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[Albion] Paul Barber on Albion match day ticket prices



Bozza

You can change this
Helpful Moderator
Jul 4, 2003
55,530
Back in Sussex
PB has been in touch with me as he received an email from an Albion fan which seems to mirror discussions on here regarding match day ticket prices. His response to the fan endeavours to explain this complex area and, aware that discussion has been taking place on NSC, he thought it might be useful to post here which I am happy to do.

(Note: I do not know who the fan who emailed him was, nor if he is an NSCer as PB quite rightly redacted that information)


Unfortunately, setting ticket prices for matches is not quite as simple as you suggest – or a comparison with the Theatre Royal!

Please let me explain why – and also de-bunk a few myths!

The most important point to keep in mind is that football clubs in the Championship rely on ticket revenue (alongside hospitality revenue and sponsorship) as one of their key sources of income. As such, ticketing income has a significant effect on our footballing budget in any give season.

As with most clubs, our aim is to lock in as much ticketing income as we can by way of season ticket sales. To achieve this for a Championship club (without visits from the country’s biggest clubs to boost sales outside of the core support which most Premier League clubs of our size benefit from), season tickets need to be very keenly priced. They need to provide great value. And ours do. They effectively deliver 5-7 “free" matches per year, include the cost of local travel to and from the game, free wifi, great sight lines from all areas of the stadium, padded seats, and great legroom. In addition, we take the financial risk (and cost) of providing interest and fee free direct debit plans to spread the cost of season tickets – available to all supporters.

For those supporters who are not prepared, or unable, to commit to a season ticket for whatever reason, we do offer a range of match ticket price options. Those ticket prices are set according to our estimates of the likely popularity of any given game, our estimate of associated match costs (including policing and operational costs which will vary according to a number of factors), and a range of other matters which make up our match categories. In addition, we may well look at specific pricing promotions targeting specific or discreet parts of our community at different times, for different reasons, and for different parts of the stadium. Some of these promotions you may see or, if you are not in the group being targeted, you may not.

In addition, the club’s strategy includes offering a range of regular discounts for junior supporters (in different age bands), senior/older supporters, families, groups, and students. Combined with season ticket discounts, our other special community segment-based promotions, the substantial contribution the club makes towards supporter travel to and from the game, all of these different groups and offers take away from the average revenue we receive attending a match at the Amex – and, with that, the funds available to us for our footballing budget – the measure by which we are most often judged and which obviously has a significant impact on our competitiveness on the field.

If we were to follow your logic of cutting match day prices, we would either have to reduce season ticket prices to maintain the current differential, reduce the price differential and with it the attractiveness of someone buying a season ticket in the first place, and risk our most important source of income as explained above. We may also have to reduce or stop discounts provided to groups such as juniors (our future fan base), seniors (arguably those who have followed the club for the longest time) or special segment groups (those helping us to expand our fan base or who can’t get to our games regularly for a range of different reasons, including financial).

Either way, the combined effect of reducing or stopping these different ways of enticing people to our games on a regular basis or for the first time would be to reduce our overall income and either increase the reliance on Tony Bloom to contribute more of his own personal wealth to the club – a figure that currently stands at close to £1m per month, having already invested in excess of £200m since 2009 – or we could reduce our footballing budget and therefore risk our overall competitiveness. As Financial Fair Play rules limit what Tony can contribute from his own wealth, I’m not sure you (or other fans) would find the alternative strategy very palatable!

I do appreciate that, on occasions, when non-season ticket holding friends want to join you for a category A match the price they must pay is higher but, to be frank, so it should be. The East Upper is one of our better and more popular seating areas and they are buying a ticket only when it suits them for what we have judged to be one of our more popular fixtures! Our best prices are made available to those who make a regular commitment or for games which we don’t perceive to be as popular. This is entirely logical and has been the case in football, in various guises, for as long as I can remember (and I’ve been watching matches for over 40 years!).

