Article on QPR - interesting facts about Brighton

[Will_dance_for_chocolate]

Do you know this as a fact? Not disputing it, just that I have been trying to find out which, if any, clubs announce real attendance figures and all I found was the Spurs (apparently) do. Personally I'd like to see real attendance figures, as opposed to tickets sold, for all clubs but if most clubs are announcing tickets sold why would AFCB and Spurs buck the trend?

I know for a fact that AFCB announce people in the stadium rather than tickets sold. Pretty much every home game post Christmas this season was home sellout and some pre-Christmas as well yet the attendances fall well short of that. Even allowing for away teams that didn't sell all their tickets, the numbers couldn't possibly reflect a ticket sales number.

Easy example, AFCB v Boro in March. Top of the table clash and tickets for home and away ends very tricky to get. Announced attendance was just under 11k so 700 seats were unused on the day. A few would have been lost to the extra Sky camera positions but even allowing for them, there's still an a shortfall that wasn't down to lack of demand or ticket sales.

There's an article out there somewhere about clubs in the PL that do it both ways. Seems more announce sales than attendees these days but some do stick to the figure that fans would, I think, generally prefer to hear.

 

[Will_dance_for_chocolate]

For accounting purposes the only figure that matters is tickets sold. The accounts won't disallow a percentage of ticket revenue just because a certain number of people paid but didn't turn up!

For the purposes of fans who love to debate the point, actual bums on seats is the interesting figure.

Agreed. For accounting purposes the numbers in the published accounts will of course be revenue raised, irrelevant of whether the person turned up. My point was that somewhere in the article was a table that compared attendance figures and in that table he isn't comparing like-with-like. Admittedly not the most important table in the article by a long chalk but it was just demonstrative that, even in something that seems as simple and transparent as attendance figures, the numbers presented can show different things for different clubs and so is an inexact comparison. When you start drawing the numbers from the accounts it can get a whole lot messier to draw comparisons as you don't know whats been done in the accounting.

It might seem trivial when talking about the number of people in the stadium and who is supported better but when you're drawing financial conclusions without full information its easily possible to make missteps due to lack of information.

If everything you needed to know about a company and its figures was in the accounts then people wouldn't need accountants to run due diligence when taking over. Like I said, there is a lot you can do even with a High St accountant. I'd imagine the guys some of the clubs employ are a few rungs on the ladder above that. None of which is implying anything illegal - its rare for a club to get into that territory (hello Glasgow Rangers!) but lets not pretend you can just join the dots between the different clubs accounts and assume they always mean exactly the same thing in all cases.

 

[Will_dance_for_chocolate]

So you are therefore saying that BHAFC's income from ticket sales in correct but (unless 100% of ticket holders turn up) Bournemouth's is understated.

No, in the accounts the figures for this part are both comparable. As mentioned above I'm referring to the attendance comparison table that is included in the article.

If AFCB understated their income in the official accounts they'd be getting a knock on the door from a friendly HMRC representative for a little chat. And then some.

 

[perseus]

On an finances thread, the accountant might be interested in Match Day Income (because of the highly variable admission costs):



Two factors. Albion underrated this in the 2012-13 accounts and it was corrected to a higher figure in the latest accounts. And we might have to deduct the payment for transport.

 

[Sheebo]

For example, in his attendance stats some clubs announce tickets sold (you), others announce people in the stadium (AFCB). That one isn't his fault but shows there are going to be significant difficulties in some of the comparisons he's trying to draw.

I absolutely hate the fact we do this BUT I feel we were forced into it by other clubs. First case I heard of was Arsenal doing this (I'm sure there were others and doubt they were the first!). The first time I realised it was becoming an increasingly 'popular' sharade was when our community police officer tweeted BOTH attendances in a game v Palace at Selhurst. The official attendance was the higher 'tickets sold' so it doesn't suprise me the Albion followed suit the next season. It gives an unfair view on attendances. Every club should announce it the same. Preferably bums on seats.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

QPR have just bid £3m for Massimo Luongo, the Swindon midfielder.

Good to see FFP in force so early.

They can use parachute payments which being from the Premier League, can't be touched by the Football League, as I understand it.

 

[chaileyjem]

On an finances thread, the accountant might be interested in Match Day Income (because of the highly variable admission costs):


Two factors. Albion underrated this in the 2012-13 accounts and it was corrected to a higher figure in the latest accounts. And we might have to deduct the payment for transport.

PS: There's a more detailed post all about the Albion by Swiss Ramble that he published when Albion's accounts came out in January.
He acknowledges these points and says our match day revenue includes the transport levy.

Even taken into account the match day revenue figure is still, well in advance of other Champ clubs although there's a good chance they will have dipped in 2014/15 and almost certainly will fall further in 2015/16 unless crowds are boosted a lot by a promotion/top 6 campaign. (given the decline in season ticket holders)
http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/brighton-and-hove-albion-love-at-pier.html

 

[perseus]

PS: There's a more detailed post all about the Albion by Swiss Ramble that he published when Albion's accounts came out in January.
He acknowledges these points and says our match day revenue includes the transport levy.

Even taken into account the match day revenue figure is still, well in advance of other Champ clubs although there's a good chance they will have dipped in 2014/15 and almost certainly will fall further in 2015/16 unless crowds are boosted a lot by a promotion/top 6 campaign. (given the decline in season ticket holders)
http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/brighton-and-hove-albion-love-at-pier.html

2013-14 #: £10.4 million is gate receipts only, not the pies etc. cf. Sunderland £15.8 m (includes Cup run) cf: Norwich £11.3 m (PL)

 

[perseus]

Update. Derby County have 3,000 youngsters that pay a fixed sum each year to get in (hearsay). I bet they are added in their total every match?