or a number required to break even.

Committing to a season ticket is about more than about just the money and involves a significant investment in leisure time over both weekends and evenings. At best you might see a 10% - 20% increase in season ticket sales but nowhere near the circa 200% plus needed in the figures above.

I cannot recall the last time there were 8000 home supporters at Roots Hall. Unfortunately the demand simply isn't there.
 
But the "current Grossing" figure doesn't account for the income we get from the current pay on the day people that we would lose in the new 8000 season ticket sales


Good point. My understanding is that the level of interest per match is currently slightly predictable (ie) pre match sales.

If the club knows that 8000+ is the norm match in match out they can make provisions to increase matchday revenue and make the match day experience more than a quick pre match pint and a minging burger.

Its a tough debate. I do feel that given the facilities at the hall and the fact that a new stadium is nowhere to be seen , and not a penny spent on the hall , that value for money is one of the poorest in the league.
 
Whilst price is a factor and lower prices would generates a few more bums on seats I seriously doubt it would be anywhere near 8000, or a number required to break even.

Committing to a season ticket is about more than about just the money and involves a significant investment in leisure time over both weekends and evenings. At best you might see a 10% - 20% increase in season ticket sales but nowhere near the circa 200% plus needed in the figures above.

I cannot recall the last time there were 8000 home supporters at Roots Hall. Unfortunately the demand simply isn't there.


I agree its a big ask , but if you go to half of the league games at £25 that equates to £325

If I were in that position id much rather buy a season card for £199 and save money and know I could go to more if I choose too.
 
I agree its a big ask , but if you go to half of the league games at £25 that equates to £325

If I were in that position id much rather buy a season card for £199 and save money and know I could go to more if I choose too.

Unfortunately though in the above scenario you are not generating any extra revenue for the club, other than a small profit on programmes, food etc, as you need to deduct the revenue you would have generated from match day sales from the increase in season ticket sales.

As mentioned on another thread reduced prices (season and match day) in the South Lower could be a away of generating extra revenue for people who cannot afford the current prices.
 
Unfortunately though in the above scenario you are not generating any extra revenue for the club, other than a small profit on programmes, food etc, as you need to deduct the revenue you would have generated from match day sales from the increase in season ticket sales.

As mentioned on another thread reduced prices (season and match day) in the South Lower could be a away of generating extra revenue for people who cannot afford the current prices.

The problem is that the current family ticket incorporates part of the south lower.

Lower ticket prices may attract a more vocal and boozed up element in the south lower which could be counter productive to families sitting in that area.

The fact is we are going to be at roots hall for a good few years and we are not utilising what we have to the clubs benefit.
 
Roots Hall is not big enough for this to be viable. As you say Bradford have a 25,000-seater stadium they need to fill and so have the flexibility to offer cheaper tickets as they can sell far more of them. You'll notice that the clubs with the cheapest season tickets in the league (aside from the Os) all have large stadiums that they don't really have a hope of filling without cheap tickets.

Roots Hall is full at least a couple of times a season, and even an average gate there's only 3,000-odd spare seats. Take into account that the money spent per head once in the ground at Roots Hall is one of the lowest in the Football League due to the archaic/non-existent facilities and you can see why this is not really an option for us, we would lose too much money.
 
I understand that Huddersfield have started a similar system to Bradford this season. I am sure other clubs including Southend keep an eye on how these systems are faring.
 
Bradford City's children's season ticket at the start of the season was £99. Southend United children's season ticket £85 and only £23 for under 8's.

Without the cheap adult season tickets I would think Bradford City's average home crowd would be around 9,000.
 
As for cheaper tickets in the South Lower well for about 10 league games at the end of last season and most games this season, they have been giving away 500 to 1,000 tickets free per match to local schools/clubs.

I doubt even if it was £10 per adult in the South Lower it would get many takers.
 
