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Well done Barber



Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
73,888
West west west Sussex
You quite right if he offered them for £2 I'm sure we could have got a full ground. What a stupid argument. Its a business and its about maximising revenue not just bums on seats.
You wouldn't have thought it would be so difficult to explain.
 




Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
73,888
West west west Sussex
I wonder what the average spend per fan is at the ground. It's probably a figure the board knows and not the fans, but if it was £5/head that's only £25,000 extra revenue. I wonder what the average spend is, I know a lot of people that have never bought anything, and some people buy 7 pints and a pie!
Alan Davies made a great point during one of his rants on his podcast, admittedly in reference to clubs like Arsenal & Man Utd, not us.

Those directors don't want fans like us anywhere near the ground.
What with our subsidised season ticket, sharing a programme, and a packet of Malteasers 'smuggled in'.

The customer they crave is the Japanese tourist paying full OTT whack, dropping £500 in the shop, and eating all the pizza slices.
 












Diego Napier

Well-known member
Mar 27, 2010
4,416










Biscuit

Native Creative
Jul 8, 2003
22,241
Brighton
Would it have sold out at the prices charged if it wasn't on TV ? - more than likely imo. Being on a free to view terrestrial channel was always going to affect the attendance. (why pay / spend time travelling etc when it can be seen at home for free?)

Then why charge so much? That's a self defeating argument.

As I see it, the fact the game was on tv didn't detracted from the attendance as much as the pricing issues. It's impossible to prove either way but the fact that the attendance was so low highlights that Barber got the pricing wrong. Having 6k MORE in attendance would have been possible if the pricing hadn't been so off the mark and would have result in us taking more money on the day. The fact is Barber got it wrong and swathes of fans voted with their feet.
 




Steve.S

Well-known member
May 11, 2012
1,833
Hastings
Palace are a prime example, they do offers drop ticket prices to £20 and still can not fill the stadium. The club set the price and the goal was to sell the ground out. the arguement on here is did they do the right or wrong thing. Those that say they did the wrong thing, can not prove we would have sold the ground out by dropping the price, those that said it was set right, can not say for certain it was the right move.

Surely everyones goal is for the club to do well, they will not always get things right as it is also a transition for them as well, the club is growing by the day and by the end of the season we will need to fill a lot more seats for next year. the club have a business plan and part of that must mean that each seat has a price, the club would have learnt a lot from yesterday 21,740 people paid a price for a seat and 6,000 did not. no doubt they will look at other clubs and what they charged and what gates they got.The answer will become clear for the next home cup game, surely that will give everyone an idea as to where the club is going. the question also has to be is it really sensible to have an FA cup game straight after christmas
 


twowheelsbest

Well-known member
Nov 1, 2009
489
Brighton
Cracking atmosphere? Are you having a laugh? The atmosphere on the tv sounded awful and like being at a morgue.

Perhaps you should have been at the match with the rest of the faithful - then you would have known what the atmosphere was really like .......brilliant!!
 


Dec 29, 2011
8,043
Then why charge so much? That's a self defeating argument.

As I see it, the fact the game was on tv didn't detracted from the attendance as much as the pricing issues. It's impossible to prove either way but the fact that the attendance was so low highlights that Barber got the pricing wrong. Having 6k MORE in attendance would have been possible if the pricing hadn't been so off the mark and would have result in us taking more money on the day. The fact is Barber got it wrong and swathes of fans voted with their feet.

Christ, what a deluded post. I won't elaborate for fear of boring you to death but the TV had a massive impact on the attendance, I'm sure we'd have sold out if it wasn't on TV. Getting an extra £5 for 5000 customers might not be as good as getting an extra £5 for 21,000 tickets, even then would £5 have made much of a difference to attendance? The fact is no-one has any way of telling if he got it wrong until we have a very similar fixture which is on TV at the Amex and the ticket price is lowered. If we gain more revenue from a lower ticket price you can categorically say you were right, until then it's speculation.
 






Flavor Flav

Get those trousers off!
Jul 5, 2008
1,503
West Sussex
Personally, I think the pricing was fine and that if we had have had a better set of results throughout December then we would have sold out.
 


Guy Fawkes

The voice of treason
Sep 29, 2007
8,253
Then why charge so much? That's a self defeating argument.

As I see it, the fact the game was on tv didn't detracted from the attendance as much as the pricing issues. It's impossible to prove either way but the fact that the attendance was so low highlights that Barber got the pricing wrong. Having 6k MORE in attendance would have been possible if the pricing hadn't been so off the mark and would have result in us taking more money on the day. The fact is Barber got it wrong and swathes of fans voted with their feet.

So you don't think we would have sold out at the prices we charged or this if actually going was the only way to see the game? Would we have sold out if it was being shown on ESPN? - probably, because most don't have access to this channel at home and would have to go to a pub where they would be spending money anyway so why not go to the game?

How many of the stay aways would have gone if it had been a little bit cheaper even though it was on terrestrial TV? - i doubt there would have been that many more there because its not just the ticket price, but other costs involved too (travel / food / drink, etc) - How much would it have to be cut by to fill the ground? £28 a ticket was the cheapest and we didn't sell them all so would £25 or even £23 made that much difference? The £37 ones would have been reduced to around £30 which would still be more than the cheapest full price tickets which didn't sell.
 


Guy Fawkes

The voice of treason
Sep 29, 2007
8,253
It's a fact that we made a loss last season with similar sized gates. It's a fact that this season we have more match day overheads because we have more seats and therefore more staff. It's a fact we have a bigger playing staff. It is an assumption - and only that - that the club would have budgeted the game day for a sell out crowd. I csn't prove they did but to not do so would be mental.

But this is a cup game, we are already paying the players and the only extra expense is if they are on appearance bonuses / goal bonuses / win bonuses.

If we can't cover the other unexpected costs such as stewarding with crowds this size who are paying full price and for an extra game that wouldn't have been foreseen or included when budgeting (so surely a bonus for our coffers as we may not have had a home cup game at all) then how would cutting the price have helped us make a profit?
 




Guy Fawkes

The voice of treason
Sep 29, 2007
8,253
For those who went to the game that normally don't go that often or those who went for the first time yesterday, having the game at full price makes sense in business terms because if it had been reduced against premier league opposition and they enjoyed it and looked to go again this season but to a league game, they then might have then been put off by having to pay more against lesser opponents.

If they paid full price for this one, surely they would be happier to pay full price again the next time they go
 


Weststander

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Aug 25, 2011
65,427
Withdean area
Talksport this morning had a relevant article. The following clubs received universal approval for their pricing policies this weekend encouraging more fans for the future and aiding the less well of:

Man City vs Watford - from £15 for adults, and from £1 for kids

Spurs vs Coventry - from £20 for adults, and from £5 for kids

Ston vs Chelsea - from £25 for adults, and from £10 for kids.


That's enlightened thinking. Respect.
 


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