|
|
Post by davethegrave on May 31, 2021 20:13:20 GMT
Not sure if I was really paying attention but I don't remember a 5 year season ticket being offered.
|
|
|
|
Post by davethegrave on May 31, 2021 20:16:41 GMT
The prices have been very cheap for a few years now so I don't think that these are unreasonable in light of our promotion.
|
|
|
|
Post by garethl on May 31, 2021 20:19:21 GMT
Difficult one. Personally am surprised we have gone as high as we have. I thought we’d continue to offer greater value here, which in recent seasons has brought in far larger numbers of STH’s (way more than we historically used to). I will continue to buy them with the knowledge that an element will likely be a donation. However we have a whole host of STHs who have probably never paid ‘proper’ ST prices and this will probably come as something of a surprise (whilst I’m sure most aware there would be a cost to higher level football). We probably have a fair few club elastic people who watch football at the ground because of those prices and not because they are avid supporters of the club (though hopefully the performances and experiences have turned them over the year(s)). Obviously the hope is enough stick at the new prices.
As a club we need to keep growing the supporter base. We can’t keep tapping into the same 500 or so people, as loyal as they are. That was part of the move to the value ST’s in the first place. It looks like we’ve decided (or it was always the plan that it would move to a more normal pricing model) that couldn’t go on for the longer term and this jump in level offered an opportunity to break that cycle as we move to ‘professional’ (pretty much were anyway) football. Ideally we need to push our regular home supporter base to at least 2,000-2,500, with away fans pushing the average as close as possible to 3,000. That includes attracting the next generation noting the young adult comments (though I’ve not actually looked at their pricing!). At least it’s great that under 10’s continue to be free.
It’s hard to know financially what will work out best both in the short and long term, we’ll never know for sure, but hopefully we get enough through the door to give us some extra income. I think this is probably one of the more difficult things to work out, relies on a lot of guess work. I do think merit in being the most value for money club in our catchment area. It also allowed for 2nd club STH’s to be worthwhile who now might fall away. Having a bigger pool of STH’s I would have thought also engaged spending in other areas - bar/ground/SAK etc.
One other thought as it seems to be an assumption running through the thread. Other than the one off ground costs (not inconsiderable) are the costs of operating at League 2 that much different to the National League we were already in? Are the groundworks covered by the league hand out for this season (circa £1m?)? Certainly to the extent there are extra cup games you would hope the prize and gate money would offset that jump. A couple of full time staff but likely not earth shattering wages . . . Our biggest recurring cost will be the players and management and that will be determined by our revenue. Goes without saying that more revenue gives us the best chance of success at the level and I’m sure this is the reasoning for the increase..
A lot of rambling above but I think my point is only concerned with whether I think the club will raise more revenue or not from this. My worry is not on the renewals from the hard core, it’s on those sitting outside of that. It’ll be interesting if we get any new bods in who fancy watching a league club but have otherwise not bothered before with non league. Time for another FA Cup run!
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy K on May 31, 2021 20:55:26 GMT
In recent, pre-Covid history, the average attendance for L2 games was somewhere between 4-4500. This is generally skewed by a club with big crowds being in there (Portsmouth, Coventry, Bradford, Lincoln and even Notts C). Notts went from around 8,000 in L2 to around 5k in the NL. Most clubs of "our size" will probably get over 2,000 per game. It does however help that in L2 our catchment area is pretty big, with only Orient and Crawley anywhere near us. I've certainly spoken to Palace and AFC fans who are interesting in getting a season ticket (just for reference, the cheapest AFC Wimbledon season ticket for L1 is £375).
We will have a minimum of 24 games at GGL next season. 23 in the league and at least 1 in the Papa Johns Trophy. Depending on draws and progress it could end up being up to 30.
