[Albion] Paul Barber on Albion match day ticket prices

[Prince Monolulu]

Have they considered making the South Stand 20 pounds per seat. This would find favour amongst the 20 is plenty groups for away fans and the rest of the stand could be 20 pound on the day as a sort of neutral zone. No travel subsidy included but attractively priced for occasional visitors.

Not sure how the existing South and SW STH would see that.

The travel subsidy not being included would make no odds really I agree, since nobody checks anything at the stations really.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

the biggest problem is players Agents
regards
DR

Yep HUNDREDS of millions in agents fees they said yesterday.

 

[Bozza]

No travel subsidy included but attractively priced for occasional visitors.

I don't see how "no travel subsidy" variants of tickets could work. Anyone can travel on a train from Brighton to Falmer, and back, without any form of ticket on a match day. It also doesn't take much effort to travel from further afield and avoid any ticketing checks. People will argue that Southern Rail should just man up and deal with that. I'll always counter that it's not practical for them to do that at peak supporter travelling times.

There are also no checks at the park and ride sites. You park and you get on a bus. Again, creating a burden of verifying right to travel would dramatically slow down the whole transport ecosystem that is in place on a match day. It generally works very well indeed, but we all know it's fragile.

 

[Captain Sensible]

If most people are not going to pay an extra £6 for a ticket, I can not really see them spending more then that on food, drink, program and in the shop! I don't get this I won't pay £42 for a ticket, but put it down to £35 and I will come along and invest in all the above.

Really? So you'd pay £48 for something that would cost £42? So the mantra is 'Surely anyone that would pay £48 would surely pay £50 or £55?'

 

[Captain Sensible]

Yes, understandably so. If you choose to be in ESU (as I do) and this is counted as one of the best parts of the ground, you pay accordingly. So, if your friends wish to join you, so should they. I too was in the position of not being able to come to matches on a regular basis, and when I could was happy to pay to be in a better part of the ground, view-wise. In fact because I could only attend infrequently, the cost did not seem so bad and I was happy to support the club financially. I fully accept that not all folk are in that position, or even take that attitude, though let's be honest, often I can't afford really means I don't want to afford. If we do go up, I am sure that the empty seats will be filled then.

£18 more? Each? Sorry no. There is a limit. And it's seems the Albion have set the match day prices too high for many. The hundreds if not thousands of unsold match day seats have proved that and tomorrow will prove that again.

 

[Javeaseagull]

I don't see how "no travel subsidy" variants of tickets could work. Anyone can travel on a train from Brighton to Falmer, and back, without any form of ticket on a match day. It also doesn't take much effort to travel from further afield and avoid any ticketing checks. People will argue that Southern Rail should just man up and deal with that. I'll always counter that it's not practical for them to do that at peak supporter travelling times.

There are also no checks at the park and ride sites. You park and you get on a bus. Again, creating a burden of verifying right to travel would dramatically slow down the whole transport ecosystem that is in place on a match day. It generally works very well indeed, but we all know it's fragile.

My point being there are empty seats that would only be available on a first come first served basis. The travel subsidy need not be factored in for anyone including away fans. How they get there is up to them. Can't see ST holders giving up their favourite seats to save a couple of quid, can you?

 

[Dirk Lehmann's Python]

But you can't do special offers all the time. That is the point. If you sell 25000 tickets at 30 quid you make 750k. If you sell 30000 tickets you need to sell for 25 quid to make same money. So punters save five quid. And you have to sell ALL tickets.

I understand that, which is why at the moment we're selling 22000 each game most of which are pre paid season tickets. I'd love to see the numbers of the 42 quid ones sold...my guess, very few. Need to find a price point that appeals and is affordable for the club, the current pricing is managing neither

 

[Steve.S]

Really? So you'd pay £48 for something that would cost £42? So the mantra is 'Surely anyone that would pay £48 would surely pay £50 or £55?'

