[Albion] Fans' Forum follow-up on the season ticket sharing scheme
- Thread starter Bozza
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Justice
Dangerous Idiot
We are a PL club, not getting all this searching behind the sofa for loose change with this and the Spurs cup tickets.
Last edited:
- Jun 27, 2012
- 14,587
Liverpool had a fanzine called When Sunday Comes in 1990 (a play on the still going magazine When Saturday Comes) - reflecting that their games were always moved for TV.
32 years ago...
Hotchilidog
Well-known member
- Jan 24, 2009
- 9,115
This club is many things but judging by the accounts a profiteer is not one of them.
Iggle Piggle
Well-known member
- Sep 3, 2010
- 5,929
First things first - That announcement clearly isn't all bad by a long way. Price freezing again is great and they have avoided the obvious way round this of a 1% increase across the board and scrapping the £20. I get the point that not everyone wants to lend out an ST albeit I can't say I've ever met anyone who'd rather their seat was empty when they weren't there. Also, it's fair to say the club do think about these issues much more than I give them credit for reading what [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] has posted and haven't taken any decisions lightly. I have a small gripe that some of the transfering of tickets was bought in under the guise of covid which we've moved on from. Fair enough on that point but some honesty up front might blunt the calls of bullshit from the beginning about why the scheme was introduced.
Its also good that you can lend out for a game a season for free. For example, I didn't bother with Everton at home this year as my mate was at a wedding. I'd normally borrow his ticket(s) in that scenario. It was the only game he has missed all season and we decided it really wasn't worth us coughing 90 quid between us for 1 game and 2 tickets. At least that scenario is avoided albeit you could argue 1 game is tight given it won't be long before we kick off at midnight to gain a better audience in Saudi but let's not go there.
Where I think we will still see loads of empty seats is the transfer to a MyAlbion+ member only bit. I've never been a fan of buying this as a non ST holder. The benefits for sales windows and the like are so negligible as to not worth bothering with. I aceept that If you want to borrow a ST it is a necessary evil now. For me and my youngest - we go to as many games we realistically can a year - I will reluctantly pay it. The wider picture is that I used to begrudgingly drag the wife and eldest along to a game a season. Sometimes my Dad who was a season ticket at the Goldstone. They don't want or need Albion+ and consequently aren't likely to go to anything anymore when spare seats crop up. 1901 members can still transfer to whoever they want (I'm pretty sure but happy to be corrected) , why the difference for "normal" fans? If you have a fan number they'd know who the tickets were going to. Surely it's worth trying to encourage the new fan?
Lastly, If the objective really is to find out whose going, this scheme to an extent will do the opposite. If I was a ST holder I'd insist on going back to paper or utilise a tech fix.
Its also good that you can lend out for a game a season for free. For example, I didn't bother with Everton at home this year as my mate was at a wedding. I'd normally borrow his ticket(s) in that scenario. It was the only game he has missed all season and we decided it really wasn't worth us coughing 90 quid between us for 1 game and 2 tickets. At least that scenario is avoided albeit you could argue 1 game is tight given it won't be long before we kick off at midnight to gain a better audience in Saudi but let's not go there.
Where I think we will still see loads of empty seats is the transfer to a MyAlbion+ member only bit. I've never been a fan of buying this as a non ST holder. The benefits for sales windows and the like are so negligible as to not worth bothering with. I aceept that If you want to borrow a ST it is a necessary evil now. For me and my youngest - we go to as many games we realistically can a year - I will reluctantly pay it. The wider picture is that I used to begrudgingly drag the wife and eldest along to a game a season. Sometimes my Dad who was a season ticket at the Goldstone. They don't want or need Albion+ and consequently aren't likely to go to anything anymore when spare seats crop up. 1901 members can still transfer to whoever they want (I'm pretty sure but happy to be corrected) , why the difference for "normal" fans? If you have a fan number they'd know who the tickets were going to. Surely it's worth trying to encourage the new fan?
Lastly, If the objective really is to find out whose going, this scheme to an extent will do the opposite. If I was a ST holder I'd insist on going back to paper or utilise a tech fix.
- Thread starter
- #26
I'm sorry, but I just don't get this.
We are a Premier League club. The Premier League has a raft of high-paying media deals which means games are played at different times of the week. We enter the FA Cup, a competition that, again, has pre-arranged media deals for when selected games are going to be screened. Clubs have limited influence on these things, at least in the very short term.
However, despite this...
- The club did push for the Spurs game to be played earlier in order to give Albion fans more travel options. Spurs were happy with that and the FA were happy with that but the broadcaster, ITV in this instance, wanted to retain the 8pm kick-off.
- There was no detail provided, but it sounded like there was an attempt to move the kick-off time of the West Brom tie *after* Albion fans had already bought match tickets, but the club resisted that move.
- I might get in trouble for this bit, but I know for a fact that the postponement of the Manchester United league game was announced when it was - early Thursday afternoon - because our club pushed for the announcement to save fans from unnecesary travel. Many other games being postponed were announced far closer to kick-off than ours.
Clubs have their hands tied, to a degree on things like kick-off times, but I see more than enough evidence to honestly believe that our club works very hard on our behalf to give us the best of what is possible.
- Thread starter
- #27
A PL club which lost £67m for the season covered by the last published accounts.
Thanks for the clarification. There’s still a bit of a contradiction in the various options in my view - all of the issues he attributes arising when tickets can be shared by a simple passing in of a card also applies to ST Guest tickets, which are still flogged for every home game with no idea who is using them (away fans, banned fans and could easily be touted etc).
