Could this work? 12:09 - Apr 2 with 24195 views | R17ALE | Given the latest set of accounts show us making a £1.4m profit and that gate income was only £900,000 we would still have made £500,000 if we'd let everyone in for nowt. Now that we own the stadium and keep all match day income, has the time arrived for us to scrap admission charges completely? And I bet if we did, crowds would only go up slightly which sort of answers the question! | |
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Could this work? on 12:26 - Apr 2 with 10022 views | D_Alien | My guess is that Dale's strategy on growing crowds is like growing cannabis, done in a cupboard and neglected. [Post edited 2 Apr 2016 12:28]
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Could this work? on 12:26 - Apr 2 with 10018 views | Porlicks | It certainly makes it difficult to justify any increase in entrance fees/season tickets. | |
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Could this work? on 12:43 - Apr 2 with 9927 views | D_Alien | The club need to be a lot more creative, and the question I'd be asking is do they have the personnel - or could they acquire them, as with Frances Fielding - who are of the right calibre to move forward the commercial potential that now exists. Nothing should be excluded from discussion, including reductions in admission prices all round. I wouldn't go as far as free admission simply because you wouldn't want to create a situation where a couple of years down the line a swingeing increase was required. (Anything would seem swingeing after paying £0). [Post edited 2 Apr 2016 12:44]
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Could this work? on 12:48 - Apr 2 with 9898 views | TalkingSutty |
Could this work? on 12:35 - Apr 2 by R17ALE | Not being defeatist at all. I think you've missed the point which was one of incredulity that we could have let everyone in for free and still have turned in a profit. Surely we must be the only club to have achieved this in that financial year. And so, it raises the question should we let folks in for free? |
No, I didn't miss your point at all. You suggested if we let people in for free we would hardly get a increase in attendances which I disagreed with. What happens if we don't sell players, where does the money come from then? Once you give things away for free it's very hard to suddenly change your mind and then go back to charging full prices. I just think your theory regarding free football not increasing attendances significantly is wrong and it means you then have nowhere to turn in order to rectify the problem, you've devalued the product. | | | |
Could this work? on 12:54 - Apr 2 with 9871 views | TVOS1907 |
Could this work? on 12:43 - Apr 2 by D_Alien | The club need to be a lot more creative, and the question I'd be asking is do they have the personnel - or could they acquire them, as with Frances Fielding - who are of the right calibre to move forward the commercial potential that now exists. Nothing should be excluded from discussion, including reductions in admission prices all round. I wouldn't go as far as free admission simply because you wouldn't want to create a situation where a couple of years down the line a swingeing increase was required. (Anything would seem swingeing after paying £0). [Post edited 2 Apr 2016 12:44]
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Hopefully R17 won't come along to tell us he also knows some swingers! | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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Could this work? on 12:55 - Apr 2 with 9860 views | Wat_Dale |
Could this work? on 12:48 - Apr 2 by TalkingSutty | No, I didn't miss your point at all. You suggested if we let people in for free we would hardly get a increase in attendances which I disagreed with. What happens if we don't sell players, where does the money come from then? Once you give things away for free it's very hard to suddenly change your mind and then go back to charging full prices. I just think your theory regarding free football not increasing attendances significantly is wrong and it means you then have nowhere to turn in order to rectify the problem, you've devalued the product. |
Don't often post- more of a reader here bur do find most threads interesting with varying opinions I would look at maybe not free entry but say £10 anywhere in the home ends , not sure what the stance is on away supporters and if more can be charged. Would even look at the lease glamorous cop games at £5 a pop for first couple of rounds and increase after that | | | | Login to get fewer ads
Could this work? on 13:01 - Apr 2 with 9815 views | judd |
Could this work? on 12:55 - Apr 2 by Wat_Dale | Don't often post- more of a reader here bur do find most threads interesting with varying opinions I would look at maybe not free entry but say £10 anywhere in the home ends , not sure what the stance is on away supporters and if more can be charged. Would even look at the lease glamorous cop games at £5 a pop for first couple of rounds and increase after that |
Profit is not necessarily cash and businesses need the sort of cash flow that admission fees provide | |
