Attendances: A cause for concern

[tomphil]

£30 is expensive in this area even Preston fans are saying so.  Yes it's a local derby but two clubs with basically 10k active home fans and a stadium holding 30 thousand.

As iv'e banged on about before though it's perception again, 14.60 for Sheff U, £30 for Preston.   

£27 for Swansea, £32 for West Brom, £22 for Fulham - (JWU)...... It's just stupid to be honest. A lot will just look at it and think sod it i'll wait for the really cheap ones.

All they are doing is jerking around regulars and not pulling in any extras. Apart from the one off half price game.

Edited November 12, 2021 by tomphil

[1864roverite]

As good as the work might be going on behind the scenes, and it is, Rovers take an initiative with the Sheff Game after a record home defeat and then instantly take 5 steps backward undoing any good work done to entice fans back to Ewood with this stupid insane pricing policy.

I am a long standing ST holder like many others, does it bother me if the game is £20 a ticket? Absolutely not and like so many have suggested there are many ways to offer a reward to ST holders such as free cup games (if we get a home tie) or offers at the cub shop such as a free shirt and of course a discounted price for next seasons renewal.

The suggestions of buy 4 games get 1 free is another excellent idea.

Its a real mystery how the club fails to grasp opportunities like this as the fan base slowly dwindles away 

[Mike E]

For reference 23 home games X £20 = £460.

So cost compared to STs certainly isn't justified.

Better yet, if we identified ourselves as THE Twenty's Plenty team, with the odd cheaper game and sensible ST pricing (£250 max), I bet we'd be back to 20k+ crowds in no time.

[Mattyblue]

I’m all for imaginative pricing/marketing.

But there’s not a chance we’d be hitting 20k crowds, even at £250 in our usual position of second division mid table. Indeed STs were actually cheaper than that around 2014/2015 time and we were nowhere near then.

[JHRover]

1 hour ago, 1864roverite said:

As good as the work might be going on behind the scenes, and it is, Rovers take an initiative with the Sheff Game after a record home defeat and then instantly take 5 steps backward undoing any good work done to entice fans back to Ewood with this stupid insane pricing policy.

I am a long standing ST holder like many others, does it bother me if the game is £20 a ticket? Absolutely not and like so many have suggested there are many ways to offer a reward to ST holders such as free cup games (if we get a home tie) or offers at the cub shop such as a free shirt and of course a discounted price for next seasons renewal.

The suggestions of buy 4 games get 1 free is another excellent idea.

Its a real mystery how the club fails to grasp opportunities like this as the fan base slowly dwindles away 

What good work is going on behind the scenes? I'm genuinely intrigued as to what this is and why this is any better or different to what any other professional football club does? Sorry if I've missed something but what I see is the very bog standard and basic stuff I would expect from any club at this level. Compare to what Accy Stanley do with schoolkids and it is not much.

Giving out a few free tickets to local schoolkids is admirable but isn't going to make a blind bit of difference when the club is simultaneously destroying the bedrock of its support - season ticket holders - through a variety of ridiculous short sighted measures.

To make up for the 2000 lost season ticket holders over the last couple of seasons it is going to take a hell of a long time and a hell of a lot of effort.

As far as I am concerned the price for a season ticket holder, per game, should be no more than £15. That works out as £345 over the season. That is about average for the Championship.

The club could then basically vary prices between £15 and £25 per game, protecting season ticket holders getting better value for money and a reserved seat whilst still being able to keep to sensible prices. Personally I wouldn't want to charge more than £20 per game ever but I also recognise that other clubs will screw our away fans and something has to be done to ensure away supporters don't just see Rovers as a cheap day out to travel in big numbers.

It annoys me for example that when we go to Sheffield United we are likely to be charged £30+ and the same at Fulham when both their supporters have got into Ewood for substantially less than that this season.

We dabbled with the 1875 membership scheme but didn't put it to use - the incentive to join that scheme should have been substantial reductions on the cost of match tickets but instead there was no such scheme. This would have enabled the club to offer tickets at Ewood to home fans for less than away fans.

