Season tickets 2023-24 - what could/should be offered ?

[tomphil]

You'd be looking at that alleged 7k renewed at the beginning of May and saying not bad for this time of year.  Lets do something and on the back of hopefully signing a few players in summer see if we can get it to 10k finally.

 

[glen9mullan]

Steve,

 

Trust you are well?

 

I'm writing regarding season tickets,

 

The season ticket prices coming out earlier than in previous seasons was appreciated, as this allows people to budget.

 

However the ability to budget has been taken away from the most of the population of Blackburn with todays news that season tickets will increase by £50 From those of the early bird price.

 

Blackburn as a town has statistically one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country, whilst its widely regarded as one of the poorest communities in the country.

 

You market our club as a community club, a club which is inclusive to all and a club where fans matter. As part of this charter, do you consider the affordability and the very demographic in which the club claims that matters?

 

I'm sorry but for more times than I care to count the club has once again showed that getting supporters through the turnstiles is low on the agenda.

 

The last ball was only kicked yesterday, the new season is over three months away, yet the club expects supporters to pluck money out of thin air.

 

I appreciate that less than 7000 have renewed under the early bird price (We do have a 32000 stadium you know), this will be a demographic of those who can afford, or those who can get credit to pay via direct debit.

 

Of the ones who have yet to renew in many cases its not a choice.

 

1. People need to save, we are in a cost of living crisis where Mortgages, rents, council tax, Energy bills are off the scale.

2. People have families, buying one ticket is expensive, try buying 5!!!

3. Some people just cannot get credit with V12, Which takes away their ability to pay in instalments. When people cannot get credit, in most cases they need to save harder than most, as disposable income is likely to be less, hence why they cannot get credit.

 

Where is the logic in increasing the ticket prices now, so in affect penalising those less fortunate than those who could get credit or had disposable income to buy a ticket?

 

I myself was saving for my season ticket as I pay for mine cash every season. Next season it was my intention for my wife to renew for the first time in 5 years, and my kids to come with us. (Having kids makes going football very expensive).

 

For over 40 years I've watched my team from one coast to the other, renewed each season despite some of the darkest times in our clubs history. Have put hours upon hours into my club, supporter base, community in trying to rebuild those bridges which have not only fallen down, but have been cruise missiled through gross mis-management of the club our community once knew.

 

We are told on the website this is now phase 2, which suggest perhaps another increase in phase 3?

 

I fail to understand how the club cannot see, that those who renew later is due to funds and affordability. How does the club manage this? Yes that's right lets increase the 2nd week of May and make it even more unaffordable and drive away more supporters from the club, but this time through affordability.

 

Getting supporters is one of the hardest things to do, losing them is one of the easiest when the club is out of touch. The marketing and pricing has been a shambles again. Not only are we the most expensive of the local clubs, but we have the early bird that expires at least one month before others and in some cases 8 weeks.

 

When we met last year, you suggested that you need to hit a certain revenue on season tickets. If you got the same revenue for 20,000 tickets than you got for 8,000 tickets you was happy with that.

 

What I see here is lazy pricing and the marketing/commercial team should be ashamed.

 

Rather than attract supporters, which quite frankly I could of done their job for free and sold more tickets and increased revenue, they've opted to go down the safe route that 95% will renew maybe 5% new supporters, and with that generate the required revenue which has been forecasted.

 

It lacks imagination and begs the question why have we not changed the personnel and strategy?

 

Its the 9th May 2023, I never in a million years thought I'd be one of those supporters who does not renew.

 

However £1200 for 5 Season tickets is a lot of money to save. I don't do credit cards, or credit, we was brought up to save and had every intention of renewing at the end of May 2023. The club has made this impossible, by penalising me further and increasing this to an unaffordable amount.

 

Each match day I pay £10 to park my car at Ewood (£230 a season). I spend around £35 per match day in the blues bar. I buy 10 replica kits, home and away (for my family and I). I buy various things from the club shop, and also become an 1875 member, I travel to away game at great expense also. I have a shrine of memorabilia which would be fitting in any museum. I'm now 45 and my time and money has always been invested in my football club.

 

Is this really the type of supporters the club wishes to drive away from the club.

 

I will not be renewing next season, unless a complete rethink is made on this early bird. This should of been until the end of June, not the start of May. Where is the statistical data that those who cannot afford at the start of May, can now afford to pay more just a few weeks later?

 

I'm truly ashamed I'm having to write to my club over the affordability of a ticket for a season three months away, I sincerely hope you can look at this, and not use the word "sympathise" in your response.

 

The players and high ranking staff will be celebrating their summer break on a beach in exotic places, putting their pictures on instagram/twitter.

 

Whilst some of the town's population will worry about how they feed their families, how they put school uniforms on their backs, how they buy them clothes, You know, the things which hold a far greater priority than trying to live beyond their means by trying to grab together season ticket money.

