How to fill the Amex

[El Presidente]

How many times in history, before the Amex was built, was there an average attendance of over 20,000? The problem is that even 25,000 attendances don't even come close to break even for the club even with sky high ticket prices. I thought the new ground was going to have a break even or 13-15,000, which would have been a realistic total for Championship football. Somewhere along the line the costs spiralled so that when only 25,000 people purchase tickets it is thought of as a bad thing. Anything over 20,000 should be thought of as a very good attendance.

Match day prices are far too high but I don't think a reduced by £5 or £10 would make a huge difference.

The oft quoted figure of 13-15,000 was a red herring though.

When the Planning Enquiry was taking place it was the figure given by the Albion as part of their business case.

If the club had said we needed 25,000 to break even the opponents would have claimed this level of attendance was unrealistic and the application may have been rejected.

This was based on a stadium cost of £45 million, instead of the actual cost of £125 million (including Lancing).

It was also based on a squad cost and wage level for a bottom third of the division team, as opposed to what we've had.

 

[nwgull]

My suggested business model is-

Match day tickets and away tickets- £20 per game

Season tickets- £15 per game

Students and under 21's- £10 per game

Stop trying to pour pints (they can't cope and always run out) stick to plastic bottles and cans you can empty out quick.

Reduce food and drink prices a bit.

Have more outside the ground- outdoor bars, food and music.

Re-open a club shop / ticket office in town, preferably near Brighton Station.

This would result in increased attendances, but the club has a very short term view in these regards. They want to maximise ticket revenue match by match and don't give a toss about the long term objective of increasing the future fan base. Sad really but there we are.

Even if those quoted prices applied to the lowest priced tickets, that's still a 30% reduction. This means that if the Amex was full to 30K every game - which it still won't be unless we were on the verge of promotion and the away end sells out - they'd make around 10% less in ticket income than they do currently. That's around 1 million a year lost in the best case scenario.

 

[kingcole]

The app is a great idea.

Work hard to make it a known fact that walk up tickets are easy to grab. I'm amazed that some on this board don't know that is possible but if people here don't know it, what chance is there of a casual knowing it?

Enable families who buy season tickets to substitute the kids tickets for an adult on evening games. These tickets are often left empty when the adult season ticket holder could do some free advertising for the club by introducing the Amex experience to someone new, whilst st the same time, have that new person spend money on merchandise and add to the atmosphere.

Have a family promo ticket for selected games. £49 for 2 adults and 2 kids to include a drink and snack each and a program would work. There are a lot of families who have spare time at the weekends and are looking for things to do. New to football, these people will never buy a season ticket nor will they fork out the £90 this might normally cost. The club have a couple of family fun days a year. This is the perfect opportunity.

 

[Marty___Mcfly]

Even if those quoted prices applied to the lowest priced tickets, that's still a 30% reduction. This means that if the Amex was full to 30K every game - which it still won't be unless we were on the verge of promotion and the away end sells out - they'd make around 10% less in ticket income than they do currently. That's around 1 million a year lost in the best case scenario.

I'm suggesting that filling the stadium and getting people in who will be the future fan base of the club are things which are more important than maximising ticket income on a match by match basis. It would be prioritising atmosphere and the long term future of the club over short term concerns about ticket income.

More people in the stadium would increase spend in the concourses which would to some extent mitigate any reduction in ticket income.

 

[Dolph Ins]

The app is a great idea.

Work hard to make it a known fact that walk up tickets are easy to grab. I'm amazed that some on this board don't know that is possible but if people here don't know it, what chance is there of a casual knowing it?

Enable families who buy season tickets to substitute the kids tickets for an adult on evening games. These tickets are often left empty when the adult season ticket holder could do some free advertising for the club by introducing the Amex experience to someone new, whilst st the same time, have that new person spend money on merchandise and add to the atmosphere.

Have a family promo ticket for selected games. £49 for 2 adults and 2 kids to include a drink and snack each and a program would work. There are a lot of families who have spare time at the weekends and are looking for things to do. New to football, these people will never buy a season ticket nor will they fork out the £90 this might normally cost. The club have a couple of family fun days a year. This is the perfect opportunity.

Nice idea.

 

[Diablo]

Brought. Its BRought!

Not if they paid for them to come...

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Extend the train subsidy to all stations in Sussex

 

[Diablo]

A good idea would be to stagger arrivals. Make Beer and food half price between say 12.30 and 1.30 for 3pm games and perhaps for 1/2 hour after game.

 

[kingcole]

A good idea would be to stagger arrivals. Make Beer and food half price between say 12.30 and 1.30 for 3pm games and perhaps for 1/2 hour after game.

There are already offers before the game. And the 30 minutes after the game the kiosks can be very busy, especially in the north and if we had a good game / result

 

[drew]

Seems the consensus seems to be that if the club give everything away for free, they will come!

