Anyone know how full West Stand Upper is getting?

[Bwian]

Isn't the back of the West Stand further from the pitch than the current away end at Withdean?

See Superphil's pics for an idea

http://nortr3nixy.nimpr.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=21656&stc=1&d=1297469184

 

[Hotchilidog]

No.

Season ticket holder can't make a game, so goes to a ticket exchange to "sell" the seat for a one off game
A non-STH buyer looking for a seat, sees this seat is available and buys the seat for this one game he wants to see.
Club charges a £5 administration fee for offering this service.

Results:
STH gets money back on a game he can't attend
Non STH gets to see the game as he'd hoped, and with minimal fuss
The club makes an arrangement fee
The club, crucually, keeps both an existing STH happy and another future potential "customer" happy.

This is an excellent idea, and there is already an existing 'Stub Hub' type system at work in the states, particularly for NFL teams. Although I believe that model works in a viagogo style where the price of the ticket can exceed face value. However with the Albion setting up an exchange for PSL's surely it should not beyond them to adapt it for matchday sales too. maybe not initially but surely an aspiration for the near future.

 

[supaseagull]

You'd think selling all the seats as season tickets would be a good think - at least from a cash generation point of view. But there are some big drawbacks to it too. If you don't have walk up trade (and maybe that is a thing of the past) you won't easily cultivate new fans.

So what's better in that scenario - a 22k stadium that is sold out to season ticket holders or a 30k stadium with fewer season ticket holders but more passing trade FOR SOME GAMES but lower crowds for others?

Just thinking out loud.

Sorry to paraphrase you. However, I don't necessarily think that's going to happen. After all, if the club are succesful and we reach the hallowed ground of the Premier League then more kids will WANT to support Brighton as their natural first choice. At the moment, kids watch Match of the Day and pull out a team and not necessarily those who win all the time.

Imagine in 2-3 years time at the start of the season that a kid pulls out Glenn Murray in a Brighton kit from a pack of Match Attax knowing that he plays for his home town team?

or

Some kid in Leicester (for example) or taking a shine to Brighton just because they like the kit or they see them on Sky Sports?

After all, I lose count of the people I see around town in Newcastle, Sunderland and Blackburn shirts - why? because they're in the Premier League and have the exposure.

If the club performs well on the pitch then grassroots support will still come through regardless of the walk up trade. The the 8 & 9 year olds in my team are proof of that...5 of them have, for the first time this season, got a Brighton shirt for their birthday instead of a Chelsea or Man U shirt and that's because we're a fashionable team on the up...not because they've been able to go to matches.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

No.

Season ticket holder can't make a game, so goes to a ticket exchange to "sell" the seat for a one off game
A non-STH buyer looking for a seat, sees this seat is available and buys the seat for this one game he wants to see.
Club charges a £5 administration fee for offering this service.

Results:
STH gets money back on a game he can't attend
Non STH gets to see the game as he'd hoped, and with minimal fuss
The club makes an arrangement fee
The club, crucually, keeps both an existing STH happy and another future potential "customer" happy.

Seems fine if the game's sold out and the non-STH can't buy a match ticket. If it hasn't then (disregarding any VAT) the club gets the admin fee plus any ST/match ticket differential instead of the full price from a match ticket sale. It just doesn't seem to make any business sense to me.
Does such a system operate in this way anywhere else, the only one's I've come across before are at theatres and at Chelsea? In my experience, theatres don't re-sell return tickets untill they've sold out and at Chelsea there is a large excess demand.

 

[8ace]

Seems fine if the game's sold out and the non-STH can't buy a match ticket. If it hasn't then (disregarding any VAT) the club gets the admin fee plus any ST/match ticket differential instead of the full price from a match ticket sale. It just doesn't seem to make any business sense to me.

This.

 

[Simster]

The admin fee is a very minor reason, but the business sense is two fold:

a) for otherwise sold-out games, you've sucked in another potential fan by letting him watch the game when he otherwise
b) you've kept your STH happy. The happier he is, the more likely he will renew next year. If he realises that getting rid of tix for matches he can't make is going to leave him out of pocket again in season 2, he may not bother renewing.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

The admin fee is a very minor reason, but the business sense is two fold:

a) for otherwise sold-out games, you've sucked in another potential fan by letting him watch the game when he otherwise
b) you've kept your STH happy. The happier he is, the more likely he will renew next year. If he realises that getting rid of tix for matches he can't make is going to leave him out of pocket again in season 2, he may not bother renewing.

a) Exactly, operate it if the game's sold out.
b) Say the 500ish regular "no shows" at Withdean are all STHs who can't get along for various reasons:
Say each ticket costs the STH £20 but retails per match @ £25
If all are re-sold via the ticket exchange then BHA grosses £25 per ticket, less £15 back to the STH = £10, less £5 admin cost = £5; so the club nets £2,500/game = £57,500/season.
If 500 non-STH match tickets are sold directly to the public @ £25 then the club grosses £12,500/game = £287,500/season

 

[countrygull]

No.

Season ticket holder can't make a game, so goes to a ticket exchange to "sell" the seat for a one off game
A non-STH buyer looking for a seat, sees this seat is available and buys the seat for this one game he wants to see.
Club charges a £5 administration fee for offering this service.