This is what Bristol City are doing next week where their supporters who are members get tickets for £5 less than Rovers fans can get them in the away end.

[47er]

24 minutes ago, Mike E said:

For reference 23 home games X £20 = £460.

So cost compared to STs certainly isn't justified.

Better yet, if we identified ourselves as THE Twenty's Plenty team, with the odd cheaper game and sensible ST pricing (£250 max), I bet we'd be back to 20k+ crowds in no time.

Which is the same as 10000 at £500 which we wouldn't get. Not to mention the benefits to everyone from having some atmosphere at Ewood.

[tomphil]

We are sub 10 ST holders now by some way. The alarm bells should have been ringing loud and clear in head office some while ago.  No though, their answer keep putting prices up to plug the shortfall.

A normal ownership and board of directors would've been onto this ages ago but not this lot.  Hide behind covid and sh#te fans line whilst drawing their own wages which presumably go up a % every year not down.

The aim needs to be get to 10/12k again as soon as possible that's probably the best they can hope for at the moment.  It still means a big improvement on now and better takings and atmosphere around the ground.

They probably just don't think it's worth it for that though and can't be arsed. Easier to just try and cut costs for the downgrading mentality. They really do not know this club or town.

[JHRover]

The thing that irritates me more than anything is that there will remain a substantial portion of people who think the most recent decline is natural, inevitable, a consequence of our level or comparable to the 80s or because we have fairweather fans who don't want to watch Championship football.

The evidence doesn't support that.

If we go back to 2013-16, a period when we were in a similar league position to that we are now, a time when the Kean, Shebby, Berg, Appleton mayhem was in recent memory, we were getting as many as 11,500 season ticket holders and average crowds of 14,000+

That's a fact, there in black and white for all time to come. Upper BBE open, DE open for home fans, better atmosphere all round.

What has happened in the last 4 or 5 years, which interestingly coincides with the time Waggott and Mowbray have been running the show, has been a substantial and drastic fall from those numbers. The standard of football hasn't significantly changed - still run of the mill Championship. Arguably the club has been 'better run' or at least I keep getting told. The scars of the Kean, Shebby much further ago.

Yet down from 11,500 to 7,000. Quite an astonishing fall really and I suspect nobody else can rival such a drop off in season ticket holders whilst in the same division. Hull have had a collapse but that was from their PL days. But we are talking 40%+ fall in season ticket holders. Incredible.

The complete lack of accountability or concern for such a significant and calamitous drop is astonishing. No action from the owners, same old management continue with excuses, on the decline goes. Where does it stop nobody knows but I'd rather not wait to find out.

[Gav]

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/19709994.chile-fans-trip-blackburn-rovers-inspired-netflix-show/

Didn't know where to post this, great story and well done to the club for making the effort. 

 

[JacknOry]

15 minutes ago, Gav said:

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/19709994.chile-fans-trip-blackburn-rovers-inspired-netflix-show/

Didn't know where to post this, great story and well done to the club for making the effort. 

 

Great story that and what a nice chap he is.

[Wheelton Blue]

I sincerely hope that the club suitably treated the Chile supporter to replica shirts, accomodation etc.

He's done more marketing for the club in one foul swoop than the club itself has done in months.

[Upside Down]

To charge more than £20 for any football match is an absolute rip off. Especially for a club that is doing everything it possibly can to ensure mid table mediocrity in the second tier of English football. 

[Wood26]

15 hours ago, tomphil said:

£30 is expensive in this area even Preston fans are saying so.  Yes it's a local derby but two clubs with basically 10k active home fans and a stadium holding 30 thousand.

As iv'e banged on about before though it's perception again, 14.60 for Sheff U, £30 for Preston.   

£27 for Swansea, £32 for West Brom, £22 for Fulham - (JWU)...... It's just stupid to be honest. A lot will just look at it and think sod it i'll wait for the really cheap ones.

All they are doing is jerking around regulars and not pulling in any extras. Apart from the one off half price game.