The club could try and do something revolutionary.


in summary give a date that people need to buy tickets by at discounted price 'A' ., with the understanding that is 'x' amount of tickets are not sold then then holder has the option of paying the 'normal' price or a refund.(the refund is the critical bit - so that way you understand exactly what you are committing to ).
People who want a ticket regardless could tick a box stating they agree to the offer price and the 'standard price'.(I can't see why exisiting season ticket holders would disagree with this )

yes- we would have to trust the club to some extent not to lie , but theretically this model would wpork from a ' minimal risk' perspective.
The club could update the website each day with ticket sales to try ande create a buzz. Lets face it , I am guessing there would be many who would nag their mates who are sitting on the fence to get a ticket if it meant that their own ticket would be cheaper.

The opposite way to do this is to charge full price and then give rebates as numbers increase. However I can see people not likeing this as they would not know what they were committing to . Under the above model you can commit to the lower price, and if not enough people take it up you get a refund- so no risk
what do people think ?
 
The club could try and do something revolutionary.


in summary give a date that people need to buy tickets by at discounted price 'A' ., with the understanding that is 'x' amount of tickets are not sold then then holder has the option of paying the 'normal' price or a refund.(the refund is the critical bit - so that way you understand exactly what you are committing to ).
People who want a ticket regardless could tick a box stating they agree to the offer price and the 'standard price'.(I can't see why exisiting season ticket holders would disagree with this )

yes- we would have to trust the club to some extent not to lie , but theretically this model would wpork from a ' minimal risk' perspective.
The club could update the website each day with ticket sales to try ande create a buzz. Lets face it , I am guessing there would be many who would nag their mates who are sitting on the fence to get a ticket if it meant that their own ticket would be cheaper.

The opposite way to do this is to charge full price and then give rebates as numbers increase. However I can see people not likeing this as they would not know what they were committing to . Under the above model you can commit to the lower price, and if not enough people take it up you get a refund- so no risk
what do people think ?
Similar thing has been tried by at least 2 clubs Port Vale & Hartlepool a few seasons ago. They had daily updates to show how near the target they were getting and I'm pretty sure the targets were reached so the cheaper season ticket price was charged.
 
In hindsight, last season we did have some decent 8k+ crowds at Roots Hall (granted they weren't all home fans of course).

8,571 against Bradford
8,767 against Coventry
9,135 against Gillingham
10,099 against Millwall
10,279 against Col Ewe

Our only 8k+ attendance so far this season was when Gillingham visited (8,141). I can only imagine that Charlton (and possibly Coventry, although unlikely) will be our only 8k crowds in this campaign.
 
In hindsight, last season we did have some decent 8k+ crowds at Roots Hall (granted they weren't all home fans of course).

8,571 against Bradford
8,767 against Coventry
9,135 against Gillingham
10,099 against Millwall
10,279 against Col Ewe

Our only 8k+ attendance so far this season was when Gillingham visited (8,141). I can only imagine that Charlton (and possibly Coventry, although unlikely) will be our only 8k crowds in this campaign.

Woah...........IF we carry on our latest vein of form and start pushing for the play-offs, there will be more 8k+ crowds at the Hall.
 
Similar thing has been tried by at least 2 clubs Port Vale & Hartlepool a few seasons ago. They had daily updates to show how near the target they were getting and I'm pretty sure the targets were reached so the cheaper season ticket price was charged.


similar- but not the same

port vale just refunded £25, Hartlepool did similar to what I am suggesting but without the refund option . This meant that loads of people held off until the lower price was met. Not sure if anyone has ever offered the refund option that I am suggesting,The other thing is that the chairman bankrolled them . The cheap tickets were to fill the stadium, Financially it made zero sense (£200 tickets for up to 3000 sold, 3001 --4000 £150 then above £4000 £100) but the idea was to fill the stadium for a promotion push and hope people stayed the following season
 
The other thing is that the chairman bankrolled them . The cheap tickets were to fill the stadium, Financially it made zero sense (£200 tickets for up to 3000 sold, 3001 --4000 £150 then above £4000 £100) but the idea was to fill the stadium for a promotion push and hope people stayed the following season

Bankrolling by the Chairman lessens the risk if they're prepared to do that, I know I wouldn't.
You would also need to factor in roughly £20,000 pa for at least one extra staff member to administer all the work.
 
Back
Top