Our match category differentiation is designed to ease that match day price burden for supporters that can’t commit to a season ticket or a half season ticket or a match pack of discounted prices tickets (there are plenty of ways of not having to pay the full match day price!) - where it is financially viable for the club to do so. In your area of the stadium this means tickets range from £25 to £32 for adults. In both cases, and in all of the discounted options I’ve listed (not even mentioning the specially targeted promotions) the prices include match day travel and free wifi – and, as such, are cheaper than your comparison with the Theatre Royal!

Finally, the club’s catering contract provides the club with a commission against sales. Unfortunately, as is so often incorrectly quoted, we do not receive the full price of every pint or pie sold. As such, of course, it is beneficial for us to have more people eating and drinking in the stadium – and we most certainly want this revenue - but it is far more important for us to maintain a decent level of ticket price for the reasons I have already explained. Unfortunately, as I hope this detailed note back to you demonstrates, ticket pricing is a far more complex model and process than it might first appear and, at Championship level, it affects just about everything we do, not least on the field of play.
 
PB has been in touch with me as he received an email from an Albion fan which seems to mirror discussions on here regarding match day ticket prices. His response to the fan endeavours to explain this complex area and, aware that discussion has been taking place on NSC, he thought it might be useful to post here which I am happy to do.

(Note: I do not know who the fan who emailed him was, nor if he is an NSCer as PB quite rightly redacted that information)


Unfortunately, setting ticket prices for matches is not quite as simple as you suggest – or a comparison with the Theatre Royal!

Please let me explain why – and also de-bunk a few myths!

The most important point to keep in mind is that football clubs in the Championship rely on ticket revenue (alongside hospitality revenue and sponsorship) as one of their key sources of income. As such, ticketing income has a significant effect on our footballing budget in any give season.

As with most clubs, our aim is to lock in as much ticketing income as we can by way of season ticket sales. To achieve this for a Championship club (without visits from the country’s biggest clubs to boost sales outside of the core support which most Premier League clubs of our size benefit from), season tickets need to be very keenly priced. They need to provide great value. And ours do. They effectively deliver 5-7 “free" matches per year, include the cost of local travel to and from the game, free wifi, great sight lines from all areas of the stadium, padded seats, and great legroom. In addition, we take the financial risk (and cost) of providing interest and fee free direct debit plans to spread the cost of season tickets – available to all supporters.

For those supporters who are not prepared, or unable, to commit to a season ticket for whatever reason, we do offer a range of match ticket price options. Those ticket prices are set according to our estimates of the likely popularity of any given game, our estimate of associated match costs (including policing and operational costs which will vary according to a number of factors), and a range of other matters which make up our match categories. In addition, we may well look at specific pricing promotions targeting specific or discreet parts of our community at different times, for different reasons, and for different parts of the stadium. Some of these promotions you may see or, if you are not in the group being targeted, you may not.

In addition, the club’s strategy includes offering a range of regular discounts for junior supporters (in different age bands), senior/older supporters, families, groups, and students. Combined with season ticket discounts, our other special community segment-based promotions, the substantial contribution the club makes towards supporter travel to and from the game, all of these different groups and offers take away from the average revenue we receive attending a match at the Amex – and, with that, the funds available to us for our footballing budget – the measure by which we are most often judged and which obviously has a significant impact on our competitiveness on the field.

If we were to follow your logic of cutting match day prices, we would either have to reduce season ticket prices to maintain the current differential, reduce the price differential and with it the attractiveness of someone buying a season ticket in the first place, and risk our most important source of income as explained above. We may also have to reduce or stop discounts provided to groups such as juniors (our future fan base), seniors (arguably those who have followed the club for the longest time) or special segment groups (those helping us to expand our fan base or who can’t get to our games regularly for a range of different reasons, including financial).

Either way, the combined effect of reducing or stopping these different ways of enticing people to our games on a regular basis or for the first time would be to reduce our overall income and either increase the reliance on Tony Bloom to contribute more of his own personal wealth to the club – a figure that currently stands at close to £1m per month, having already invested in excess of £200m since 2009 – or we could reduce our footballing budget and therefore risk our overall competitiveness. As Financial Fair Play rules limit what Tony can contribute from his own wealth, I’m not sure you (or other fans) would find the alternative strategy very palatable!

