[Football] Ending Season Ticket Culture

[portlock seagull]

With demand at an all time high, and the failure of many to use the ticket exchange, should ST’s now be paying a premium above the pro-rata matchday cost for the right to have first dibs on a seat for home (and to an extent away) matches? I wonder how long it will be before PL clubs phase out ST’s and the associated discount, to encourage more high spending tourist type supporters instead of legacy fans?

 

[West Upper Seagull]

If that ever happens at our club then it will mean we will have completely lost our soul and forgotten our roots. It would be bad if the club turned their back on the supporters that helped keep the club going in our dark days.

 

[Bombardier]

With demand at an all time high, and the failure of many to use the ticket exchange, should ST’s now be paying a premium above the pro-rata matchday cost for the right to have first dibs on a seat for home (and to an extent away) matches? I wonder how long it will be before PL clubs phase out ST’s and the associated discount, to encourage more high spending tourist type supporters instead of legacy fans?

I placed my Everton ticket on the exchange a full week before the game. It and loads of others never sold. All this bollocks about lots of people waiting for tickets, demand outstripping supply etc. I think Barber has his head up his ass sometimes!!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

With demand at an all time high, and the failure of many to use the ticket exchange, should ST’s now be paying a premium above the pro-rata matchday cost for the right to have first dibs on a seat for home (and to an extent away) matches? I wonder how long it will be before PL clubs phase out ST’s and the associated discount, to encourage more high spending tourist type supporters instead of legacy fans?

High spending tourist type supporters are temporary, legacy fans are permanent

 

[portlock seagull]

High spending tourist type supporters are temporary, legacy fans are permanent

As if that matters.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

As if that matters.

It will when the tourists all vanish overnight with any future loss of EPL status

 

[portlock seagull]

I placed my Everton ticket on the exchange a full week before the game. It and loads of others never sold. All this bollocks about lots of people waiting for tickets, demand outstripping supply etc. I think Barber has his head up his ass sometimes!!

Maybe because it was a single. ST culture prevents people from buying seats together and might discourage them?

 

[Clive Walker]

I placed my Everton ticket on the exchange a full week before the game. It and loads of others never sold. All this bollocks about lots of people waiting for tickets, demand outstripping supply etc. I think Barber has his head up his ass sometimes!!

Indeed. With 2 days to go w1c looks like this for the Chelsea match.

 

[portlock seagull]

It will when the tourists all vanish overnight with any future loss of EPL status

Owners come and go though, sell up and move on etc. Nobody cares about whether you stick by the club in leaner times. It’s about driving revenue now. Striking whilst the irons hot.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Indeed. With 2 days to go w1c looks like this for the Chelsea match.

At £65-£70 for a ticket I’m not surprised

 

[Commander]

It will when the tourists all vanish overnight with any future loss of EPL status

They won't though, will they? Remember Palace going on about how all our new fans would disappear in the 2nd season at the Amex?

When I was a kid I was the only Brighton fan at my school. The only person I knew who owned a Brighton shirt. Go to any kids football coaching session anywhere in Sussex and the ratios of shirts go 30% big 6, 20% random other teams, 50% Brighton. The Amex is full of a new generation of young fans, who come accompanied by their parents, who have gradually started to get hooked. I know so many people like this. There is just no way on Earth they are all going to disappear if / when we get relegated. It's a complete nonsense idea. Yes, gates would drop- how many Championship teams get 30,000+ every week?

It's this demographic that swells the Amex attendances, and they are here to stay. The 'tourists' are people like the Japanese here to watch Mitoma, and the odd person or family who wants to watch a Premier League match for the first time. That is a tiny percentage of the Amex crowd.

So in fact, maybe the 'tourists' might vanish overnight if we were relegated, but it would make virtually no difference, and be completely within the normal parameters of a team getting relegated, and we'd still be in the top 2 or 3 supported clubs in the Championship.

I know it bothers some people,, but our 'legacy fans' (and yes I am one of them) aren't special. Sorry.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

I think it's an interesting thought in general - back in the Goldstone days season ticket holders were a minority, but ever since we've moved to the Amex almost every seat is sold for the season.

No, of course they shouldn't be more expensive, they are discounted for a reason, because they are a bulk purchase, but I do think that season ticket holders should appreciate this more, and realise it's not their seat to share with whoever they like, sell to whoever they like, get refunds whenever they can't go, and so on. They are getting a discount that isn't available to the rest of us.

There are so many seats available for this friday on the exchange, yet my Dad can't buy a discounted over-65 ticket because the few matchday tickets available have already sold out. That's not the club's fault, but because our stadium is clogged up with season ticket holders who are prepared to take the hit of not going one or two weeks. So maybe there is some merit in the OPs idea after all. There do seem to be a lot of season ticket holders who don't really need one.

