PB has been in touch with me as he received an email from an Albion fan which seems to mirror discussions on here regarding match day ticket prices. His response to the fan endeavours to explain this complex area and, aware that discussion has been taking place on NSC, he thought it might be useful to post here which I am happy to do.
(Note: I do not know who the fan who emailed him was, nor if he is an NSCer as PB quite rightly redacted that information)
Unfortunately, setting ticket prices for matches is not quite as simple as you suggest – or a comparison with the Theatre Royal!
Please let me explain why – and also de-bunk a few myths!
The most important point to keep in mind is that football clubs in the Championship rely on ticket revenue (alongside hospitality revenue and sponsorship) as one of their key sources of income. As such, ticketing income has a significant effect on our footballing budget in any give season.
As with most clubs, our aim is to lock in as much ticketing income as we can by way of season ticket sales. To achieve this for a Championship club (without visits from the country’s biggest clubs to boost sales outside of the core support which most Premier League clubs of our size benefit from), season tickets need to be very keenly priced. They need to provide great value. And ours do. They effectively deliver 5-7 “free" matches per year, include the cost of local travel to and from the game, free wifi, great sight lines from all areas of the stadium, padded seats, and great legroom. In addition, we take the financial risk (and cost) of providing interest and fee free direct debit plans to spread the cost of season tickets – available to all supporters.
For those supporters who are not prepared, or unable, to commit to a season ticket for whatever reason, we do offer a range of match ticket price options. Those ticket prices are set according to our estimates of the likely popularity of any given game, our estimate of associated match costs (including policing and operational costs which will vary according to a number of factors), and a range of other matters which make up our match categories. In addition, we may well look at specific pricing promotions targeting specific or discreet parts of our community at different times, for different reasons, and for different parts of the stadium. Some of these promotions you may see or, if you are not in the group being targeted, you may not.
In addition, the club’s strategy includes offering a range of regular discounts for junior supporters (in different age bands), senior/older supporters, families, groups, and students. Combined with season ticket discounts, our other special community segment-based promotions, the substantial contribution the club makes towards supporter travel to and from the game, all of these different groups and offers take away from the average revenue we receive attending a match at the Amex – and, with that, the funds available to us for our footballing budget – the measure by which we are most often judged and which obviously has a significant impact on our competitiveness on the field.
If we were to follow your logic of cutting match day prices, we would either have to reduce season ticket prices to maintain the current differential, reduce the price differential and with it the attractiveness of someone buying a season ticket in the first place, and risk our most important source of income as explained above. We may also have to reduce or stop discounts provided to groups such as juniors (our future fan base), seniors (arguably those who have followed the club for the longest time) or special segment groups (those helping us to expand our fan base or who can’t get to our games regularly for a range of different reasons, including financial).
Either way, the combined effect of reducing or stopping these different ways of enticing people to our games on a regular basis or for the first time would be to reduce our overall income and either increase the reliance on Tony Bloom to contribute more of his own personal wealth to the club – a figure that currently stands at close to £1m per month, having already invested in excess of £200m since 2009 – or we could reduce our footballing budget and therefore risk our overall competitiveness. As Financial Fair Play rules limit what Tony can contribute from his own wealth, I’m not sure you (or other fans) would find the alternative strategy very palatable!
I do appreciate that, on occasions, when non-season ticket holding friends want to join you for a category A match the price they must pay is higher but, to be frank, so it should be. The East Upper is one of our better and more popular seating areas and they are buying a ticket only when it suits them for what we have judged to be one of our more popular fixtures! Our best prices are made available to those who make a regular commitment or for games which we don’t perceive to be as popular. This is entirely logical and has been the case in football, in various guises, for as long as I can remember (and I’ve been watching matches for over 40 years!).
Our match category differentiation is designed to ease that match day price burden for supporters that can’t commit to a season ticket or a half season ticket or a match pack of discounted prices tickets (there are plenty of ways of not having to pay the full match day price!) - where it is financially viable for the club to do so. In your area of the stadium this means tickets range from £25 to £32 for adults. In both cases, and in all of the discounted options I’ve listed (not even mentioning the specially targeted promotions) the prices include match day travel and free wifi – and, as such, are cheaper than your comparison with the Theatre Royal!
Finally, the club’s catering contract provides the club with a commission against sales. Unfortunately, as is so often incorrectly quoted, we do not receive the full price of every pint or pie sold. As such, of course, it is beneficial for us to have more people eating and drinking in the stadium – and we most certainly want this revenue - but it is far more important for us to maintain a decent level of ticket price for the reasons I have already explained. Unfortunately, as I hope this detailed note back to you demonstrates, ticket pricing is a far more complex model and process than it might first appear and, at Championship level, it affects just about everything we do, not least on the field of play.