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Could this work? on 13:07 - Apr 2 with 9778 views | SaxonDale | How about making the last game of the season free entry for all? Try and get as many into the ground as possible and create as much of a fun factor as possible ahead of next season. Only thing you have to do to enter the ground is complete a form with contact details on so the club can add you to its database. Would also give the club plenty of potential to sell new shirts/merchadise in the club shop to potential customers who would not go up to Spotland usually. | | | |
Could this work? on 13:12 - Apr 2 with 9757 views | oddjob007 | While it is a good idea, you would need to see a period of at least 3-5 years of that sustained performance to justify it. Knowing how prudent the club are, a good chunk of that profit will have been banked to prop us up when times are bad. What would be interesting is to really get underneath the match day numbers. What's the break even crowd? What's the average spend once in the ground, in each stand - do you, for example, try and influence those who don't go as often into one stand over the other. What's the return been on the all the advertising that has happened across the borough? Would a price reduction actually attract more fans? Match day costs - are they scrutinised? Are there enough controls in place - eg student / OAP / U18 tickets. What other revenue generating ideas could we intoduce now we own the stadium - what happens to the club in mid week? In my job, we use the exec boxes at Bolton for meetings in return for a fee / part of sponsorship. I don't recall seeing this facility at Spotland. Now we have the stadium, the asset utilisation of the place should be focussed on. In summary - a lot could be done. | | | |
Could this work? on 13:14 - Apr 2 with 9742 views | Porlicks | Some strange thinking going on here. Never known a company make a big profit then cut prices. Surely the opposite proposition to that initially put forward is also true. The club could survive without floating fans. A small core is enough. [Post edited 2 Apr 2016 13:15]
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Could this work? on 13:16 - Apr 2 with 9716 views | D_Alien |
Could this work? on 13:14 - Apr 2 by Porlicks | Some strange thinking going on here. Never known a company make a big profit then cut prices. Surely the opposite proposition to that initially put forward is also true. The club could survive without floating fans. A small core is enough. [Post edited 2 Apr 2016 13:15]
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You're right, that would be the logical corollary. It'd be a bit like the question of the tree falling in the forest - would it make a noise? Edit: just seen your edit! [Post edited 2 Apr 2016 13:17]
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Could this work? on 13:18 - Apr 2 with 9684 views | R17ALE |
Could this work? on 13:12 - Apr 2 by oddjob007 | While it is a good idea, you would need to see a period of at least 3-5 years of that sustained performance to justify it. Knowing how prudent the club are, a good chunk of that profit will have been banked to prop us up when times are bad. What would be interesting is to really get underneath the match day numbers. What's the break even crowd? What's the average spend once in the ground, in each stand - do you, for example, try and influence those who don't go as often into one stand over the other. What's the return been on the all the advertising that has happened across the borough? Would a price reduction actually attract more fans? Match day costs - are they scrutinised? Are there enough controls in place - eg student / OAP / U18 tickets. What other revenue generating ideas could we intoduce now we own the stadium - what happens to the club in mid week? In my job, we use the exec boxes at Bolton for meetings in return for a fee / part of sponsorship. I don't recall seeing this facility at Spotland. Now we have the stadium, the asset utilisation of the place should be focussed on. In summary - a lot could be done. |
I think letting the boxes out to businesses during the week is in the pipeline. One is already being utilised. | |
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Could this work? on 13:36 - Apr 2 with 9603 views | dingdangblue | What about every season ticket renewal from this season be bogof next season? That guarantees we still sell 1300 tickets but double the home crowd in one go! Just a thought. The theory would be to give the extra ticket to someone who doesn't already regularly go. [Post edited 2 Apr 2016 13:41]
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Could this work? on 17:31 - Apr 2 with 9315 views | JimmyRustler | OP have you been on a sesh with Donal? Mcat and Guinness is a dangerous mix. | | | |
Could this work? on 17:48 - Apr 2 with 9243 views | 442Dale |
Could this work? on 13:36 - Apr 2 by dingdangblue | What about every season ticket renewal from this season be bogof next season? That guarantees we still sell 1300 tickets but double the home crowd in one go! Just a thought. The theory would be to give the extra ticket to someone who doesn't already regularly go. [Post edited 2 Apr 2016 13:41]