 

When you return home, please look at your surroundings (You have worked hard for) , then spare a thought for the supporters of the club in which helps you maintain that standard of living. Think of those less fortunate, then please ask yourself, have we done the right by the fans here? Are we setting out to fill Ewood or setting out to empty it further than we have before?

 

I look forwards to your action and response ,

 

Regards

Glen Mullan

[Sweaty Gussets]

Swag doesn't give a fuck, but fair play for taking the time to write to him. 

[Mattyblue]

Looking at the club’s Twitter post re the hike it is pretty much unanimous incredulity with the pricing - instead of the usual ‘they’re still a bargain, shit fans us’.

This combined with the grief they’ve got post the January debacle and it seems as if the wider fanbase is finally waking up to the fact that large parts of this football club is still in a compete state.

Edited May 9, 2023 by Mattyblue

[Upside Down]

2 hours ago, tomphil said:

You'd be looking at that alleged 7k renewed at the beginning of May and saying not bad for this time of year.  Lets do something and on the back of hopefully signing a few players in summer see if we can get it to 10k finally.

 

10k. Still a failure by two thousand. 

[Mattyblue]

10k would be a big success with this insane pricing. It will be c£500-£575 a ST in three weeks for hike 3.

We all know where the failure lies. Imagine having a business where you are proactively trying to prevent sales of your key product with three months of its sales window still to go.

[OldEwoodBlue]

So in 3 weeks they are going up again ?

Haha great idea.

It will be the fans fault next that we can't buy a striker.

[goozburger]

10,927 unavailable seats. That will still include those that haven't renewed. 17 new in the last 24 hours.

[Mattyblue]

So confirmed then, FOUR THOUSAND non renewers. 

Takes some doing that 👏
 

[goozburger]

1 minute ago, Mattyblue said:

So confirmed then, FOUR THOUSAND non renewers. 

Takes some doing that 👏
 

We had 9,300 ST holders in total last season, with 7,000 renewing under the Super Saver period, so that's more like 2,300 that haven't renewed, isn't it?

It also looks like there are around 1,600 new ST holders on top of that. I'd suggest the estimate is around 8,600 ST holders in total so far.

[glen9mullan]

3 minutes ago, goozburger said:

We had 9,300 ST holders in total last season, with 7,000 renewing under the Super Saver period, so that's more like 2,300 that haven't renewed, isn't it?

It also looks like there are around 1,600 new ST holders on top of that. I'd suggest the estimate is around 8,600 ST holders in total so far.

If the club are saying we've sold around 7000, how do we get to the 8600 number? We cant possibly of sold 1600 tonight.

Also worth noting we give a number of season tickets away

[Mattyblue]

Not sure I follow, gooze? The club themselves have said ‘around 7k have bought or renewed a ticket.’

So if the planner says 10,927 unavailable as of now before the seats of non renewers are made available again that says 5.4K existing ST holders have renewed with 1.6k new to make up the c7k… ergo c3.9k existing haven’t renewed, no?

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Mattyblue

[glen9mullan]

1 minute ago, Mattyblue said:

Not sure I follow, gooze? The club themselves have said ‘around 7k have bought or renewed a ticket.’

So if the planner says c11k unavailable as of now before the seats of non renewers are made available again that says 5.4K existing ST holders have renewed with 1.6k new to make up the c7k… ergo c4k existing haven’t renewed, no?

 

Id be astonished if we have 1600 new season ticket holders, there is nothing in this seasons gates in general to suggest so many new ticket holders

[Mattyblue]

End of the day we can slice it anyway we want with ‘the churn’ the facts are sales are horrendous and won’t be moving from said piss poor state from today onwards.

Amazing how each summer ends up being a bigger farce than the last. I wonder what a route cause analysis would find…

Edited May 9, 2023 by Mattyblue

[goozburger]

Ah right, I've only just read the wording. So basically we're at around 7,000 in total.

It's difficult to tell when we don't have the full picture in the seat map.

[glen9mullan]

2 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

End of the day we can slice it anyway we want with ‘the churn’ the facts are sales won’t be moving from today onwards.

Amazing how each summer ends up being a bigger farce than the last. I wonder what a route cause analysis would find…

Some of the sponsors are subsidising tickets too for example if you work at Totally wicked; you get £100 towards your season ticket

[Sweaty Gussets]

What number is everyone working from? How many ST's are actually available in the home ends? 

[goozburger]

5 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

What number is everyone working from? How many ST's are actually available in the home ends? 

In total, there are 18,210 seats that are sellable to home supporters. This takes into account the closed parts of the stadium, such as the BBE upper and the DE.

Of those 18,210 seats, 10,927 are marked as unavailable. This includes all of last season's ST holders, whether they renewed or not, plus any new sales.

