Colchester at home family day

[blade too long]

First raft of home ticket prices unveiled and the home game with Colchester has been designated a family day with tickets from £10
notts county , being on sky has been lowered to £18
MK Dons is cat A at £22

The variation in price shows theres a fair bit of playing to the market going on, in these austere times

 

[axel smeets]

Cat A in the Third Division? For our 3rd straight season in the third division? Why don't they just have one price, scrap the £10 games and have done with it?

This kind of activity from United is utterly deplorable - no, in fact disgusting is the word I would use.

 

[raul]

Indeed. If there's one thing you can't find to criticise at BDT it's their flexibility on pricing.

 

[blade too long]

Cat A in the Third Division? For our 3rd straight season in the third division? Why don't they just have one price, scrap the £10 games and have done with it?

This kind of activity from United is utterly deplorable - no, in fact disgusting is the word I would use.

its a necessity, these are auster times we know we will get people in to watch us play rotherham , notts county bradford, but have to entice people for games like crewe, crawley colchester as lets face it , they dont curdle the blood, we are not alone , think 91 other clubs have to market their seats , even man utd advertise on talksport now

 

[blade too long]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21142999

interesting read

 

[blade too long]

Attendance change in 5 years

2007-082011-12Difference

Ipswich
504,497 down to
420,138
84,357 loss
Coventry
439,832
337,735
102,097
Bristol C
374,346
318,225
56,121
Palace
368,706
350,042
18,664
Watford
388,154
292,182
95,972
Barnsley
263,398
227,627
35,771
Total
2,338,933
1,945,949
392,986 teams
thats some hefty income loss ,Coventry 102000 less tickets at 20 notes per head in a season down is 20 million down

 

[axel smeets]

its a necessity, these are auster times we know we will get people in to watch us play rotherham , notts county bradford, but have to entice people for games like crewe, crawley colchester as lets face it , they dont curdle the blood, we are not alone , think 91 other clubs have to market their seats , even man utd advertise on talksport now

Yes, I understand that people have got little disposable income, that these are austere times etc. However,
how can the club justify having different pricing categories in Div Three? I understand the need to get bums on seats, but over pricing, in the case of the Fake Wimbledon tickets, and underpricing the Colchester tickets can only lead to the poor house for United. We will struggle to sell enough of the higher priced tickets, and then would need to sell thousands of the lower priced tickets to make a profit.

 

[blade too long]

of course it can , its an entertaiment industry
if your paying to see robbie williams at an arena you pay more than to see jedward
for those 2 insert wolves and crawley

 

[Pedro Verde]

of course it can , its an entertaiment industry
if your paying to see robbie williams at an arena you pay more than to see jedward
for those 2 insert wolves and crawley

I would want paying to go and see Jedward. I would demand £100 per hour for Jedward having the privelidge of me bring in their audience

 

[axel smeets]

I'd rather be strangled with my own lower intestine that watch either of those two though!!

 

[blade too long]

Its why I used them as an example, ,but it demonstrates the difference of appeal, we wont have to convince people to go to the wolves game, but we sure will for the Gillingham game

 

[Sharrowblade]

Cat A in the Third Division? For our 3rd straight season in the third division? Why don't they just have one price, scrap the £10 games and have done with it?

This kind of activity from United is utterly deplorable - no, in fact disgusting is the word I would use.

Your argument sounds like its coming from the view of a season ticket holder, and in that regards I can understand it, ... its pretty natural that season ticket holders do sometimes get a bit miffed when they've paid their money upfront and then the club announces 'cheap offers on single matches'.

But, as been pointed out we are where we are (League 1). Lets face it the non season ticket holders aren't going to rush to watch Colchester. (no offence intended).

As somebody who is actively trying to do the '92' with his lads, we went to a Championship game last season because it was the school hoildays and I for once had a free night. My lads were 9 and 8, I enquired for tickets in the away end (for obvious reasons) and was quoted £66. The home team were running an offer, 1 adult, 2 children £25.

There was a huge number of families in the section we were in, many of the kids obviously going for the first time, perhaps with parents who don't normally bother. It put 4,000 on the average gate and gave them their highest gate of the season. The number of kids who were asking to go again at the end was astonishing.
Many won't of course, but some will.

Ultimately, United take the view as many clubs will have to, that at times, its better to get 50% of something, ........rather than 100% of nothing.

 

[Pedro Verde]

As a ST holder I dont have a problem with a few cheap games against the likes of Colchester, Crawley and Gillingham it will help the attendance and hopefully make the atmosphere a little better.
The club as a way of rewarding ST holders should probably give us a free or well discounted ticket for a couple of home cup matches, I know this has implications with the FA and the opposition but Im sure there couls be a way round it.

 

[axel smeets]

Your argument sounds like its coming from the view of a season ticket holder, and in that regards I can understand it, ... its pretty natural that season ticket holders do sometimes get a bit miffed when they've paid their money upfront and then the club announces 'cheap offers on single matches'.

But, as been pointed out we are where we are (League 1). Lets face it the non season ticket holders aren't going to rush to watch Colchester. (no offence intended).

