shmmeee
Well-Known Member
The important thing certainly initially was to get people back in the habit and to maintain and build momentum. we will have to wait see if the price structure has added to that or not - I have some doubts that it has. The biggest effect on crowds though is going to be success on the pitch not price of tickets
mmm.
I've been looking at a few bits of research. One around college football (american) in the States, one around the NHL and the NFL and one around the EPL. The biggest impacts seem to be 1) how well are the team doing 2) the quality of players on offer 3) the pricing 4) if it's a special game day (family day, bat day (whatever that is), whatever) though funnily enough the seem to move around depending on the sport and the researcher's methodology. The EPL research was all based around asking fans questions and they claimed price was by far the biggest factor.
So either fans don't know what makes them go to a game (quite possible) or it's different for different types of fans (also possible).
I know for a fact that if the monthly Direct Debit was about, I'd be a season ticket holder right now. I'm not about to go and get a credit card (I'm trying to reduce my debt levels and I don't trust myself to not use it). However, I'd be going on Saturday if my usual match partner was there whatever the cost. However, I also know a lot of people on lower incomes than me and almost to a man they would only go on a free ticket or cheap deal (especially those with kids).
Personally, I'd scrap the free tickets for schools and instead have more offers around full paying adults taking 3-5 U11s to the game. Then deals like "Buy 5 get one free" for the adults to encourage them to bring someone along. Some other deals for students and U18s. Though I'd be tempted to charge full price above about 14 just to stop the numerous chancers we have buying child tickets for adults.
Even better, I'd be refocussing the finances of the club so that we don't have to rely so much on ticket revenue.