Season Tickets 2018/19

[rigger]

1 hour ago, MarkBRFC said:

That would be sensible.

I know if you have bought tickets for any of the three home games then they knock that off the total if you now buy a ST.

On a different matter i'm interested to see how many Villa bring in a couple of weeks, will they be restricted to just the lower tier because we cant give the whole end unless its a noon KO on "police advice"?!

Trains are on strike as well.

[only2garners]

I'd be surprised if Villa bring enough to need both tiers anyway, given it's a 17.30 kick-off, it's live on TV and if there are train problems as well.

[BlackburnEnd75]

I'm hoping next season is the year that the management structure really attempt to give a big boost to season tickets.

They are trying to build links with the Asian community which is great and hopefully this pays off over the longer term. I've always been a bit curious as to why such a low percentage of the Asian community attend the Rovers, i've got a few ideas but i don't know how accurate they are.

I hope they do a Huddersfield or Bradford style low ticket price to try and tempt people on the fence back in. It doesn't feel like we took advantage of the high of last season.

As other posters have suggested a flexi ticket could work for some but its key that we start top branch out our promotional stuff to a bit further afield. We've got pockets of fans all over Lancashire that got out of the habit of going, we need a kick to try and get them back. Busses is a great shout for places like Chorley, Leyland etc.

[gumboots]

Sale sharks run a free bus service from and back to the Trafford Centre to the AJBell stadium which helps because parking at the ground is poor. Parking at Ewood has become more of a problem in recent years. One of the reasons I didn't go to last night's match was that I'd have had to go on my own as my husband needed to rest after his op and, in the old days we had a parking pass for one of the nearby car parks, but now I'd have had to park further away and didn't fancy the walk on my own. A bus running in from the Ribble Valley with pick ups at various points, in Clitheroe, Whalley, Langho and covering some of the villages in between would probably have enabled me to go and feel confident and safe. Guess I've got a bit more nervous as I've got older. 

And a flexible 10 or 15 match ticket would suit us totally. Since we can't sit in the seats we'd like to in the BBE upper, we don't need a guaranteed regular seat. We can't go to every match as we would want to if we were paying for a season ticket. But a commitment to attend 10 games a season in return for a reduced price over buying individual match tickets would mean I could support the team without feeling the resentment that if I don't attend a match on my season ticket I'm missing out. Definitely an avenue the club could explore. 

[only2garners]

I think the problem with your idea gumboots is that such a package might appeal to an awful lot of current season ticket holders as well, who might then opt for that rather than a full season ticket. 15 matches out of 23 might be good for a lot of us - I always miss a few home matches a season and added to that is the fact that midweek games can now be seen live on Sky. A package of a consecutive 10 games might work but not I think one where you choose which 10 to go to.

We already have the half ST and the club has packaged up a number of games at the end of the season as a package as well.

Don't forget that anyone without an ST can buy an 1875 club membership and get £3 off every home league game ticket bought. It's not a huge discount but well worth it for anyone planning to come to at least 4 home games.

I'll have a go at suggestions for transport at the next Fans Forum meeting in 3 weeks. I don't know what currently runs but there always used to be a few buses parked up in the triangle before the new road was built.

[Mattyblue]

Pubs in Darwen run buses to Ewood, same for Rishton.

Not sure of any other areas?

[K-Hod]

10 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Pubs in Darwen run buses to Ewood, same for Rishton.

Not sure of any other areas?

There were some run from various places in Accy as well. Not sure if that's still the case.

[Lancaster Rover]

A couple of coaches used to run from Morecambe/Lancaster, through the North Lancs Supporters Club, I think they even ran the odd coach that came from Kendal and surrounding areas too.

[gumboots]

50 minutes ago, only2garners said:

I think the problem with your idea gumboots is that such a package might appeal to an awful lot of current season ticket holders as well, who might then opt for that rather than a full season ticket. 15 matches out of 23 might be good for a lot of us - I always miss a few home matches a season and added to that is the fact that midweek games can now be seen live on Sky. A package of a consecutive 10 games might work but not I think one where you choose which 10 to go to.

We already have the half ST and the club has packaged up a number of games at the end of the season as a package as well.

Don't forget that anyone without an ST can buy an 1875 club membership and get £3 off every home league game ticket bought. It's not a huge discount but well worth it for anyone planning to come to at least 4 home games.

I'll have a go at suggestions for transport at the next Fans Forum meeting in 3 weeks. I don't know what currently runs but there always used to be a few buses parked up in the triangle before the new road was built.