The ground is over 75% full and that should be enough to create an atmosphere. Adding another 25% will fill the gaps but not necessary make the atmosphere better. The club need to pay their way so can't afford to reduce income without it affecting player budget and if that goes down then the attraction of going in the first place will reduce!

There are already plenty of outlets outside the ground with different food and drink available.

Of the ideas that have been suggested, the only one I think is worthwhile would be the £50 for two adults and two kids. Might encourage either a family of 4 or two mates and their their sons.

 

[Questions]

Some of the old fans will turn up in March if we are still top. Until then f----k em.
I don't actually want to hear them keep rattling on about Ward and the Goldstone.

 

[Knotty]

My suggested business model is-

Match day tickets and away tickets- £20 per game

Season tickets- £15 per game

Students and under 21's- £10 per game

Stop trying to pour pints (they can't cope and always run out) stick to plastic bottles and cans you can empty out quick.

Reduce food and drink prices a bit.

Have more outside the ground- outdoor bars, food and music.

Re-open a club shop / ticket office in town, preferably near Brighton Station.

This would result in increased attendances, but the club has a very short term view in these regards. They want to maximise ticket revenue match by match and don't give a toss about the long term objective of increasing the future fan base. Sad really but there we are.

Thank God you're not running the club!

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

A significant consideration is that there is absolutely no point in filling the stadium with cheap tickets in order to sell more pies unless Sodexo stop running out of stock, and manage to serve more efficiently.

 

[Giraffe]

Fundamentally it is a cost issue for most people isn't it. Season tickets are by far the cheapest option, and represent anyone who is really bothered about the Albion. And even then a lot of them don't turn up for a good % of the games.

The match by match prices are still too high for a lot of people.

I think a big factor though is the high % of season ticket holders we have. We have four seats, three of us go to every game, but the fourth seat rotates between my daughter, my partner, friends. All of these people are therefore getting a bit of the Albion without paying extra and that is reducing the number of people likely to buy the extra match tickets. The floating season ticket is definitely a factor that was a lot less prevalent in the old days when season ticket holders only accounted for a smaller % of the crowd.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I'm suggesting that filling the stadium and getting people in who will be the future fan base of the club are things which are more important than maximising ticket income on a match by match basis. It would be prioritising atmosphere and the long term future of the club over short term concerns about ticket income.

More people in the stadium would increase spend in the concourses which would to some extent mitigate any reduction in ticket income.

Have you really considered your sums on this?

You're suggesting that 21,000 ST holders pay, let's say for arguments sake, £3 less per game. That is £1.5m less revenue.
You're suggesting match day tickets including away pay £5 less per games, lets say that's currently 4000 tickets per game, that is nigh on £0.5m less revenue.
Lets say concessions are reduced by £5, say 1000 tickets, that is £100k.
Lets leave the reduction in food and drink out of it for the minute.
TOTAL TICKET REVENUE LOSS = approx. £2.1m

So will these reductions pull more people in? Let's say an additional 2000 adults attend because it is more affordable increased revenue = £0.9m
If those additional people purchase stuff, then that might offset the reduction in food and drink, and maybe even send that project over £1m

So as a business model, you would need to increase the average crowd to 28,000 for every game, hope they go mad on reduced food and drink prices, and even then you'd have about £1m less to spend on the playing side.

I don't disagree that we're too expensive, I've said as much, but I don't think you can throw sums around saying a concourse spend would offset ticket reductions as if our playing side would remain unaffected - it clearly would be.

 

[Marty___Mcfly]

I don't find increasing income that exciting. I'm amazed how many fans on here do. I appreciate that the players wages need paying.

If they did drop prices it would be a happier club with more fans attending games. I guess I see it as more of a club than a business. As a fan.

 

[Marty___Mcfly]

Football league rules, I believe.

Actually I was slightly wrong. There is a maximum number of ticket promotions (4) that can apply to home fans only.

Give away fans the same deal and you can have as many as you like.

Away tickets should be maximum £20 at all clubs in all leagues.

 

[ewe2]

I do think that all clubs,not just ours should encourage away fans,a lot more.I find the South Stand,nearly always 3/4 empty,destroys the atmosphere .

 

[nwgull]

I don't find increasing income that exciting. I'm amazed how many fans on here do. I appreciate that the players wages need paying.

If they did drop prices it would be a happier club with more fans attending games. I guess I see it as more of a club than a business. As a fan.

It's easy to spend someone else's money, isn't it?

Most fans don't find increasing income that exciting. However most fans can appreciate that Tony Bloom probably doesn't find subsidising loses to the tune of 8-10m a year that exciting either. And that's before FFP limits are even taken into account.

 

[BensGrandad]

On a selfish point of view if the crowd is low I can get home easier, so leave it as it is.