 

[Official Old Man]

At £65-£70 for a ticket I’m not surprised

I was going to see War of the Worlds at the Brighton Centre until I saw the cost of tickets. Makes an EPL ticket look cheap.
As for the darts, second mortgage time.

 

[portlock seagull]

They won't though, will they? Remember Palace going on about how all our new fans would disappear in the 2nd season at the Amex?

When I was a kid I was the only Brighton fan at my school. The only person I knew who owned a Brighton shirt. Go to any kids football coaching session anywhere in Sussex and the ratios of shirts go 30% big 6, 20% random other teams, 50% Brighton. The Amex is full of a new generation of young fans, who come accompanied by their parents, who have gradually started to get hooked. I know so many people like this. There is just no way on Earth they are all going to disappear if / when we get relegated. It's a complete nonsense idea. Yes, gates would drop- how many Championship teams get 30,000+ every week?

It's this demographic that swells the Amex attendances, and they are here to stay. The 'tourists' are people like the Japanese here to watch Mitoma, and the odd person or family who wants to watch a Premier League match for the first time. That is a tiny percentage of the Amex crowd.

So in fact, maybe the 'tourists' might vanish overnight if we were relegated, but it would make virtually no difference, and be completely within the normal parameters of a team getting relegated, and we'd still be in the top 2 or 3 supported clubs in the Championship.

I know it bothers some people,, but our 'legacy fans' (and yes I am one of them) aren't special. Sorry.

I agree legacy fans aren’t anything special, but less confident about people sticking around if we drop down the divisions amongst other factors such as the economy, crowd violence etc. You just don’t know what’s around the corner and footballs not immune.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

I think it's an interesting thought in general - back in the Goldstone days season ticket holders were a minority, but ever since we've moved to the Amex almost every seat is sold for the season.

No, of course they shouldn't be more expensive, they are discounted for a reason, because they are a bulk purchase, but I do think that season ticket holders should appreciate this more, and realise it's not their seat to share with whoever they like, sell to whoever they like, get refunds whenever they can't go, and so on. They are getting a discount that isn't available to the rest of us.

There are so many seats available for this friday on the exchange, yet my Dad can't buy a discounted over-65 ticket because the few matchday tickets available have already sold out. That's not the club's fault, but because our stadium is clogged up with season ticket holders who are prepared to take the hit of not going one or two weeks. So maybe there is some merit in the OPs idea after all. There do seem to be a lot of season ticket holders who don't really need one.

On your last point the club have taken action already from next season you must use, share, or list your season ticket for 75% of matches and you must personally attend 25% of games to guarantee maintaining your season ticket

 

[portlock seagull]

No, of course they shouldn't be more expensive, they are discounted for a reason

That’s an old mindset though, and is being challenged by those that run the game. Hence thought be an interesting thread. At the very least the discount will be removed albeit you could argue it already has been and is just marketed as such.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

On your last point the club have taken action already from next season you must use, share, or list your season ticket for 75% of matches and you must personally attend 25% of games to guarantee maintaining your season ticket

Yeah, although I would certainly argue if you went to less than 75% of games you don't need a season ticket.

I think there are so many perks associated with having a season ticket, primarily being able to secure away tickets, that people are prepared to take a loss on them. However this does directly or indirectly exclude a lot of people from getting tickets to games.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

That’s an old mindset though, and is being challenged by those that run the game. Hence thought be an interesting thread. At the very least the discount will be removed albeit you could argue it already has been and is just marketed as such.

Yeah, more I think about it the more you have a point. I do think that if you went to every game, more or less, you should be entitled to the discount. But it is true that as well at the discount, people are also getting priority for away games, a seat in the best / preferred parts of the ground (for many) and an ability to sell the ticket via the club scheme if you can't go, making this ticket way more valuable than just a guaranteed seat.

I disagree with you that this should be priced higher just for the purpose of making more space for tourists, but it could easily be priced higher to reflect the true value of a season ticket at Brighton.

 

[portlock seagull]

I think there are so many perks associated with having a season ticket, primarily being able to secure away tickets

I agree, and it’s another increased revenue driver to look at also ie substantially increase away ticket prices because demand massively outstrips supply.

 

[SouthSaxon]

Maybe because it was a single. ST culture prevents people from buying seats together and might discourage them?

This is definitely a thing. As a non-STH currently* I enjoy going more when my lad can go too, but it’s often hard to find two tickets together in our price range.

* Had one back in the Championship days but had to give it up.