It's not just missing a few games though. I currently would miss at least half. And I wouldn't expect a guaranteed seat as though I were a season ticket holder. If you made it lower category matches only or something like that I can't see that it wouldn't be feasible. Mind you I'll be an OAP by the time the next season starts so eligible for lower priced season ticket anyway. It might be an idea worth exploring though for people like Lancaster Rover who has explained his reasons for being unable to justify having a season ticket

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

5 minutes ago, Lancaster Rover said:

A couple of coaches used to run from Morecambe/Lancaster, through the North Lancs Supporters Club, I think they even ran the odd coach that came from Kendal and surrounding areas too.

Probably now running to Turf Moor if you know what I mean!

[Lancaster Rover]

13 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Probably now running to Turf Moor if you know what I mean!

Wouldn't surprise me to be honest, there has been a huge increase in Burnley shirts on show over the last few years, similar thing happened when Blackpool got promoted.

[blueboy3333]

10 hours ago, scotchrover said:

I disagree- if we get promoted back to the top flight, the missing fans will come back straight away. Look at what happen at the end of last season- almost a sell out. Similarly, games against Liverpool and Man Utd. have all big massive crowds. Those games prove to me the fan base is still alive.

£10 tickets. Waggott will work it out one day. The increase in ST's from last season to this must be pretty embarrassing for him considering the atmosphere round the club is the best it's been for nearly 10 years, and the fact it's on the back of a promotion.  

[Mattyblue]

Miles away from his stretch target too,  maybe missing out on his bonus will bring home how he misread the fan base this summer...

[blueboy3333]

You'd think that if you'd spent £400 on a ST you'd be able to get a free replacement just once if some low life scroat had robbed your wallet with said ST in.

Not Rovers, they want a tenner. 

[JBiz]

On 29/08/2018 at 20:33, blueboy3333 said:

£10 tickets. Waggott will work it out one day. The increase in ST's from last season to this must be pretty embarrassing for him considering the atmosphere round the club is the best it's been for nearly 10 years, and the fact it's on the back of a promotion.  

If you think those people would be back if tickets are 10 and ST’s are much lower, you’re absolutely kidding yourself.

The majority will only come back after and to share in success. Or if we’re playing a big team.

[gumboots]

5 minutes ago, Biz said:

If you think those people would be back if tickets are 10 and ST’s are much lower, you’re absolutely kidding yourself.

The majority will only come back after and to share in success. Or if we’re playing a big team.

Some would be back. You have to balance what you'd gain in numbers, atmosphere, in ground spend, etc against what you'd lose in ticket revenues. Holding the price steady might have been worth it. Well never know

[Mattyblue]

I believe Waggott wanted a substantial increase, in reality we hardly increased them at all on what we had after half season ticket sales in January.

It’s for him to workout how that came to be. Were hordes of lapsed/new fans suddenly going to emerge to watch us bob around in Championship mid table? No, but I do think a 17% rise in price did put the brakes on any promotion/feel good factor in regards to more bums on seats.

[RevidgeBlue]

In my view the problem is not the relatively modest increase in prices but the fact that the expectation amongst the fans now is that tickets should be dirt cheap and the knowledge amongst the floating fans that there is no real need to get a season ticket to obtain value because there will no doubt be several £10 offers on at various points throughout the season and they can pop down for a cursory look on those occasions if they felt like it.

Thenodrog predicted years ago that reducing prices would devalue the product in the eyes of the fans and I think he was right 

 

[JHRover]

Saturday tea time. Live on Sky Sports across the road in the pub. Attractive looking fixture to supporters who don't have season tickets or who pick and chose their matches when it suits.

The response?

Category A pricing. Adults prices starting from £24 in the Riverside to £29/31 in the Jack Walker for those who haven't bothered with the 1875 club. I'm assuming they will go up another £3 on Saturday for those making late decisions or who cannot commit before then. £17 is the cheapest concession.

Even if you decide you want to buy one if you attempt to get one off Rovers' website you first of all have to get through password protection, which is just another unnecessary obstacle to getting a ticket.

I'd still love it if someone could explain why Rovers cannot have a turnstile open on Saturday for cash only entry to the ground sparing drifting supporters the additional inconvenience of having to go through hoops to 'book' tickets or queue up in the rain for half an hour before kick off.

