Category A Pricing. Is it too much?

[Steve.S]

I just can not see how much lower the club could go. I am in the ESU and my st works out at £28 a game, now for a match day ticket it is I believe £40. That makes the difference £12, so to attend every game on a match to match basis would work out at £920 for every game and I pay £650 the difference being £270. So if I decided to pay match by match, I could go to 16 games a season and it would cost me £640 missing 7 games, as I only miss roughly 2 a season it still better for me to get a ST. If you talk about dropping match day ticket prices to say £35 for my seat, you could then get to 18 matches for £630 missing only 5 matches. So the problem for the club is, if they drop match day tickets by to much, it would have a big effect on season tickets as far more people would revert to cherry picking the matches they attend. The balance for the club is to sale seats before a season starts, so by the end of next week the club would have sold most of the seats as season tickets and have the income from them set. If they start to drop match day tickets, more STHs would perhaps not renew and move to a match to match basis. The best way for the club to go is surely offer STHs incentives to bring along friends and family and to offer loyalty cards to non STHs who attend a lot of matches in a season making it cheaper the more matches you attend, but a little bit more then STHs pay

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Today's game against Reading is a great barometer in my opinion.

It's a beautiful day. We are in with the shout of the Play Offs and are facing a local team in a vitally important 6 pointer. Our season will effectively be over if we lose the next two games. These factors should mean 'Big Attendance'

Yet, looking at the available tickets, at this stage we had sold a lot more for the game against Wigan (Category C). QPR does not seem to be selling any better.

A couple of months ago Reading brought over 2000 for a cup game (great pricing) but today, also for them what could be a season defining game, they are expecting to bring around half that number.

QPR sold out their 3000 plus allocation at Charlton well before the game a couple of weeks back, but against us, they have shifted about half what they took to Charlton, despite the Amex being a new stadium for them.

The Amex is a great stadium and the benefit of transport is also superb, but however it's dressed up, pay by game punters and away fans would seem to prefer to save £7 and choose an inferior fixture. This might bode well if we one day found ourselves back in league one, where pricing would need to be keener, but for the time being, I think it shows that no matter who the opposition, £32 plus booking fees is way to much to pay for a football match in the Championship is simply way too high.

The realistic market price is currently being masked by the freakishly high number of STH. When these drop off, as they surely will next season, then expect the prices to drop accordingly.

 

[armchairclubber]

What I really object to is having to pay £28 to upgrade a child season ticket to an adult in the WSU wings (not the most expensive part of the ground). With all the fixture changing to night games etc it's impossible for many kids to make the games, especially with poor public transport and a two hour journey home. There doesn't appear any benefit in having a kids S/T if overcharged for upgrading, so I will not be renewing, unfortunately.

 

[kingcole]

What I really object to is having to pay £28 to upgrade a child season ticket to an adult in the WSU wings (not the most expensive part of the ground). With all the fixture changing to night games etc it's impossible for many kids to make the games, especially with poor public transport and a two hour journey home. There doesn't appear any benefit in having a kids S/T if overcharged for upgrading, so I will not be renewing, unfortunately.

I seem to remember Palace having a policy that a kids season ticket could be used by an adult for evening games.

Seems like a great idea.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

I seem to remember Palace having a policy that a kids season ticket could be used by an adult for evening games.

Seems like a great idea.

I agree, that was a great idea from palace. I wonder if it's still in operation now that they are in the premier league and eight thousand extra 'fans' have returned?

In the family stand it's annoying, but understandable, how many gaps there are at evening games. That kind of policy could help boost numbers and therefore revenue.

 

[loz]

Yes kids season tickets can be used by Adults if the game is on a school night.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Yes kids season tickets can be used by Adults if the game is on a school night.

A good policy from your club.