It's a sparse crowd here tonight . I'd say 16000 or less through the turnstile .

[chaileyjem]

But if you really want to read about it then here's exactly the same debate but for US baseball and NFL in the LA Times.
No show rates vary widely but its exactly the same debate as played out here over and over (loss of revenue, what it means for sponsorship, evening games/unattractive opponents, form of the club, transparency, long term impact on future ST and ticket sales, renewal rates)
http://www.latimes.com/la-sp-attendance-082305-story.html

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Can someone please tell me why they are allowed to call it ATTENDANCE?

It's false. It's a lie. It is not the amount of people at the game. It's the amount of tickets they've sold. So why not announce it as such? Give both figures. "We sold 20 thousand tickets for today's game. But only 14 thousand of you good fans bothered. Well done you."

A small thing, but it really does my head in.

If you buy a 99 from an ice cream seller, it's a sale. Do you think he cares if you eat it?

 

[synavm]

Not a Brighton fan, but I did go along to the game with a a few mates, including some Albion supporters. They suggested that the disparity in attendance could be related to ST holders and people taking up the student multi-game deal just not bothering to show for whatever reason.

 

[Return of the Rev]

Not a Brighton fan, but I did go along to the game with a a few mates, including some Albion supporters. They suggested that the disparity in attendance could be related to ST holders and people taking up the student multi-game deal just not bothering to show for whatever reason.

Well i'm glad that got cleared up I was thinking along the lines of alien abduction

 

[Peter Grummit]

I think you have to see this in the context of the other Champ crowds. Only 1 in excess of 20k (Derby 27k). The mighty Yorkie giants both well under 20k. 8k at Millwall. 16k at Boro v Norwich and going great guns.

I have no idea whether those clubs publish tickets sold or through the turnstile. However, if I was a fan at another Champ club I would look at the 23k and think, wow that's decent for a team on such a bad run.

PG

 

[Return of the Rev]

i think you have to see this in the context of the other champ crowds. Only 1 in excess of 20k (derby 27k). The mighty yorkie giants both well under 20k. 8k at millwall. 16k at boro v norwich and going great guns.

I have no idea whether those clubs publish tickets sold or through the turnstile. However, if i was a fan at another champ club i would look at the 23k and think, wow that's decent for a team on such a bad run.

Pg

i think the worry is customers not turning up in larger numbers might indicate the product is not going to sell that well the following year,and we seem to be needing more fans to balance the companies books.

 

[Silverfox]

Reading the American article clearly the worry is the actual loss of revenue with 'no shows' both in terms of the sponsors perception of how many people they are really reaching, and the loss of ancillary sales on the day. I would imagine the 'no show' percentage is kept secret at the Amex for the foregoing reasons, but with the computerisation that exists the club will know the actual figure. In case its in the public realm does anyone know what the actual figure is?

 

[maglers]

i think the worry is customers not turning up in larger numbers might indicate the product is not going to sell that well the following year,and we seem to be needing more fans to balance the companies books.

So, are you alleging that the club are fabricating the attendance every match to balance the books? That's against the law isn't it? Should you get someone to investigate that?

 

[Super Steve Earle]

I had a wander round the shop, bought Mrs Earle a Albion Christmas reindeer to share with baby grandEarle, enjoyed and shared a fe chips with salt and vinegar outside, listened to the half decent covers band knock out some passable AC/DC then went inside. Bought a Albion hat trick ticket and won a programme, enjoyed a Strongbow and BBQ pulled pork pie, ( no queues) wandered to my seat, had a chat with friends, ate a few sweets of the Candy Wagon, then shouted and sang a bitbfrom the WSL as we won for the first time in ages. Saw the final whistle then caught the first run bus back to Mill Road. Listened to a bit of country on the radio on the way home to bed. What's not to enjoy!

 

[Return of the Rev]

So, are you alleging that the club are fabricating the attendance every match to balance the books? That's against the law isn't it? Should you get someone to investigate that?

I don't think i was ? What do you know then?

 

[Brovion]

If you buy a 99 from an ice cream seller, it's a sale. Do you think he cares if you eat it?

No of course the seller doesn't care, but you're comparing chalk and cheese. The reason clubs announce tickets sold as the 'attendance' is that that way they can lie to sponsors and advertisers about how many people have seen / will see their adverts.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

If you buy a 99 from an ice cream seller, it's a sale. Do you think he cares if you eat it?

False analogy. If the club announce an attendance of 23K and nearly 10K less people actually turn up, then that may be up to 10K x the average spend per 'customer' they've lost. They should care.