If you consider there were 9,300 ST holders last season, this is why I was suggesting 1,600 new ST holders so far. The contentious part is if an existing ST holder moves seats and whether their old seat is marked as available or still left as unavailable.

If we take the club's word that we've sold 7,000 so far, it means that a good few thousand haven't renewed (yet) based on the total count of unavailable sale-able seats. 🤪

[Sweaty Gussets]

16 minutes ago, goozburger said:

In total, there are 18,210 seats that are sellable to home supporters. This takes into account the closed parts of the stadium, such as the BBE upper and the DE.

Of those 18,210 seats, 10,927 are marked as unavailable. This includes all of last season's ST holders, whether they renewed or not, plus any new sales.

If you consider there were 9,300 ST holders last season, this is why I was suggesting 1,600 new ST holders so far. The contentious part is if an existing ST holder moves seats and whether their old seat is marked as available or still left as unavailable.

If we take the club's word that we've sold 7,000 so far, it means that a good few thousand haven't renewed (yet) based on the total count of unavailable sale-able seats. 🤪

Ah, I see...so it depends on how the 10,927 unavailable seats are made up?

9300 ST seats from 22/23 plus 1600-ish new ST's for 23/24

or

7000 ST's renewals or new for 23/24 plus about 4000-ish who haven't renewed from 22/23

 

When do ST holders from 22/23 have to claim their seat by?

[Mattyblue]

Who knows! No mention of a claim your seat deadline on any of the online adverts… more great comms by the club.

[tomphil]

'Almost' seven thousand so that could mean 6990 or 6501 the way these lot spin it.

[damo100]

4 hours ago, glen9mullan said:

Steve,

 

Trust you are well?

 

I'm writing regarding season tickets,

 

The season ticket prices coming out earlier than in previous seasons was appreciated, as this allows people to budget.

 

However the ability to budget has been taken away from the most of the population of Blackburn with todays news that season tickets will increase by £50 From those of the early bird price.

 

Blackburn as a town has statistically one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country, whilst its widely regarded as one of the poorest communities in the country.

 

You market our club as a community club, a club which is inclusive to all and a club where fans matter. As part of this charter, do you consider the affordability and the very demographic in which the club claims that matters?

 

I'm sorry but for more times than I care to count the club has once again showed that getting supporters through the turnstiles is low on the agenda.

 

The last ball was only kicked yesterday, the new season is over three months away, yet the club expects supporters to pluck money out of thin air.

 

I appreciate that less than 7000 have renewed under the early bird price (We do have a 32000 stadium you know), this will be a demographic of those who can afford, or those who can get credit to pay via direct debit.

 

Of the ones who have yet to renew in many cases its not a choice.

 

1. People need to save, we are in a cost of living crisis where Mortgages, rents, council tax, Energy bills are off the scale.

2. People have families, buying one ticket is expensive, try buying 5!!!

3. Some people just cannot get credit with V12, Which takes away their ability to pay in instalments. When people cannot get credit, in most cases they need to save harder than most, as disposable income is likely to be less, hence why they cannot get credit.

 

Where is the logic in increasing the ticket prices now, so in affect penalising those less fortunate than those who could get credit or had disposable income to buy a ticket?

 

I myself was saving for my season ticket as I pay for mine cash every season. Next season it was my intention for my wife to renew for the first time in 5 years, and my kids to come with us. (Having kids makes going football very expensive).

 

For over 40 years I've watched my team from one coast to the other, renewed each season despite some of the darkest times in our clubs history. Have put hours upon hours into my club, supporter base, community in trying to rebuild those bridges which have not only fallen down, but have been cruise missiled through gross mis-management of the club our community once knew.

 

We are told on the website this is now phase 2, which suggest perhaps another increase in phase 3?

 

I fail to understand how the club cannot see, that those who renew later is due to funds and affordability. How does the club manage this? Yes that's right lets increase the 2nd week of May and make it even more unaffordable and drive away more supporters from the club, but this time through affordability.

 

Getting supporters is one of the hardest things to do, losing them is one of the easiest when the club is out of touch. The marketing and pricing has been a shambles again. Not only are we the most expensive of the local clubs, but we have the early bird that expires at least one month before others and in some cases 8 weeks.

 

When we met last year, you suggested that you need to hit a certain revenue on season tickets. If you got the same revenue for 20,000 tickets than you got for 8,000 tickets you was happy with that.

 

What I see here is lazy pricing and the marketing/commercial team should be ashamed.

 

Rather than attract supporters, which quite frankly I could of done their job for free and sold more tickets and increased revenue, they've opted to go down the safe route that 95% will renew maybe 5% new supporters, and with that generate the required revenue which has been forecasted.

 

It lacks imagination and begs the question why have we not changed the personnel and strategy?