I do appreciate that, on occasions, when non-season ticket holding friends want to join you for a category A match the price they must pay is higher but, to be frank, so it should be. The East Upper is one of our better and more popular seating areas and they are buying a ticket only when it suits them for what we have judged to be one of our more popular fixtures! Our best prices are made available to those who make a regular commitment or for games which we don’t perceive to be as popular. This is entirely logical and has been the case in football, in various guises, for as long as I can remember (and I’ve been watching matches for over 40 years!).

Our match category differentiation is designed to ease that match day price burden for supporters that can’t commit to a season ticket or a half season ticket or a match pack of discounted prices tickets (there are plenty of ways of not having to pay the full match day price!) - where it is financially viable for the club to do so. In your area of the stadium this means tickets range from £25 to £32 for adults. In both cases, and in all of the discounted options I’ve listed (not even mentioning the specially targeted promotions) the prices include match day travel and free wifi – and, as such, are cheaper than your comparison with the Theatre Royal!

Finally, the club’s catering contract provides the club with a commission against sales. Unfortunately, as is so often incorrectly quoted, we do not receive the full price of every pint or pie sold. As such, of course, it is beneficial for us to have more people eating and drinking in the stadium – and we most certainly want this revenue - but it is far more important for us to maintain a decent level of ticket price for the reasons I have already explained. Unfortunately, as I hope this detailed note back to you demonstrates, ticket pricing is a far more complex model and process than it might first appear and, at Championship level, it affects just about everything we do, not least on the field of play.

I feel quite dizzy now:wozza:
 
May 27, 2014
1,638
Littlehampton
Absolute bullshit spin from Barber, the category pricing is nonsense - it's quite apparent that more often than not the "a" fixtures are for fans who bring more away fans, see Charlton tomorrow. Everyone can see the empty seats in the East Upper because they are too expensive...every week.

Yes we're not a charity, yes season tickets are great value and there are some good deals on some games, but the majority of that response is finger in the ears spin rather than addressing the query. 42 quid is not value for money for Championship football even if it includes WiFi and a padded seat. Simple.
 
Jan 30, 2008
31,981
To put it bluntly it is what you would expect to hear from a salesman.... free wi fi? , the bit about pricing on what the club think the take up would be wouldnt have to be taken into consideration if a basic ticket price was on offer ,people will either buy or not buy
regards
DR
 

Paul Reids Sock

Well-known member
Nov 3, 2004
4,458
Paul Reids boot
I genuinely really like Paul barber.

I know people knock him (not as much since we started doing well) but he didn't have to do that and it is a very good way of communicating with the fans, a thing that many other fans are claiming their clubs don't
 


Titanic

Super Moderator
Helpful Moderator
Jul 5, 2003
38,975
West Sussex
I think that's pretty clear. And it doesn't sound like anything is going to change any time soon.
 

sully

Dunscouting
Jul 7, 2003
7,823
Worthing
.........increase the reliance on Tony Bloom to contribute more of his own personal wealth to the club – a figure that currently stands at close to £1m per month..........

Until you see it written like that, I think a lot of people really don't realise how lucky we are to have such a wonderful human being at the helm.
 

Mackenzie

Old Brightonian
Nov 7, 2003
33,498
East Wales
Condensing the email, it says we need to keep match day prices high to encourage season ticket sales. Right?
 


Bozza

You can change this
Helpful Moderator
Jul 4, 2003
55,530
Back in Sussex
And it doesn't sound like anything is going to change any time soon.

I'd argue things have been changing. I can't recall the ticket offers we've seen this season in previous years...

- 4 ticket pack for £100.
- Bring 2 mates for a tenner each.
- Kid and adult for £15.

If you were able to take advantage of all of those then, you'd have got to see (or be getting to see) 6 games for c£120. I'm sure most can do the maths, but that's £20 per game. Depending on where you live, that could include c£7 of travel per game too.

I would imagine similar sorts of offers are being lined up to tempt people later on in the season if sales don't naturally pick up.
 


