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[Albion] Season ticket renewals 25/26
- Thread starter Dirty Dave
- Start date
Pliny the Gull
Well-known member
- Mar 4, 2024
- 271
That lady who brought an annual season ticket for her husband, and surprised him with it as a Xmas present in his card has not helped matters.
I understand it from a business perspective (rising prices to cover other rising costs is hardly rocket science - I'm sure PBOBE will say this covers the increase in electricity amongst other things) and am not pretending for a second that I think Bloom et al. are acting out of the ordinary. They're well within their rights, and as I said in my earlier posts, the price is still completely reasonable and a good deal in the current market. As I also said earlier, they could've raised the price by considerably more and I'd still be in my seat next season. I'm not saying that Bloom is purely motivated by greed either, that'd be stupid - I'm saying that the rises are greedy.
I also don't really see The Albion as just a business that should charge customers market rate. A season ticket, whilst good value, is a big emotional commitment and it is extremely rare anywhere else to have such a highly subscribed, emotionally invested audience come back again and again regardless of the standard of the product (even if ours is unbelievably good currently). Being London based, it'd be cheaper and easier for me to swap my ST for a West Ham or Fulham one but that would be sacrilegious and something I can't even fathom doing. There isn't actually an alternative for committed season ticket holders (apart from not buying the product).
I expected rises and I expected changes to concessions (it's noticeable how old our crowd are on a home matchday) but I still think that the messaging around our profits is at odds with those increases and going to our most loyal and emotionally invested fans to cover that doesn't sit right with me. I understand that all clubs are raising prices, and some far more egregiously than ours, but we're moving into a new longer, more secure broadcasting rights period, where international rights have surpassed the domestic and the income from matchday revenue is dwarfed by other sources. In that vein, I think passing rising operational costs directly onto fans is a poor choice, if one that we, as fans, have come to accept as normal.
Well, the Albion is of course not just a business. But the business element is business.
Greed is a motive for an action and is pejorative. I don't accept that this is a correct assessment of how the club runs its business side.
If I thought the owners of my club were 'greedy' I would be campaigning to have them ousted.
If you think greed is fine and therefore you are not criticizing the club then we are an example of two people separated by a common language.
But I have a feeling you are using the word as a form of criticism, a criticism I don't accept.
That's not to say that the decision is unwise, or ill-considered.
I am unsure about that albeit, as I probably indicated, I'm not bothered.
Poyningsgull
Well-known member
- Apr 12, 2007
- 1,761
My conclusion of the well reasoned arguments throughout this thread is buy one or don't fecking buy one.....your choice.
Peacehaven Wild Kids
Well-known member
Hudson Hawk
Active member
If anyone is looking to move on 1901 seats in the west stand, please let me know as i am interested.
bluenitsuj
Listen to me!!!
Ditto, I'm looking for a 1901 seat also
Since1982
Well-known member
I went through that same thought process 2 seasons ago - dull Potterball, constant fixture changes, transport hassle and, in my case a health issue - so I cancelled and vowed to buy tickets on a match by match basis when I fancied it. As a result I missed some of the greatest performances in the history of the club. My choice but I grabbed a ST at the start of this season and will renew for next. Warm sofas aren't always all they are cracked up to be.
Was not Was
Loitering with intent
- Jul 31, 2003
- 1,608
My take on the 'market rate' issue is that from 1997 onwards, for a few years, the season ticket renewal letters from the Albion were explicit that the ST charge was above the market rate, as the club needed the extra money to survive. Now the club has a large non-matchday income, and isn't struggling to survive, STs should cost below the market rate, shouldn't they? What I'm not sure about is whether they do or not.
- Jul 27, 2024
- 955
I don’t think that’s true.
What does seem to be true is that they value football tourists more than STH who 1) don’t attend much and 2) don’t put their seat on the exchange.
I thought I was quite clear in my previous response but happy to reword if not.
In raising prices, the club are acting as a business first and foremost and have seen this as an opportunity to boost their matchday income by around 5% which helps the overall income of a club. They have raised prices in those who already give the club the most income. I think that the decision to rise the price of season tickets is one motivated by profit rather than necessity and is therefore a decision motivated by financial greed. We have a higher annual revenue than Roma (we're the 23rd biggest club in the world according to the Deloitte Money League) and the club have made a decision that they aren't willing to lose money when fans can foot the bill. It's not unusual, and is what is expected, but I don't think it should be particularly celebrated or defended.
FWIW, I'm not particularly bothered by whether an owner of a football club is greedy or not (personally any billionaire is greedy by definition and I don't know how you'd own a Premier League club without amassing masses of money you could never spend... perhaps in an offshore bank account somewhere...).
Brian Munich
teH lulZ
- Jul 7, 2008
- 437
The WAB article I read the other day calculated an avergae increase of 15% over the last 3 years. However, in the same 3 year timescale inflation is around 20% - thanks mainly to Liz Truss in late 2022. Also didn't we have a price freeze for renewals for season 22-23? I think looking at the inflation of ST prices over the long term, we can't complain too much.
- Jul 27, 2024
- 955
An increase of 5% is surely far less than BHA’s individual inflation rate eg energy costs, staff wages, player salaries etc. So it’s hardly motivated by greed or the profit motive; the club is simply trying to keep income up with rising costs.
PascalGroß Tips
Well-known member
- Jan 29, 2024
- 824
And my increase in WSU is only 2.8% … bargain
- May 8, 2018
- 11,004
I mean, if this happened to me more than 5 times in a 9 month window I’d seriously come off the Voters Roll
Fair enough!
You have equated profit with greed; I equate it with financial prudence first, and greed only when there is a captive market (as with the price of commuting to work, water and other monopolized 'businesses').
The issue in general is how much profit making can a 'business' get away with before they queer the market (in football this would be driving fans away and actually loosing money).
I want the Albion to win something, and that will take money as well as the fabled brilliance of the well-run club.
So I am not yet close to walking away.
If I don't see work starting on the monorail soon, however, I'm off.
Glad we agree re: monorail. I blame @jackalbion for the stalling on that, not the club.