I suspect Rovers justification for the high pricing, not that they'll admit it, will be that they are trying to make money off the Villa fans. Well I've frequently offered a sensible way to do that whilst protecting our own supporters. Open the Upper Darwen End and sell that out before opening the lower tier. Villa have sold 3500 as of yesterday so on those lines we could have a full upper tier by now with a small cluster in a corner of the bottom tier. Those upstairs could be charged £25-30 a head whilst those in other areas of the ground could be charged a more reasonable £20. Rovers could protect their precious away fan income whilst trying to encourage home fans to turn up through better pricing. They won't do it but when we go to Villa I guarantee that I will be paying more for a ticket to sit on the side of the pitch than Villa fans will be in the Holte End.

It seems they think blind loyalty will persuade people to stump up £40 for a man and his lad to sit on the Riverside rather than sit at home or go to the pub for less than half the cost. They need to be encouraging walk on fans for the TV games as the excuse of watching it on telly and saving chunk of cash is very appealing to some.

 

[tomphil]

They've wanted to increase the prices since Shaw was here as far as the rumours go so it was bound to happen once they got a feasible opportunity to gloss it over. Sadly the club needs every penny at ground level whilst it still wastes hundreds of thousands at upper level something I've never got my head round but that's the way they like to do things.

It's not a fan friendly way of doing things but probably a sound business way of guaranteeing a bit more income as you can't predict how the season will go and how casual fans will react, certainly not when your a clueless suit In an office anyway.

Cardboard Mikes job is to cut expense in his dept whilst Waggots job is to increase revenue so put the two together and this is what you get, days of cheap STs etc are long gone they'll always keep nudging upwards now.

I do think they could have come up with something a bit more imaginative for a game like this though to ensure Villa fans don't make up a third of the actual crowd in attendance. Quid a kid or a buy two get one for a future less attractive fixture for half price in one area of the ground type thing ?

The idea surely is to find that balance between increasing revenue AND increasing crowds !

Edited September 12, 2018 by tomphil

[Mattyblue]

Category A, B etc. are simply a ruse to rip off away fans. Any club who they expect to bring 2,000+ will be A, regardless of the stature of the game, Sky coverage etc.

Trying to use an attractive game like Villa or Leeds as a way to bring more home fans to the ground just doesn’t come into their thinking.

[tomphil]

True and i'd say it's more likely any team who might bring over a thousand going off last time in the Championship. This game would likely have been switched to dinner time anyway even if it hadn't been selected for tv. They seem determined to squeeze home fans out of attending these games where the revenue of big away followings are guaranteed instead of trying to coax more to them.

 

[blueboy3333]

8 hours ago, Biz said:

If you think those people would be back if tickets are 10 and ST’s are much lower, you’re absolutely kidding yourself.

The majority will only come back after and to share in success. Or if we’re playing a big team.

I must have imagined those 27k for the Oxford game at £10 a ticket. If tickets had been £25-£30 many wouldn't have been near the place. A lot of them were young people too. Have a look around Ewood next time you're there. Not many young lads these days. The average age must be 40+. Waggott hasn't worked out how to remedy that yet, other clubs have though, and some of those clubs have bigger fanbases than us.

Then again Waggott thinks charging someone £10 to replace a ST is a good idea. He's not only failing to re-engage the lapsed fans, he's also pissing off the ones still there. 

[blueboy3333]

4 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

In my view the problem is not the relatively modest increase in prices but the fact that the expectation amongst the fans now is that tickets should be dirt cheap and the knowledge amongst the floating fans that there is no real need to get a season ticket to obtain value because there will no doubt be several £10 offers on at various points throughout the season and they can pop down for a cursory look on those occasions if they felt like it. 

Thenodrog predicted years ago that reducing prices would devalue the product in the eyes of the fans and I think he was right 

 

Nonsense.  How many £10 tickets offers were there last season? One? Those people waiting to pop down would have had a long wait. The offers they did put on worked out at about the same as an ST on a pro-rata basis. 

Club - 'We're slashing prices'

Fans - 'Oh my! You've devalued the product. I won't buy a ticket now!!'

 

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, blueboy3333 said:

Nonsense.  How many £10 tickets offers were there last season? One? Those people waiting to pop down would have had a long wait. The offers they did put on worked out at about the same as an ST on a pro-rata basis. 

Club - 'We're slashing prices'

Fans - 'Oh my! You've devalued the product. I won't buy a ticket now!!'

 

Couldn't tell you as I don't think pricing per se is an issue. There were also bundles of cheap tickets though if I recall correctly.

As for the missing 15k from the Oxford game, how many would have been down for a run of the mill game on a freezing day  in February at £10?

Not many.