When you word it like that it really does look ridiculous them prices. Why is WBA £5 more then Swansea for example. Or Preston £2 cheaper then WBA.

Just set one price and stick to it for all games. For the casual I doubt they sir and think well Swansea is £5 cheaper let’s go to that.

Fans will come if we perform (like we mostly do so far) and prices are reasonable aka no more then £25.

[Wheelton Blue]

8 hours ago, Wood26 said:

Just set one price and stick to it for all games. For the casual I doubt they sir and think well Swansea is £5 cheaper let’s go to that.

I agree with this; one price for every league game.

As we are, people will choose games primarily based on price. The trick is to get them into the habit of coming to most games, not for them to pick an odd game here and there.

[chaddyrovers]

57 minutes ago, Wheelton Blue said:

I agree with this; one price for every league game.

As we are, people will choose games primarily based on price. The trick is to get them into the habit of coming to most games, not for them to pick an odd game here and there.

I agree. £20 per game with the odd £15 for games like Blackpool and Preston would be the way to go. Plus kids under 12 a pound a game. Get them hook at that age is key

[Mhead2]

On 12/11/2021 at 13:04, Wheelton Blue said:

I sincerely hope that the club suitably treated the Chile supporter to replica shirts, accomodation etc.

He's done more marketing for the club in one foul swoop than the club itself has done in months.

Whilst I agree with you on the marketing point, he was one of the Chile Delegates at Cop26 in Glasgow and sagged off to come and see BBD. The Press write the story that fits their narrative : The Guardian headline would have been " Cop26 Delegate wastes CO2 on minor Football Match"

[only2garners]

2 hours ago, Mhead2 said:

Whilst I agree with you on the marketing point, he was one of the Chile Delegates at Cop26 in Glasgow and sagged off to come and see BBD. The Press write the story that fits their narrative : The Guardian headline would have been " Cop26 Delegate wastes CO2 on minor Football Match"

I very much doubt that he was one of the Chile delegates at COP26, given that he lives in Milwaukee. 

[Wood26]

14 hours ago, Wheelton Blue said:

I agree with this; one price for every league game.

As we are, people will choose games primarily based on price. The trick is to get them into the habit of coming to most games, not for them to pick an odd game here and there.

Exactly, especially when it comes to games like Luton or Barnsley, the casual doesn’t give a shit who we play that day.

[darrenrover]

A lot of good stuff on this thread and I’m personally betwixted and between: 

Facts are: Rovers have 7,800 season ticket holders for 21/22 season. Against Sheffield United at £14.60 a ticket for ‘walk ons’, we attracted 4,700 Blades and 4,791 additional Roverites, which in my opinion was a poor show.

Next up, PNE and based on the need to bring revenue in to the club, the ‘kicker’ has to be to derive the most from 6,000 Nobbers! and hope that Rovers ‘walk ons’ still amount to 5k.

COYB!!

Edited November 15, 2021 by darrenrover

[Gone to seed]

4 hours ago, darrenrover said:

A lot of good stuff on this thread and I’m personally betwixted and between: 

Facts are: Rovers have 7,800 season ticket holders for 21/22 season. Against Sheffield United at £14.60 a ticket for ‘walk ons’, we attracted 4,700 Blades and 4,791 additional Roverites, which in my opinion was a poor show.

Next up, PNE and based on the need to bring revenue in to the club, the ‘kicker’ has to be to derive the most from 6,000 Nobbers! and hope that Rovers ‘walk ons’ still amount to 5k.

COYB!!

There's no incentive to walk on for £30 though - jog on, more like!

Whilst there was a buzz at the Sheff Utd game, due to the increased home numbers, I wonder what the noise might have been like had there not been a strong performance on the pitch..

In any case, pricing policy is one of the least well understood and most often poorly executed elements of marketing. What is clear from the debacle that is this year's approach to match day ticket pricing at the Rovers is simply that the buffoons in charge of this simply don't know what they are doing. It comes across to all (home and away fans) that the set up at Rovers is inept and amateurish, which hardly inspires brand loyalty, impulse buying (i.e. walk ons) or anything other than an opportunistic response when prices are lowered. 