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Not a bad idea. However we've been told that details will be released on the 18th so it looks like everything has been decided. Anything other than reducing prices across the board after the last set of accounts is a missed opportunity. | |
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Could this work? on 19:10 - Apr 2 with 9118 views | pioneer |
Could this work? on 13:36 - Apr 2 by dingdangblue | What about every season ticket renewal from this season be bogof next season? That guarantees we still sell 1300 tickets but double the home crowd in one go! Just a thought. The theory would be to give the extra ticket to someone who doesn't already regularly go. [Post edited 2 Apr 2016 13:41]
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No it doent, current season ticket holders could get together and get two for the price of one so halfing our revenue from STs. | | | |
Could this work? on 19:18 - Apr 2 with 9078 views | dingdangblue |
Could this work? on 19:10 - Apr 2 by pioneer | No it doent, current season ticket holders could get together and get two for the price of one so halfing our revenue from STs. |
Thats why I said renewal - it would only work if every one who bought one this season renewed. I cant see why they wouldn't at 2 for 1. | |
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Could this work? on 21:21 - Apr 2 with 8888 views | pioneer |
Could this work? on 19:18 - Apr 2 by dingdangblue | Thats why I said renewal - it would only work if every one who bought one this season renewed. I cant see why they wouldn't at 2 for 1. |
maybe i am no understading, but say you and i bth have season tickets, you renew and get one free, i dont renew and use your free one. i pay you half the cost of renewing your season ticket, you and i then have half price season tickets and the club is out of pocket by 1. | | | |
Could this work? on 21:31 - Apr 2 with 8847 views | dingdangblue |
Could this work? on 21:21 - Apr 2 by pioneer | maybe i am no understading, but say you and i bth have season tickets, you renew and get one free, i dont renew and use your free one. i pay you half the cost of renewing your season ticket, you and i then have half price season tickets and the club is out of pocket by 1. |
Sorry - it would only work if every current season ticket holder commits to renewing. It would have to be 100% renewals for it to work. | |
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Could this work? on 23:00 - Apr 2 with 8740 views | 49thseason | We have enough empty seats to allow people to buy "floating season tickets" of say 10 , 12 or 15 games at similar rates to normal season tickets saving £5 or £6 per match over usual prices. This would be attractive to people who do not attend regularly (ie every game) but who pick and choose either because of finances or work. Anyone with floating tickets would have a built-in incentive to attend matches that they might otherwise decide not to bother with. | | | |
Could this work? on 06:17 - Apr 3 with 8627 views | TalkingSutty | Just waiting for the announcement later this month. Will it be a eye catching initiative or will it be something that relies on the current supporters to do all the hard work. Will it be unnecessarily complicated? A decent reduction on ST and then money put into advertising the offer around the town is all it would take. The timing couldn't be better to take some radical action in order to improve the home support, Hartlepool style. | | | |
Could this work? on 07:37 - Apr 3 with 8589 views | rochedale | I don't think we should go for free attendance, I think it would de-value the experience, but certainly reduce significantly. £10 Pearl St, £8 Sandy, £12 Main Stand, £2 for u18's and oap's. I think the main problem is letting people know when matches are on. Yes it is better than it was with the side of road adverts on Manchester Road and John St, but they aren't great. I think there should be BIG hoardings (the side of building adverts) on every entrance to the town. The club should buy some data to add to the bank of email addresses they have. They don't have 17k like was assumed they would from our Wembley trip, it is 5k. It would be quite inexpensive to double or even treble those email addresses. And has been mentioned before, we are a multi cultural town, let's get into those areas... | |
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Could this work? on 08:40 - Apr 3 with 8539 views | isitme |
Could this work? on 06:17 - Apr 3 by TalkingSutty | Just waiting for the announcement later this month. Will it be a eye catching initiative or will it be something that relies on the current supporters to do all the hard work. Will it be unnecessarily complicated? A decent reduction on ST and then money put into advertising the offer around the town is all it would take. The timing couldn't be better to take some radical action in order to improve the home support, Hartlepool style. |
I think we might be setting ourselves up for a disappointment. It wouldn't surprise me if the big announcement was a freeze in season ticket prices! | | | |
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