Besides, makes you wonder which of the two figures gets reported where, and for what reason. Not suggesting there's anything untoward going on, obviously, but it does give a very skewed picture.

 

[matski_98]

We've lost about 10,000 fans in the last 6 months. That is a monumental **** up that even the most optimistic cannot sugar coat

Thats not strictly true. You should be comparing (cold autumn/winter) actual midweek league match attendances from last year to this. I suspect its less than last year but not 10,000 less.

Anyway who cares? We WON!!

 

[The Merry Prankster]

Can someone please tell me why they are allowed to call it ATTENDANCE?

It's false. It's a lie. It is not the amount of people at the game. It's the amount of tickets they've sold. So why not announce it as such? Give both figures. "We sold 20 thousand tickets for today's game. But only 14 thousand of you good fans bothered. Well done you."


A small thing, but it really does my head in.

That is why we refer to it as the "Prettendance".

 

[Tooting Gull]

Pretendance - very good. I don't know why they do it, they're only deluding themselves. I hope when the commercial team sit down and assess those actually attending they address the issue of why people who have actually paid can't be bothered to turn up because it is highly relevant, as relevant as those who don't buy matchday tickets. Even if they have the money this year on the ST purchase, those fans may well not be back next season if there are enough nights like that.

But always going to be low crowds everywhere last night, let alone us with the extra transport issues. Generally poor weather and Real/Liverpool on TV.

At least it wasn't Albion v Lincoln midweek at Gillingham, October 1997. Attendance? 1,036. I only know that one because I was one of them. Has there been a lower league crowd for Brighton?

 

[Thunder Bolt]

No of course the seller doesn't care, but you're comparing chalk and cheese. The reason clubs announce tickets sold as the 'attendance' is that that way they can lie to sponsors and advertisers about how many people have seen / will see their adverts.

Conversely, if they announce that 16K were there, & the VAT man sees takings of 23K, it could be fraud.

 

[AlastairWatts]

I was home sick, and certainly not well enough to drive to Falmer.

 

[Hotchilidog]

I'm possibly one of those guilty of having unrealistic ambitions. The blame solely lies with our phenomenal turn in fortunes over the last 4 years:

League One Champions
Top ten Championship finish
Play Off Semi Final
Play Off Semi Final

I've found this season incredibly frustrating so far, however, on recent reflection I think our Premier League ship has sailed for now.

Simply put, myself and other supporters must lower there expectations and with that becoming a run of the mill championship side won't seem half as bad. Time to get back to enjoying it for what it is win, lose or draw.

Very well put, I totally agree.

 

[Julio]

As has been said countless times, it's a modern football thing, we're not alone in doing it and they are not going to change it. There will be a number of reasons, mostly commercial, why they do this. If it helps with bringing in some more revenue from potential sponsors then so be it. I don't particularly like it, and when the disparity is so big as last night it is laughable, but that's the way it is and there's plenty more to be worried about than this.

Behind the scenes the club will be very concerned about the dip, but they shouldn't be surprised. No amount of guff, 10,000 word essays in the programme or blokes with a guitar under a gazebo can mask the fact that at the moment the footie isn't very good and a team made up of mostly loan signings are not inspiring the casual fan to turn up in their droves. I'm afraid you reap what you sow - a summer of ar*ing around with transfer targets and gambling on an unproven manager when better options were there, has come back to bite the board on the bum.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

I'm possibly one of those guilty of having unrealistic ambitions. The blame solely lies with our phenomenal turn in fortunes over the last 4 years:

League One Champions
Top ten Championship finish
Play Off Semi Final
Play Off Semi Final

I've found this season incredibly frustrating so far, however, on recent reflection I think our Premier League ship has sailed for now.

Simply put, myself and other supporters must lower there expectations and with that becoming a run of the mill championship side won't seem half as bad. Time to get back to enjoying it for what it is win, lose or draw.

The club only have themselves to blame. The whole spin from day 1 and in the lead up was that BHAFC would be a premiership side within 5 seasons, MAXIMUM. That was the basis on the pricing, st's, stadium tours and all the communications from the club. That was also a strong basis and rationale from Martin Perry at the council meeting to justify the extra seats, it was needed for premiership football. They then span out that embarrassing and cringeworthy " Premiership Ready " mantra for a long time only to drop it like a hot potato when they sold every single player of any value in the last year and replaced them with cheap options, including the manager and have now replaced the mantra to " One Club One Ambition ", frankly laughable. The fact there were 14000 empty seats and around 5000 who paid and could not be bothered to go should be ringing very loud alarms bells to the club