|
|
|
|
Post by davethegrave on May 31, 2021 21:14:35 GMT
In recent, pre-Covid history, the average attendance for L2 games was somewhere between 4-4500. This is generally skewed by a club with big crowds being in there (Portsmouth, Coventry, Bradford, Lincoln and even Notts C). Notts went from around 8,000 in L2 to around 5k in the NL. Most clubs of "our size" will probably get over 2,000 per game. It does however help that in L2 our catchment area is pretty big, with only Orient and Crawley anywhere near us. I've certainly spoken to Palace and AFC fans who are interesting in getting a season ticket (just for reference, the cheapest AFC Wimbledon season ticket for L1 is £375). We will have a minimum of 24 games at GGL next season. 23 in the league and at least 1 in the Papa Johns Trophy. Depending on draws and progress it could end up being up to 30. Does that mean it covers all Papa Johns home games? Presumably that's the cup for third and fourth division teams. |
|
|
|
Post by Del on May 31, 2021 21:20:41 GMT
In recent, pre-Covid history, the average attendance for L2 games was somewhere between 4-4500. This is generally skewed by a club with big crowds being in there (Portsmouth, Coventry, Bradford, Lincoln and even Notts C). Notts went from around 8,000 in L2 to around 5k in the NL. Most clubs of "our size" will probably get over 2,000 per game. It does however help that in L2 our catchment area is pretty big, with only Orient and Crawley anywhere near us. I've certainly spoken to Palace and AFC fans who are interesting in getting a season ticket (just for reference, the cheapest AFC Wimbledon season ticket for L1 is £375). We will have a minimum of 24 games at GGL next season. 23 in the league and at least 1 in the Papa Johns Trophy. Depending on draws and progress it could end up being up to 30. Does that mean it covers all Papa Johns home games? Presumably that's the cup for third and fourth division teams. Didn't see that on the announcement. |
|
|
|
Post by os on May 31, 2021 21:40:49 GMT
Tramere Rovers are charging : www.tranmererovers.co.uk/news/2021/may/202122-season-tickets---now-on-sale/When you think its probably going to cost a minimum of £2million to pay players, travel and other costs and 1000 early bird ST only cover £280k, 2000 = £560k is only a quarter of what is needed. League football isn't cheap.. So yep its a lot of money but actually very fair pricing.. Just thought I would drop the TV deal money into this thread : EFL Broadcasting deal The EFL currently have a 5 year deal which runs until May 2024 worth £195 million a year which is split as follows, Championship £91.2 million, League 1 £16 million, League 2 £11.3 million. All clubs in each division receive £3.8 million, £667,000 and £472,000 respectively. So we are getting closer... |
|
|
|
Post by Jared on May 31, 2021 21:46:07 GMT
Tramere Rovers are charging : www.tranmererovers.co.uk/news/2021/may/202122-season-tickets---now-on-sale/When you think its probably going to cost a minimum of £2million to pay players, travel and other costs and 1000 early bird ST only cover £280k, 2000 = £560k is only a quarter of what is needed. League football isn't cheap.. So yep its a lot of money but actually very fair pricing.. I am a fan of those long distance season tickets |
|
pauld
Youth Team Player
Glory hunting since 2017
Posts: 131
|
Post by pauld on May 31, 2021 21:55:32 GMT
Next year will be my (and my 14 year old son's) fourth year down GGL (I know, we've timed it well haven't we!)
We were absolutely the people you were targeting (I assume). He was just getting into footie; I was disillusioned by Prem Lge prices and the punters experience. I wanted to show him what football watching is really like. The half-season ticket offer all added up - an absolute bargain. He loved it. And we're still here.
This announcement initially took me back. But when I looked at it from price per game and in the wider context of paying for entertainment in the UK, approx. £15 a game (£20 with food and drink) for both is pretty good VFM in my view.
Would this new tiering/pricing have hooked me in the first place? Probably not. Tricky business for the board I'm sure
All in all though, for a 4 year stalwart/johnny come lately - decent VFM, paid up and cant wait
|
|
|
|
Post by usus2 on Jun 1, 2021 0:17:46 GMT
I just renewed mine and all things being equal might be in the UK this autumn to catch a game.
I don’t think that promotion was going to generate a ton of new people willing to buy a season ticket regardless of the cost. It will however possibly generate more walk ups buying single game tickets out of interest and I think that may have been a consideration. Our job, will be to convert the casuals !
Additionally, I think someone said there’s no prize money for winning the league but there is £900k from L2. Net that down by the lost revenue from pitch rental, pay for the required ground changes (improvements?), salaried officers and your starting L2 as full time professionals with perhaps less money then you normally budget for the Vanarama. Now you could anticipate higher numbers of traveling fans visiting but that’s a guesstimate at best.
No matter how you slice it, it’s going to be very tight in the beginning because of the pitch work and I’m sure the board, who have always been fiscally prudent arrived at the pricing taking the above and many other points into consideration.