Monsieur Le Plonk

Lethargy in motion
Apr 22, 2009
1,858
By a lake
Absolute bullshit spin from Barber, the category pricing is nonsense - it's quite apparent that more often than not the "a" fixtures are for fans who bring more away fans, see Charlton tomorrow. Everyone can see the empty seats in the East Upper because they are too expensive...every week.

Yes we're not a charity, yes season tickets are great value and there are some good deals on some games, but the majority of that response is finger in the ears spin rather than addressing the query. 42 quid is not value for money for Championship football even if it includes WiFi and a padded seat. Simple.

What about the bit referring to TB subsidising our hobby to the tune of nearly 1m per month. Is that 'fingers in your ears spin' too?
 


Captain Sensible

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
6,435
Not the real one
Sorry but PB is over complicating it. I go in the East upper and on average for an ST for an adult, its £24 per game. Category A such as tomorrow is £42 plus booking fee. Thats £18 above the ST price. If it was reduced to £12 over the ST price £36 quid, Im sure alot more would sell. Also it would not put off people buying ST's. The difference of between £10-12 per gamebetween a match day ticket and ST is about right. They would easily make up the £6 difference with a program and a coffe or beer. Sort it out Barber. We need more fans in the ground to make money.
 

Seasider78

Well-known member
Nov 14, 2004
5,926
The real enemy here is modern day football where you have TV money, 25k fans paying up to £42 for a seat yet we still need a chairman to put in £1million a month to compete

Football has lost its mind and we are all paying the price
 

pishhead

Well-known member
Jul 9, 2003
5,245
Everywhere
The club have a clear strategy regarding pricing that they won't or don't seem to want to deviate from. I pay 45 quid a month via direct debit if I hadn't made that commitment I genuinely don't think I could justify 42 quid for a home game with a young family to support. With the direct debit I know where I stand financially.
 

Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash
Jul 6, 2003
69,788
PB:"... I do appreciate that, on occasions, when non-season ticket holding friends want to join you for a category A match the price they must pay is higher but, to be frank, so it should be. The East Upper is one of our better and more popular seating areas and they are buying a ticket only when it suits them for what we have judged to be one of our more popular fixtures! Our best prices are made available to those who make a regular commitment or for games which we don’t perceive to be as popular. This is entirely logical and has been the case in football, in various guises, for as long as I can remember (and I’ve been watching matches for over 40 years!)"

Hard to argue with PB's reasoning on this one. Still a bit of a hefty off-putting price tho eh? The forty notes barrier may well be a major psychological hurdle for many people, especially with two consecutive home games in the run up to Xmas. And that's for two Saturday games. If one of those was a midweek game the uptake would be much worse. Was interesting to note at the Albion Roar gig last night that various academics (including our own [MENTION=31]El Presidente[/MENTION]?) have worked out that the Premier League could actually afford to give away match tickets for free just to add a bit of local colour to 'the product'. They have so much money sloshing around that they don't actually need to rely on bums on seats any more.
 


Gazwag

5 millionth post poster
Mar 4, 2004
30,086
Bexhill-on-Sea
42 quid is not value for money for Championship football even if it includes WiFi and a padded seat. Simple.

Nobody is forcing somebody to pay £42 they could pay £32 in another section of the stadium which is just as good as ESU, if fact IMO a better area.

Next Home game - far more important than tomorrows, is cheaper
 

atomised

Well-known member
Mar 21, 2013
5,105
Sorry but PB is over complicating it. I go in the East upper and on average for an ST for an adult, its £24 per game. Category A such as tomorrow is £42 plus booking fee. Thats £18 above the ST price. If it was reduced to £12 over the ST price £36 quid, Im sure alot more would sell. Also it would not put off people buying ST's. The difference of between £10-12 per gamebetween a match day ticket and ST is about right. They would easily make up the £6 difference with a program and a coffe or beer. Sort it out Barber. We need more fans in the ground to make money.

But as stated in Barbers comments we only get apercentage of that catering spend so it would take more than that to make up that £6 deficit
 

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