Our lowest gate this season

[Brovion]

Hands up who thought 2 seasons ago there would be threads on here about our lowest attendance (23k+)?

I just don't get it.

What don't you get?

 

[Tooting Gull]

There is no way there were 23,000 there last night, and it seems certain to me that the way of calling crowds (there are clearly two) has changed since last season, seats sold incl absent STHs as opposed to people actually turning up and scanning.

I don't understand why the club haven't just made this clear to everyone, since so many seem hung up on attendance figures (including Barber in the programme). Other clubs (Arsenal, Celtic spring to mind) do it the same way we now appear to be, often big gaps there too.

Selling only £34 seats and not releasing ones a lot cheaper to home fans is profiteering, pure and simple, there is no excuse for it, and it resulted directly in thousands of empty spaces last night.

 

[Bozza]

I'm sure 'Dynamic Pricing' will be in place next season. Looking forward to the Binfest already.

BBC Sport - Price of Football: What is dynamic ticket pricing?

Agreed - the disparity that currently exists between the average match price for season ticket holders compared to the actual match-by-match cash price for a ticket can't be accidental - it leaves considerable scope to vary price based on 'attractiveness' of the fixture.

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Restricting sales to only higher priced areas while leaving lower priced ones unobtainable & empty is an absolute disgrace.

 

[See-Goals]

What don't you get?

The obsession with our attendance. An average of 15k a game after 12 years of half that at Withdean would be an excellent attendance. Tipping 20k for big games would be magnificent, consistently being in excess of 20k less than 1.5 seasons in a new stadium is nothing short of outstanding.

Which part don't you get?

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Restricting sales to only higher priced areas while leaving lower priced ones unobtainable & empty is an absolute disgrace.

Backfiring a bit though isn't it?

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

I think there were no more than 18,000/19,000 there last night. There were loads of empty seats everywhere you looked. Something really needs to be done about pricing, because it seems like whenever the away team bring a joke following we end up with 4,000+ empty seats at the south end.

If the attendance given was 23000 then there will have been at least 4000 empty seats. That seems fair to me. There is no way there were almost 10000 empty seats.

 

[Rugrat]

Sorry to sOund pompous but anyone who sees CL on the TV and Brighton at home as a dilemma is not the sort of Person we need at Falmer.

Dunno about pompous but next thing is you'll be suggesting people can't go if they haven't sworn a declaration of allegiance. For many football is an entertainment and they'll want to attend to watch a game of football, if they enjoy it they may come back, may pass on the word to a mate or two, overtime they may become true supporters. I'd welcome everyone to the Amex regardless of their level of support

I know. Reasons why I think it was 23k last night.

I didn't go as I was able to sell my tix and used the money to buy Charlton tix .. it was a no brainer for me

Restricting sales to only higher priced areas while leaving lower priced ones unobtainable & empty is an absolute disgrace.

Totally agree this. It's "nickel and diming" .... the incremental revenue is negligible (if indeed there is any) but the commercial message is loud and clear. I'm lucky enough to be meeting with Barber in a few weeks and I'll ask him outright

 

[Silk]

I didn't go last night because of prior commitments. I probably wouldn't have gone even without those commitments, because I've not been well. However, I am mystified by what's going on. Myself, my father in law and my 3 sons have season tickets in the South Stand. There are ALWAYS plenty of empty seats around us, so we thought that if ever any other family members wanted to come along, it would be relatively easy to get them a seat near us. This is not the first time however, that I have heard these seats are "unavailable". WTF is going on? Why have empty, "unavailable" seats when you could sell them?

 

[Brovion]

The obsession with our attendance. An average of 15k a game after 12 years of half that at Withdean would be an excellent attendance. Tipping 20k for big games would be magnificent, consistently being in excess of 20k less than 1.5 seasons in a new stadium is nothing short of outstanding.

Which part don't you get?

I thought it was obvious? I don't 'get' why the club don't offer the cheapest tickets online first as opposed to the expensive ones. I agree with you that whilst in historical comparisons last night's crowd was absolutely fantastic and well above anything we could have dreamed of in the Withdean years (and even more than last season's capacity) the bald fact is this isn't the Withdean era any more. Or to put it another way I'm sure Paul Barber, the man tasked with improving revenue streams, didn't go home last night thinking "Wow, that was so much better than the crowd they had a few years ago in October when they played Barnet in the Piss Pot Cup, my work here is done". He hopefully went home thinking, "That was good, now how can I fill those remaining empty seats when it's a midweek game against mediocre opposition etc etc etc."

The point the OP was making is that he could do it by making the cheap tickets available online, which might have encouraged a few more casual punters to turn up and made a bit more cash for the club. Certainly I thought twice before committing.

 

[Gazwag]

I put my guestimate of the actual attendance of 20,800 and was actually surprised it was as high as it was, lots and lots of empty seats all around the ground.

 

[Albion 4ever]

It was announced that Peterborough had 247 fans, but I doubt there was even that. The flag they bought took up more room than the fans!

 

[nutter]

I couldn't make it last night. I live up in London and it isn't always practical to get down on a week night.i think you'll find there are many like me with similar reasons. Nothing beyond that. Not always to do with the form of the team or the pricing either. Just circumstance.

 

[sully]

The other issue with the online tickets is that you can't choose within the block.

I bought 5 tickets for Bristol City but it would only offer me front row seats. I ended up ringing to book in row P. Why can't we select our actual seats when booking on line?

 

[HenryC]

Agreed - the disparity that currently exists between the average match price for season ticket holders compared to the actual match-by-match cash price for a ticket can't be accidental - it leaves considerable scope to vary price based on 'attractiveness' of the fixture.

This dynamic pricing system sounds like the way to go. Why can't this start NOW? Retrospectively 'value' the season ticket breakdown and start selling the less attractive games cheaper. Do the same for the away fans.

 

[gazingdown]

The other issue with the online tickets is that you can't choose within the block.

I bought 5 tickets for Bristol City but it would only offer me front row seats. I ended up ringing to book in row P. Why can't we select our actual seats when booking on line?

Err, you CAN. I do each time.

Just click on "View Stadium Plan" and select a seat.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Lowest gate , contributing factors - not beating Leeds the previous Friday , opposition , ticket pricing. The club missed out on a marketing opportunity by not reducing matchday prices to £18/£20 to generate ticket sales for a game with no wow factor.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

There is no way there were 23,000 there last night, and it seems certain to me that the way of calling crowds (there are clearly two) has changed since last season, seats sold incl absent STHs as opposed to people actually turning up and scanning.

I don't understand why the club haven't just made this clear to everyone, since so many seem hung up on attendance figures (including Barber in the programme). Other clubs (Arsenal, Celtic spring to mind) do it the same way we now appear to be, often big gaps there too.

Selling only £34 seats and not releasing ones a lot cheaper to home fans is profiteering, pure and simple, there is no excuse for it, and it resulted directly in thousands of empty spaces last night.

Agreed. The club can't take fans for granted.