As somebody who is actively trying to do the '92' with his lads, we went to a Championship game last season because it was the school hoildays and I for once had a free night. My lads were 9 and 8, I enquired for tickets in the away end (for obvious reasons) and was quoted £66. The home team were running an offer, 1 adult, 2 children £25.

There was a huge number of families in the section we were in, many of the kids obviously going for the first time, perhaps with parents who don't normally bother. It put 4,000 on the average gate and gave them their highest gate of the season. The number of kids who were asking to go again at the end was astonishing.
Many won't of course, but some will.

Ultimately, United take the view as many clubs will have to, that at times, its better to get 50% of something, ........rather than 100% of nothing.

Yes, I am a ST holder, but I don't make the argument from that view. For me, the £10 games were a great idea in the Championship, where the television income was greater, and United were getting thousands more through the turnstiles.

I think now we are in League One, we cannot afford to have these £10 games because there aren't thousands out there at the moment thinking 'hmm, shall I go, or shan't I?' Most people at the moment are either going or they aren't. Division Three makes people draw a line in the sand. If we get back to the Championship, thousands who haven't been bothered for the last three years will soon start to regain an interest, and then we may have a market to attract fans back with these offers.

Basically, I just don't think there are enough people out there right now who are bothered about coming for United to take such a significant dip in their match day income.

 

[Grecian2000]

Very odd, I actually think the lower you go the more flexible you need to be on pricing in order to keep interest high.

I think the problem is around season ticket holders though. If you pay £230 for a ST (simply used as a means of making the maths easy) then why does anyone assume that equates to £10 per game for all games? Why doesn't it actually equate to 6 games @ £5, 11 games @ £10 and 6 games @ £15?
This means for the games designated as "low value" you could start match day prices at £7/£8 and ST's would still be better off and "high value" you could be getting £20 for the walk ups.

For me, the day of fixed prices can only be sustained at the highest level where you know you're going to get a good gate because the opposition will a) be of good standard and b) will bring plenty with them.

 

[blade too long]

Dont forget st holders get first dibs at cup tickets , and other discounts for bring a friend etc
Football is losing its appeal, the obscene wages paid to what are in many cases ordinary players has alienated a lot of die hard genuine supporters, the modern Sky supporter, picks and chooses games, our cross city piggy freinds are whooping in delight at selling 11500 season tickets , which compared to a decade ago is pathetic

 

[Maidenhead]

its a necessity, these are auster times we know we will get people in to watch us play rotherham , notts county bradford, but have to entice people for games like crewe, crawley colchester as lets face it , they dont curdle the blood, we are not alone , think 91 other clubs have to market their seats , even man utd advertise on talksport now

Indeed, not so long ago Man Utd had a lengthy waiting list for season tickets. Today I delivered several advertising mailshots suggesting to people that because they had bought tickets for OT in the past they may like to buy a season ticket now.

Not so long ago such marketing would have seemed unthinkable but times is tight and every club needs to squeeze every last penny it can.

As a kop ST holdser we pay about £13 a game for every game with good seats guaranteed. I have no problem with the club working hard to boost revenues in any way they can.

 

[Grecian2000]

As a kop ST holdser we pay about £13 a game for every game with good seats guaranteed.

See my post 15.

It's this general thinking that it equates to £13 per match (and it is ingrained in virtually everone) that we could do with getting away from.
As soon as you think "it's £13 per match" you get into the mindset that you are paying over the odds if a £10 game is announced (with some exceptions of course).
My thinking would be to issue a leaflet with the ST saying it's £299 made up of 5 x £8, 13 x £13 and 5 x £18 (and naming the opposition each applies to). Still adds up to the £299 but as soon as it's announced Colchester is generally £10, you know you're still rewarded by £2 for buying your ST.

 

[Maidenhead]

See my post 15.

It's this general thinking that it equates to £13 per match (and it is ingrained in virtually everone) that we could do with getting away from.
As soon as you think "it's £13 per match" you get into the mindset that you are paying over the odds if a £10 game is announced (with some exceptions of course).
My thinking would be to issue a leaflet with the ST saying it's £299 made up of 5 x £8, 13 x £13 and 5 x £18 (and naming the opposition each applies to). Still adds up to the £299 but as soon as it's announced Colchester is generally £10, you know you're still rewarded by £2 for buying your ST.

Just the opposite with me.

I look at it and think it's bloody good value for the same seats, neighbours etc guaranteed.

I'd have no problem with some games being a fiver, never mind a tenner. I'm still getting great value.

You will never find me casting envious glances because someone got a seat for one game cheaper than me.

UTB

 

[Hartley Hare]

Who is Jedward? is he related to Chedwyn?

 

[Bladesway]

If it brings more fans to the match and more younger ones at that where is the issue?

Its not like we are turning people away is it?

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

First raft of home ticket prices unveiled and the home game with Colchester has been designated a family day with tickets from £10
notts county , being on sky has been lowered to £18
MK Dons is cat A at £22

The variation in price shows theres a fair bit of playing to the market going on, in these austere times

How the fuck is any 3rd division game Cat A?
We should start at Cat G for Wolves and work down.

What happens if we get one of the top 4 in the Prem in the cup, Cat A+++++?