Originally Posted by
bridpie78
Some good points there about comparing non league entry prices with premier league,on first look it does seem you get better value for money at the top end of the pyramid a better product and better facilities,as you say they can afford to keep prices lower because they are not as reliant on gate receipts so its a little unfair to compare them directly.
AH did do a few fan days and it proved on a saturday afternoon if the circumstances are right we can attract 15k people if they are paying a fiver to get in,it has yet to be proven if we could do that week in week out,it would be a huge gamble by the people in charge to try it for a season.
ive been doing the number crunching to set prices for season tickets and turnstile prices with some rough figures and guesswork
3000 season tickets at £200 = 600k
23 games at £20 averaging 5000 (2000 pay on the day) = 460,000
they would have to take a leap of faith that we'd turn up in our droves every game to drop the prices to £10, season ticket prices would have to drop accordingly and again they would have to hope more were sold so i've done an optimistic forecast for that.
4500 season tickets at £100 = 450k
23 games at £10 averaging 10000 (5500 paying on the day) =1,265,000
As Sid pointed out bigger crowds give a better atmosphere which you would hope would contribute to better performances on the pitch but there could be other benefits
a) being able to attract better players
b) more people in the ground means more food/drinks/programmes sold on the day
c) returning fans or brand new fans coming in and getting the bug which is good for the longer term health of the club
d) more merchandise sold shirts/scarfs/mugs
e) bigger crowds/more interest gets us more media coverage and a knock on effect of being more attractive to potential sponsors
As i said its a gamble but i think if there is a club in the lower/non leagues that could try to break the mould it is Notts we have a big ground for L1 never mind the NL we have a strong home and away support over a number of years even when things have gone horribly wrong on and off the pitch and the fan days that AH tried proved succesful.
It is probably too late now to try anything new because it would be unfair on season ticket holders but if i were the one doing next seasons pricing i would be tempted to give it a try, whats the point in having a 20k stadium that 1/4 full.
The question is how many stay away fans would turn up if the prices were dropped and how have changes in work arrangements affected attendances, many people now work flexi-time,continental shifts or 4 on 4 off shifts which means its no longer monday to friday working and then do fun things like go to football on a saturday afternoon.
I didn't intend the post to be that long when i started but i did a jackal2 and went on a roll, hope it wasn't too rambling