 

Its the 9th May 2023, I never in a million years thought I'd be one of those supporters who does not renew.

 

However £1200 for 5 Season tickets is a lot of money to save. I don't do credit cards, or credit, we was brought up to save and had every intention of renewing at the end of May 2023. The club has made this impossible, by penalising me further and increasing this to an unaffordable amount.

 

Each match day I pay £10 to park my car at Ewood (£230 a season). I spend around £35 per match day in the blues bar. I buy 10 replica kits, home and away (for my family and I). I buy various things from the club shop, and also become an 1875 member, I travel to away game at great expense also. I have a shrine of memorabilia which would be fitting in any museum. I'm now 45 and my time and money has always been invested in my football club.

 

Is this really the type of supporters the club wishes to drive away from the club.

 

I will not be renewing next season, unless a complete rethink is made on this early bird. This should of been until the end of June, not the start of May. Where is the statistical data that those who cannot afford at the start of May, can now afford to pay more just a few weeks later?

 

I'm truly ashamed I'm having to write to my club over the affordability of a ticket for a season three months away, I sincerely hope you can look at this, and not use the word "sympathise" in your response.

 

The players and high ranking staff will be celebrating their summer break on a beach in exotic places, putting their pictures on instagram/twitter.

 

Whilst some of the town's population will worry about how they feed their families, how they put school uniforms on their backs, how they buy them clothes, You know, the things which hold a far greater priority than trying to live beyond their means by trying to grab together season ticket money.

 

When you return home, please look at your surroundings (You have worked hard for) , then spare a thought for the supporters of the club in which helps you maintain that standard of living. Think of those less fortunate, then please ask yourself, have we done the right by the fans here? Are we setting out to fill Ewood or setting out to empty it further than we have before?

 

I look forwards to your action and response ,

 

Regards

Glen Mullan

Great mail Glen, you've nailed it again here, I was really hoping he'd listened to several folk like yourself last year but sadly not, that would mean taking risks when he knows the current platform suits his needs as the Venkys target is met.

8-9k is all he needs, I think it was you quoted as saying last year if Waggot sold 1 ST for £3-4 million, he'd be more than happy with just ONE supporter in a 31367 capacity stadium. 

We still have fans who fail to see the bigger picture, I.e future fans, imaginative pricing structures, Preston charge £249 and up to 4 kids per adult u12 free.

Matchday experience, the package is poor, flat atmosphere, shocking catering, service, queues etc, stadium needs some TLC.

I'm sorry to hear you say you and your family won't be renewing, I think many other families will follow suit.

I'm afraid as long as Steve Waggot is CEO of our great football club, it's not moving forwards, just backwards. 

[Ossydave]

The timings of the price increases show just how out of touch not only swag but the whole of the club are. I guess ultimately its down to him but surely there's people that work there that can point the basics out?!?! Many families out there will have an eye on their summer holiday and its around now that many of them are paying the outstanding balance which is approaching the deadline to pay it. Money is tight, folk have priorities! For little reasons like this, you will always get some late purchases when people return from holidays, but why the hell are they being penalised for doing so?

So which one is it? Are they too oblivious to modern family life OR do they simply not give a fuck?

[CheshireRover]

35 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

The timings of the price increases show just how out of touch not only swag but the whole of the club are. I guess ultimately its down to him but surely there's people that work there that can point the basics out?!?! Many families out there will have an eye on their summer holiday and its around now that many of them are paying the outstanding balance which is approaching the deadline to pay it. Money is tight, folk have priorities! For little reasons like this, you will always get some late purchases when people return from holidays, but why the hell are they being penalised for doing so?

So which one is it? Are they too oblivious to modern family life OR do they simply not give a fuck?

It’s both.

They don’t care enough to do market research, but a lot of it (I think) comes from the old belief that everything should see a year on year price increase.

They’ll tell us costs have gone up but will politely ignore the fact that those costs shared by more people would reduce the cost per head.

[Hasta]

10 hours ago, goozburger said:

In total, there are 18,210 seats that are sellable to home supporters. This takes into account the closed parts of the stadium, such as the BBE upper and the DE.

Of those 18,210 seats, 10,927 are marked as unavailable. This includes all of last season's ST holders, whether they renewed or not, plus any new sales.

If you consider there were 9,300 ST holders last season, this is why I was suggesting 1,600 new ST holders so far. The contentious part is if an existing ST holder moves seats and whether their old seat is marked as available or still left as unavailable.

If we take the club's word that we've sold 7,000 so far, it means that a good few thousand haven't renewed (yet) based on the total count of unavailable sale-able seats. 🤪

Or, as unlikely as it is because we know of many that haven't, it could be the same 9,300 have renewed but 1600 have moved seat. As you say, it only becomes clear once the deadline for moving seat is lifted.

Edited May 10, 2023 by Hasta