Still sense there’s a fair number (like me) a little frustrated that there’s no (legitimate) way at all of passing a single ticket to a non-member, even once a season, but what was clear from the forum - and reinforced in the response above - is the drive (and rationale in terms of relative conversion rate to STH) to get people to become members which makes sense from the club’s perspective (both in terms of revenue, and future marketing).
Still sense there’s a fair number (like me) a little frustrated that there’s no (legitimate) way at all of passing a single ticket to a non-member, even once a season, but what was clear from the forum - and reinforced in the response above - is the drive (and rationale in terms of relative conversion rate to STH) to get people to become members which makes sense from the club’s perspective (both in terms of revenue, and future marketing).
That's the point I took away as well.
I've never thought the club was "profiteering" as such but have had an issue with the impact on people who want an ST but struggle to make ends meet. The bloke I travel to games with has 2 STs for him and his teenage son and was married when he got them and contracting. Now he has split up and is paying rent and mortgage and has also had to go permanent because of IR35. £20 has gone from easily affordable to something he has moaned about all season and, as a result, his seats have been empty for four home games this season.
But actually, had the club just increased his ST by £20 for him and £10 for his son and spread the cost by DD would he really have noticed or complained?
I'm coming at this from the lucky PoV of someone who could pay the £20 if I wanted without any real impact on my budget but then I try to get to most games. The obvious exception was Brentford and I certainly wasn't going to pay a one off £20 to miss that when I had exactly zero people asking me for the ticket.
The point about "unwanteds" though - I don't think the same rigor is applied to away tickets. ID isn't checked by the home club and with Covid I do wonder if there are Tier 1ers who aren't going away any more but racking up the points and passing the tickets to those in lower bands?
Justice
Dangerous Idiot
Which also spent near on £50m in the last window
- Jun 27, 2012
- 14,587
Amazing isn't it that they have a chairman and board who aren't keen on them losing the odd 50K here and there. Oh well.
Some good information in there Bozza, which does help give a different side of the story.
Not sure about this aspect though: The club have also seen a further knock-on effect of the scheme where some families who previously held, say, 3 season tickets, now hold just 2 as well as an additional club membership knowing that they can make do by legitimately sharing their 2 season tickets across the wider family at a reduced cost.
If people weren't bothered about seeing every game then previously they could have dropped to 2 tickets and shared them among themselves for free. I know there was a limit on how often this could be done 'officially' but seem to remember it was quite a few games, and that assumes the ST holders were being up front about who was actually using the ticket. So I can't see how paying for the privilege makes that more attractive.
A combination of COVID wariness and tough times for a lot of people's finances therefore seem a more likely explanation for ditching a season ticket, in which case the purchase of an additional club membership would be a bonus for the club, rather than money lost.
Not sure about this aspect though: The club have also seen a further knock-on effect of the scheme where some families who previously held, say, 3 season tickets, now hold just 2 as well as an additional club membership knowing that they can make do by legitimately sharing their 2 season tickets across the wider family at a reduced cost.
If people weren't bothered about seeing every game then previously they could have dropped to 2 tickets and shared them among themselves for free. I know there was a limit on how often this could be done 'officially' but seem to remember it was quite a few games, and that assumes the ST holders were being up front about who was actually using the ticket. So I can't see how paying for the privilege makes that more attractive.
A combination of COVID wariness and tough times for a lot of people's finances therefore seem a more likely explanation for ditching a season ticket, in which case the purchase of an additional club membership would be a bonus for the club, rather than money lost.
Whilst I'd rather the sharing recipient didn't have to be a MyAlbion+ member after that fans' forum I've come round to the club's thinking on this. Clearly the club are trying to be responsive so they can offer a scheme that benefits both us STHs AND the club themselves. Having a once a season ability to share your season ticket as a STH guest ticket (meaning no MA+ membership) would be the ideal addition to the scheme for me; to be used if you are sick/ill at short notice and want to pass it on quickly.
Agreed…….policy and rationale is fully understandable from the club’s perspective and I doubt they’d ever please all of the people all of the time. Incidentally I suggested this to PB/JG months ago when the ST scheme came in (including potentially charging for doing it in the same way a concession can be upgraded)
Justice
Dangerous Idiot
How are you losing with the cup tickets? Each club receives a share of the gate money.
herecomesaregular
We're in the pipe, 5 by 5
What an over complicated mess. Just increase the season ticket price by 1.5% and make the sharing free to the season ticket holder, keeping the Albion membership requirement (but reducing the cost of it imo). Too much emphasis by the club on being able to promote "freezing" prices and then confusing all and sundry with the options. Keep it simple and a £8-12 rise is less likely to stop ST renewal than a perception of "too much palava/red tape/ control" by the club, imho.
Last edited:
- Jun 27, 2012
- 14,587
The club have to buy all the tickets in advance and don't get refunds for tickets they don't sell. They projected that they wouldn't sell 9000.
In the forum they suggested the gap would be about £50K worth of tickets or the equivalent of 2 jobs or in your phrase "loose change".
Peacehaven Wild Kids
Well-known member
Stopped caring now, I’ve shared my ST 50/50 almost from the first Amex match, had a moan up last season and vowed not to renew.
Anyhoo, renewal time has come round again ..... and guess what?
Anyhoo, renewal time has come round again ..... and guess what?
doogie004
Well-known member
This would of been so much easier but Brighton don’t do easy
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yes of course I understand but it’s just all part of the being just a customer and not a fan that just winds me up