See you can do business, and to answer your question no I would not pay £42 to sit in the ESU, I have my ST in the north.
Try reversing your mantra, if you won't pay£42 and wait for the club to drop it to £35, then why not wait for them to drop it further. People will always moan about paying what they see as full price and will always want the price dropped. Then some use the excuse that the club are losing out on revenue, like on food, drink, program and money spent in the shop. How much for a couple of pints per person, pie, program and to buy something in the shop. Let's be generous and say £15 per person on top of your £35 ticket, taking the price up for you match day to £50. Well if the football is that important, take your own food and get the £42 ticket and save £8 simple

 

[drew]

The real enemy here is modern day football where you have TV money, 25k fans paying up to £42 for a seat yet we still need a chairman to put in £1million a month to compete

Football has lost its mind and we are all paying the price

But we don't have access to the TV money you are probably referring to.


As for the discussion, £42 is a lot for a seat at football and I wouldn't pay that. What I do pay for is a season ticket in WSU at about £23 a game, bargain. We regularly see plenty of empty seats and so the club haven't quite got the pricing structure right but I agree that STH are the priority. You can't sell seats for less than you sell to STH unless they are special promotions.

Next year, if all goes well, we may well sell more season tickets. I know of at least one group that gave up following last season and are now regretting it. Maybe, with an eye on that, the club are reluctant to change things and I don't blame them. What I do hope is that there will be no or absolute minimum price increase if we do go up bearing in mind the money that will come our way.

 

[Rugrat]

Premier League could actually afford to give away match tickets for free just to add a bit of local colour to 'the product'. They have so much money sloshing around that they don't actually need to rely on bums on seats any more.

Comes to mind every time I hear suggestions prices will go up if we ever get to the Prem, as someone else said 'they will because they can'.

I get the point in the Championship but it's still a fine line between volume and margin and I think more revenue could be generated by slightly lower prices.

Seeing how the story might be presented in the Prem is another thing entirely although I could have a good go at writing the script now

 

[Bozza]

But we don't have access to the TV money you are probably referring to.

But a fair selection of the clubs we are up against do have that cash.

If we want to compete at the right end of this division, it takes money. Currently it takes one of the biggest crowds in the division paying the highest ticket prices (give or take) PLUS a bloke lobbing in over £10m per year. And we're still paupers relative to some.

 

[Hastings gull]

£18 more? Each? Sorry no. There is a limit. And it's seems the Albion have set the match day prices too high for many. The hundreds if not thousands of unsold match day seats have proved that and tomorrow will prove that again.

Yes, thanks for this. I do see what you are saying as it is all about where one sets one's limits -some will pay £42.00, some won't. But I am not sure from where the figure of £18.00 each comes. If your relatives really want to see the Albion, then the North Stand area is cheaper - you can meet up in Dicks Bar beforehand and then I am sure you can wander into where they are afterwards. Not perfection, granted, but neither could one say that all is lost. As to whether cost has the effect that you say, this is hard to estimate. Of course it is easy to say that it is too expensive, and for some that will doubtless be the case, but there could be other factors. Charlton is sandwiched between two (on paper) more attractive fixtures, they are not doing well, it is coming up to Xmas, the weather is cold, and the new stadium wow factor has gradually worn away, particularly after last season -all of these reasons may be contributing to the disappointing crowds. Afterall, the crowd against Birmingham was not bad, and I suspect that the crowd for the Middlesbrough game may be even better.

I just feel that if we say that the tickets are too pricey is the main overwhelming reason why the seats are empty, then we would have to be consistent and say that if we do go up, then the Amex will similarly play to thousands of empty seats, when Manchester United et al come calling. Who would believe that scenario?