(Note: I do not know who the fan who emailed him was, nor if he is an NSCer as PB quite rightly redacted that information)
Unfortunately, setting ticket prices for matches is not quite as simple as you suggest – or a comparison with the Theatre Royal!
Please let me explain why – and also de-bunk a few myths!
The most important point to keep in mind is that football clubs in the Championship rely on ticket revenue (alongside hospitality revenue and sponsorship) as one of their key sources of income. As such, ticketing income has a significant effect on our footballing budget in any give season.
As with most clubs, our aim is to lock in as much ticketing income as we can by way of season ticket sales. To achieve this for a Championship club (without visits from the country’s biggest clubs to boost sales outside of the core support which most Premier League clubs of our size benefit from), season tickets need to be very keenly priced. They need to provide great value. And ours do. They effectively deliver 5-7 “free" matches per year, include the cost of local travel to and from the game, free wifi, great sight lines from all areas of the stadium, padded seats, and great legroom. In addition, we take the financial risk (and cost) of providing interest and fee free direct debit plans to spread the cost of season tickets – available to all supporters.
For those supporters who are not prepared, or unable, to commit to a season ticket for whatever reason, we do offer a range of match ticket price options. Those ticket prices are set according to our estimates of the likely popularity of any given game, our estimate of associated match costs (including policing and operational costs which will vary according to a number of factors), and a range of other matters which make up our match categories. In addition, we may well look at specific pricing promotions targeting specific or discreet parts of our community at different times, for different reasons, and for different parts of the stadium. Some of these promotions you may see or, if you are not in the group being targeted, you may not.
In addition, the club’s strategy includes offering a range of regular discounts for junior supporters (in different age bands), senior/older supporters, families, groups, and students. Combined with season ticket discounts, our other special community segment-based promotions, the substantial contribution the club makes towards supporter travel to and from the game, all of these different groups and offers take away from the average revenue we receive attending a match at the Amex – and, with that, the funds available to us for our footballing budget – the measure by which we are most often judged and which obviously has a significant impact on our competitiveness on the field.
If we were to follow your logic of cutting match day prices, we would either have to reduce season ticket prices to maintain the current differential, reduce the price differential and with it the attractiveness of someone buying a season ticket in the first place, and risk our most important source of income as explained above. We may also have to reduce or stop discounts provided to groups such as juniors (our future fan base), seniors (arguably those who have followed the club for the longest time) or special segment groups (those helping us to expand our fan base or who can’t get to our games regularly for a range of different reasons, including financial).
Either way, the combined effect of reducing or stopping these different ways of enticing people to our games on a regular basis or for the first time would be to reduce our overall income and either increase the reliance on Tony Bloom to contribute more of his own personal wealth to the club – a figure that currently stands at close to £1m per month, having already invested in excess of £200m since 2009 – or we could reduce our footballing budget and therefore risk our overall competitiveness. As Financial Fair Play rules limit what Tony can contribute from his own wealth, I’m not sure you (or other fans) would find the alternative strategy very palatable!
I do appreciate that, on occasions, when non-season ticket holding friends want to join you for a category A match the price they must pay is higher but, to be frank, so it should be. The East Upper is one of our better and more popular seating areas and they are buying a ticket only when it suits them for what we have judged to be one of our more popular fixtures! Our best prices are made available to those who make a regular commitment or for games which we don’t perceive to be as popular. This is entirely logical and has been the case in football, in various guises, for as long as I can remember (and I’ve been watching matches for over 40 years!).
Our match category differentiation is designed to ease that match day price burden for supporters that can’t commit to a season ticket or a half season ticket or a match pack of discounted prices tickets (there are plenty of ways of not having to pay the full match day price!) - where it is financially viable for the club to do so. In your area of the stadium this means tickets range from £25 to £32 for adults. In both cases, and in all of the discounted options I’ve listed (not even mentioning the specially targeted promotions) the prices include match day travel and free wifi – and, as such, are cheaper than your comparison with the Theatre Royal!
Finally, the club’s catering contract provides the club with a commission against sales. Unfortunately, as is so often incorrectly quoted, we do not receive the full price of every pint or pie sold. As such, of course, it is beneficial for us to have more people eating and drinking in the stadium – and we most certainly want this revenue - but it is far more important for us to maintain a decent level of ticket price for the reasons I have already explained. Unfortunately, as I hope this detailed note back to you demonstrates, ticket pricing is a far more complex model and process than it might first appear and, at Championship level, it affects just about everything we do, not least on the field of play.