I mean, does anyone actually care who the opponents are, week by week - its not as if we have Man Utd, Liverpool, Barcelona or Celtic rocking up here on a regular basis, is it? Nob End, meh!

[Mattyblue]

6 hours ago, darrenrover said:

A lot of good stuff on this thread and I’m personally betwixted and between: 

Facts are: Rovers have 7,800 season ticket holders for 21/22 season. Against Sheffield United at £14.60 a ticket for ‘walk ons’, we attracted 4,700 Blades and 4,791 additional Roverites, which in my opinion was a poor show.

Next up, PNE and based on the need to bring revenue in to the club, the ‘kicker’ has to be to derive the most from 6,000 Nobbers! and hope that Rovers ‘walk ons’ still amount to 5k.

COYB!!

We had 7,200 ST holders when that new 17 game ST went off sale the other week, didn’t we? (I suppose the minutes from tomorrows Fans Forum will tell us one way or the other).

So well over 5,000 match day tickets sold is an absolute mile more than usual - as the Jack Walker and Riverside gave very visual evidence to.

There is not a chance in hell we are selling a similar figure in home areas at £30-£36 for PNE. Now the club may not give a toss because there will be 6k away fans paying top dollar, but that’s a choice Waggott has made and home walk ons will take a hit as a result, and he will know that, it isn’t the have your cake and eat it situation you are trying to make out.

 

Edited November 15, 2021 by Mattyblue

[tomphil]

7 hours ago, darrenrover said:

A lot of good stuff on this thread and I’m personally betwixted and between: 

Facts are: Rovers have 7,800 season ticket holders for 21/22 season. Against Sheffield United at £14.60 a ticket for ‘walk ons’, we attracted 4,700 Blades and 4,791 additional Roverites, which in my opinion was a poor show.

Next up, PNE and based on the need to bring revenue in to the club, the ‘kicker’ has to be to derive the most from 6,000 Nobbers! and hope that Rovers ‘walk ons’ still amount to 5k.

COYB!!

In the current climate 4791 isn't a poor do at all i'd say it was a success.  In truth there'd have been barely a thousand walk on home tickets sold at the normal price bracket for a game like this. Knocking off hand outs, compli's etc.

Lets not leave out the heaviest home defeat in history a few days earlier either. Always going to be some sort of reaction that by some.

[arbitro]

2 hours ago, tomphil said:

In the current climate 4791 isn't a poor do at all i'd say it was a success.  In truth there'd have been barely a thousand walk on home tickets sold at the normal price bracket for a game like this. Knocking off hand outs, compli's etc.

Lets not leave out the heaviest home defeat in history a few days earlier either. Always going to be some sort of reaction that by some.

And the reason Sheff Utd sold that amount was simply did to the price. They would normally have brought no more than 2-2500. I have spoken to a few Nobbers who won't be coming simply because of the price.

Whatever happened to the reciprocal agreements we had with the likes of Wigan and Bolton where cheap tickets were available for the home and away games? Lets not forget it's due to a lot of Waggotts inadequacies that he has to rinse the supporters.

[lraC]

Just a thought, but why didn't they offer a discounted ticket for the Birmingham game, if both PNE and Brum were bought at the same time? If both were available at say £45 but on their own they were £30 would that not have attracted more to both games?

[JHRover]

Ipswich have it sussed. £15 match for their Xmas home games or buy all 3 for £40. Seniors £20 for all 3. U23s from £12.50 for all 3.

Under 12s are £1.50 per game.

These are 'big' fixtures against Sunderland, Wycombe and Lincoln

I haven't looked it up but I bet they are charging away fans more than £15.

They are promoting and pushing it now - 6 weeks before the game - not leaving it until 2-3 weeks before.

I bet they go close to filling their ground whilst we do the usual routine of charging through the roof hoping to milk the Xmas increase.

Edited November 15, 2021 by JHRover