 

[ChickenBaltiPie]

Nope! Nothing there (no matter how many times you repeat it) to convince me tickets are priced smartly enough. Reduce them a little and watch the sales increase and the empty seats fill up. Reduce them some more and the stadium will be full every week. I work in the airline industry and no other industry works so hard and so smart to fill their seats at any price that equals a profit. An empty seat does not equate to any profit at all. It's not difficult. I find it alarming he does not understand that. It's so simple. You're pouring money away. We can sell out, we know the fans are out there and want to come, they don't because tickets are too expensive. You don't need to worry about season ticket prices in comparison. Of course we want a bit of a discount but more importantly we want a hassle free, guaranteed seat(our own seat) every week, every game. I don't care how much cheaper my seat is vs a non season ticket seat. I want the club to make the most money it possibly can and fill up the stadium. In my opinion they're not currently doing that, and they can be a lot smarter. They are missing out on available revenue week in, week out with poor pricing. If my season ticket seat cost that much every game, I wouldn't pay it. Same way I wont, and my friends won't pay it on a game by game basis. It's very short sited. I would have brought so many buddies with me, almost every other game, again and again for £35ish but for £40+ nope!

 

[Bozza]

Nope! Nothing there (no matter how many times you repeat it) to convince me tickets are priced smartly enough. Reduce them a little and watch the sales increase and the empty seats fill up. Reduce them some more and the stadium will be full every week. I work in the airline industry and no other industry works so hard and so smart to fill their seats at any price that equals a profit. An empty seat does not equate to any profit. It's not difficult. We can sell out, we know the fans are out there and want to come, they don't because tickets are too expensive. You don't need to worry about season ticket prices in comparison. Of course we went a bit of a discount but more importantly we want a hassle free, guaranteed seat(our own seat) every week, every game. I don't care how much cheaper my seat is vs a non season ticket seat. I want the club to make the most money it possibly can and fill up the stadium. In my opinion they're not currently doing that, and they can be a lot smarter. They are missing out on available revenue week in, week out with poor pricing. I would have brought so many buddies with me, almost every other game for £30ish but for £40+ nope!

You know what? It puzzles me.

You say it's not difficult yet our club administrators seem better skilled at filling seats than pretty much every other club in the division. So, we're getting something that is easy a little bit wrong, but all those other clubs are getting it massively wrong.

How are so many people who have worked in the football industry for so long all getting it so wrong?

(Oh, and there are plenty of £32 tickets available for tomorrow, £30 for Middlesbrough and £25 for Ipswich. And each of those include up to £9 of travel. Your mates can't be that keen to come.)

 

[Thunder Bolt]

 

[LamieRobertson]

You know what? It puzzles me.

You say it's not difficult yet our club administrators seem better skilled at filling seats than pretty much every other club in the division. So, we're getting something that is easy a little bit wrong, but all those other clubs are getting it massively wrong.

How are so many people who have worked in the football industry for so long all getting it so wrong?

(Oh, and there are plenty of £32 tickets available for tomorrow, £30 for Middlesbrough and £25 for Ipswich. And each of those include up to £9 of travel. Your mates can't be that keen to come.)

Nicely put

 

[portlock seagull]

Can someone please do an abridged version, an exec summary. I like him but ffs if I wrote essays like that at work a) no one would read b) is be ticked off eventually.

He has zero communication skills if he needs to use so many words. No one has time to read such lengthy stuff, moreover you miss his key points amongst such padding.

Anyway, someone care to summarise (sensibly!) please?

 

[portlock seagull]

You know what? It puzzles me.

You say it's not difficult yet our club administrators seem better skilled at filling seats than pretty much every other club in the division. So, we're getting something that is easy a little bit wrong, but all those other clubs are getting it massively wrong.

How are so many people who have worked in the football industry for so long all getting it so wrong?

(Oh, and there are plenty of £32 tickets available for tomorrow, £30 for Middlesbrough and £25 for Ipswich. And each of those include up to £9 of travel. Your mates can't be that keen to come.)

That's a little bit condescending in tone if fair to the bloke. We all know where he's coming from. It's expensive and a bit hassley to go to football compared to days of yore which I suspect his mates remember. all part of thenperceived value for money v matchday experience. And I'm sure influences the difference between 23 and 28k in some capacity.

 

[LlcoolJ]

I thought it was pretty concise considering all the areas he tried to cover.

Yeah he repeated himself a bit but if you're struggling to read that then.... Oh look a Facebook update.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

View attachment 70416

wouldn't it be simpler with a" we need you" finger pointing poster
regards
DR