I hope we can average 2000 or better a game, that’s a long way from the 500 odd we used to get in the late 80’s when I used to steward in return for a free ticket.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy K on Jun 1, 2021 6:49:09 GMT
In recent, pre-Covid history, the average attendance for L2 games was somewhere between 4-4500. This is generally skewed by a club with big crowds being in there (Portsmouth, Coventry, Bradford, Lincoln and even Notts C). Notts went from around 8,000 in L2 to around 5k in the NL. Most clubs of "our size" will probably get over 2,000 per game. It does however help that in L2 our catchment area is pretty big, with only Orient and Crawley anywhere near us. I've certainly spoken to Palace and AFC fans who are interesting in getting a season ticket (just for reference, the cheapest AFC Wimbledon season ticket for L1 is £375). We will have a minimum of 24 games at GGL next season. 23 in the league and at least 1 in the Papa Johns Trophy. Depending on draws and progress it could end up being up to 30. Does that mean it covers all Papa Johns home games? Presumably that's the cup for third and fourth division teams. No. Season ticket holders however get priority access on all Cup tickets |
|
jr
1st team skipper
Posts: 2,195
|
Post by jr on Jun 1, 2021 6:59:31 GMT
Not sure if I was really paying attention but I don't remember a 5 year season ticket being offered. Yep. A small number bought one. Bit of a bargain now. |
|
|
|
Post by davethegrave on Jun 1, 2021 8:11:32 GMT
Does that mean it covers all Papa Johns home games? Presumably that's the cup for third and fourth division teams. No. Season ticket holders however get priority access on all Cup tickets Where do you get the possible 30 from then? It's 23 league games plus the PJ cup tie. |
|
|
|
Post by Andy K on Jun 1, 2021 8:26:20 GMT
No. Season ticket holders however get priority access on all Cup tickets Where do you get the possible 30 from then? It's 23 league games plus the PJ cup tie. Carabao Cup - we play at least one game (which could be home or away). 7 possible games, 6 of which could have home advantage. FA Cup - rounds 1 - 6 all can have a team with home advantage, and round 1-4 have replays. A maximum of 6 possible home games there Papa Johns Trophy - if it follows last season's competition, we have 2 home games, plus another maximum of 4. So in the wild craziness of getting a home draw in every cup game and making it to the final of all 3 cups, we'd actually have 18 additional home games on top of the 23 we have in the league, making 41 games Sutton will play at home. As this scenario is about as likely as Sutton signing Harry Kane in the close season, we already know we have 25 home games this season, and realistically up to 30 if we get a cup run or 2 going and some home draws (remember how many home draws we had in the FA cup in 2016/17). Hence why "up to 30" is more on the ball (and that's stretching it a bit). That also doesn't include the SSC. Of course, season tickets will only get you in for free for league games, but if we got a plum draw in the League or FA Cup against a bigger side (which is more likely now as we have 2 competitions where PL sides play rather than just the one). the the season ticket will allow you early access to buy those tickets. |
|
|
|
Post by toothman on Jun 1, 2021 9:05:27 GMT
I have never been a season ticket holder, but am considering for the coming season . I am somewhat surprised at the general angst posted on the forum regarding season ticket pricing. Although, not published anywhere I have seen I am assuming that on the day prices will be £20 adult £12 concessions and £6 young adult. ( they were £ 17 , £10 and £5 when we last paid in a normal season 2019/20). Therefore attending All home games will be £460, £260 and £138 respectively. The early bird season tickets to me represent a very reasonable saving, a balance between honouring the loyal supporter and the financial realities of life in the EFL.
I have spent getting on for £400, obviously half went into the coffers of our opposition, watching the streams of every league and cup game this season past , seeing every match something, that would have been impossible in normal times. I haven’t begrudged a penny of it .As a consession who will rarely be able to make mid week games living in rural Oxfordshire, and then not able to make all weekend home games because of holidays (remember them ?) and family commitments, I would probably be “better off” paying as I go . By buying a season ticket, an element will be a donation, even at early bird rates, which I am happy with , just as I was happy to be an early UNITED WE STAND contributor. The board are in an impossible position here , we have to trust that they are making decisions that are going to gives us the “best” financial footing, but suspect that “best” will be perilous and some good cup runs will be needed and some TV money. We don’t want to do a Macclesfield, Bury , Bolton.
|
|