Results:
STH gets money back on a game he can't attend
Non STH gets to see the game as he'd hoped, and with minimal fuss
The club makes an arrangement fee
The club, crucually, keeps both an existing STH happy and another future potential "customer" happy.

I think this is an excellent idea. However the obvious step for the club would be not to refund the STH but to bank the `refund money` into his account and deduct it from his season ticket for the following season. It will cut down on a lot of admin and of course, ensure that the STH renews his season ticket.

 

[Simster]

I think this is an excellent idea. However the obvious step for the club would be not to refund the STH but to bank the `refund money` into his account and deduct it from his season ticket for the following season. It will cut down on a lot of admin and of course, ensure that the STH renews his season ticket.

Another excellent idea.

And as Alex Dawson explains, this whole ticket exchange will only become necessary when tickets are not available on general sale because they are sold out. My point always was that this is something that needs to be considered if we sell 17-19000 season tickets meaning general sale tix are in short supply.

 

[Gwylan]

I suspect a lot of these won't renew for the following season, freeing up the empty seats for match-by-match purchase.

... unless we get promoted to the Prem

 

[Notters]

I think this is an excellent idea. However the obvious step for the club would be not to refund the STH but to bank the `refund money` into his account and deduct it from his season ticket for the following season. It will cut down on a lot of admin and of course, ensure that the STH renews his season ticket.

Or add it to his card for beer money, so the club end up getting it anyway

 

[dannyboy]

Or add it to his card for beer money, so the club end up getting it anyway

liking this idea.

of course if you know someone who wants to go then just lend them your card.

if you dont know them, lend them your card and get them to pay you a deposit equivalent to the cost of a replacement card. there would be no benefit in nicking the card as it wouldnt work if they tried to use it again if youd reported it missing.

perhaps thats how our tickets section of the forum on here could work. i cant make it so mr bloggs comes round mine with 30 quid , when he drops the card back theres his tenner. if he doesnt come back then name and shame him on nsc and he'll never get a ticket on here again. his ticket wouldnt work and youre not out of pocket when you have to pay the club a tenner for duplicate card

 

[dwayne]

Back to original topic:

I managed to book 2 seats over the phone today without attending presentation via the normal ticket office.

- Good seats are hard to come by now

- Forget upper west middle - only back 4/5 rows available

- Lower west, only front 4/5 rows available!

- so I had to plump for upper west in the corner/north side near the middle section and about 10 rows up. Not ideal but it'll do.

 

[drew]

a) Exactly, operate it if the game's sold out.
b) Say the 500ish regular "no shows" at Withdean are all STHs who can't get along for various reasons:
Say each ticket costs the STH £20 but retails per match @ £25
If all are re-sold via the ticket exchange then BHA grosses £25 per ticket, less £15 back to the STH = £10, less £5 admin cost = £5; so the club nets £2,500/game = £57,500/season.
If 500 non-STH match tickets are sold directly to the public @ £25 then the club grosses £12,500/game = £287,500/season

Have I missed something. Why do the club get £10 when they are saying they are only charging a £5 admin fee? Surely the STH should get £20 (based on West Stand Upper prices), the club keep £5 and also any 'processing charge' such as the current £2 per ticket (rip off but everyone is doing it). The only caveat I would add it that the STH should only get money if the area in which he sits is sold out (ie the price area). Otherwise the club lose out by not selling a £25 ticket which might have a slightly poorer view.

 

[Skaville]

Back to original topic:

I managed to book 2 seats over the phone today without attending presentation via the normal ticket office.

- Good seats are hard to come by now

- Forget upper west middle - only back 4/5 rows available

- Lower west, only front 4/5 rows available!

- so I had to plump for upper west in the corner/north side near the middle section and about 10 rows up. Not ideal but it'll do.

FFS! A wek till my presentation, might just do what you did tomorow.

 

[pottert]

I didn't go to presentation but my seat no is 85 row p in west stand upper,according to the virtual view that is just off the halfway line but how far back is row p

 

[Martinf]

I didn't go to presentation but my seat no is 85 row p in west stand upper,according to the virtual view that is just off the halfway line but how far back is row p

16 rows back

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Have I missed something. Why do the club get £10 when they are saying they are only charging a £5 admin fee? Surely the STH should get £20 (based on West Stand Upper prices), the club keep £5 and also any 'processing charge' such as the current £2 per ticket (rip off but everyone is doing it). The only caveat I would add it that the STH should only get money if the area in which he sits is sold out (ie the price area). Otherwise the club lose out by not selling a £25 ticket which might have a slightly poorer view.

No you haven't, just an assumption from me that the club should be able to make something on the re-sale; I'd rather this than have the "new" purchaser pay for the running costs of the ticket exchange.

 

[kingcole]

a) Exactly, operate it if the game's sold out.
b) Say the 500ish regular "no shows" at Withdean are all STHs who can't get along for various reasons:
Say each ticket costs the STH £20 but retails per match @ £25
If all are re-sold via the ticket exchange then BHA grosses £25 per ticket, less £15 back to the STH = £10, less £5 admin cost = £5; so the club nets £2,500/game = £57,500/season.
If 500 non-STH match tickets are sold directly to the public @ £25 then the club grosses £12,500/game = £287,500/season

I understand this is the system at the Emirates - and it operates only once a game is sold out.

We really do need this.

Must add, my thoughts are that in additon to the 900 kept back in the southern east stand, there will always be some pickings for general sale in the family stand, for those with kids