Away Attendances

[pauld]

I've wondered whether we look at ticket prices in the same way as it makes a lot of sense. Got a feeling we don't though and its more a case of just plucking a figure out of the air that they think they can get away with.

Might be a bit of both jonny - i.e. start from yield per seat as a base price from one end, use the maximum you think the market will stand as a ceiling at the other, then work toward the middle in an attempt to find the optimal range

[RobertT]

We did a price promo in the 92/93 season that I remembered, vs Birmingham.  I seem to remember the game being postponed to a freezing cold Tuesday in winter.  Checked it out and we got 14,398 in and I'm sure it was close to a sell out for home seats.  That was more than attended the Play off semi final against Tranmere and between 5k and 6k higher than games either side.
I think seats were £4 for an adult and standing was £3.
The normal prices were about £11 for seats and £8 for standing that season, certainly around that mark.

[Bob's Orange]

I got talking to a bloke linked with a minor league baseball team in the US a couple of years ago. He said they worked on the principal of yield per seat. So it was better for them to have an 8k full house at $10 per seat than 4k at $20 because of the extra revenue those 4k fans brought in. More beer and burger sales, merchandise sales, car parking, TV revenue and so on.

Didn’t exactly say they would give the seats away for nowt, but near as. It was incredibly important for the franchise owners to be seen to be successful in the local community by offering value for money, a fun environment, letting kids in free, putting on kids entertainment, you name it. Even the beer and fast food outlets in the stadium were ‘sold’ to local breweries and food outlets because the owners wanted to be associated with supporting local businesses.

It’s a business model lower level football could do well to study, meanwhile well done Cov if they do indeed get a sell-out. If the extra 20k fans each spend a fiver on food, parking etc, that’s as good as selling 10k seats at £15, not £5, let alone the feel-good factor.

Its an interesting one. I think that people American people v British people who go to watch sport are poles apart. I personally go to the game to watch my football team and couldn't really give a monkeys about what the food is like etc.

In America, to me, it seems that half of the crowd couldn't really care less about the game and are happier to stuff their fat faces with greasy food and piss poor overpriced beer. When I went to NHL, I was constantly up and down all the time letting the greedy yanks out to their hot dog stalls whilst I wanted to watch the fucking game.

[Wandered]

In America not only are there numerous food and drink and souvenir concessions within the stadium, but they also sell food and beer at your seat.

[Nomoreheroes]

In America not only are there numerous food and drink and souvenir concessions within the stadium, but they also sell food and beer at your seat.

Yes, but there are a lot more things to take into account:

-The majority of tickets are held by season ticket holders.
- The crowd is generally made up of home supporters. Noone travels, because of the vast distances involved
- The local TV station buys rights to show live games
- All local shops have promotions where they 'give away' cut price tickets to games (especially ones that the club thinks won't sell out)
- The games are all stop start and therefore lend themselves for other things to happen e.g buying food and drink
- Other things such as clowns, cheerleaders, mascot dancing/phot opportunities, firing free T shirts into the crowd, running the equivalent of raffles, getting people to do stupid things on the Jumbotron etc etc make it more of a family/party atmosphere
- Coupons for a variety of things are given out at the games
- There are 'give-aways' as specific games e.g. I went to a Colorado Rapids game and got free Rapids shirts as part of the entry price. There were 10k available on a first come first served basis. So, it enticed you in early, and the company that sponsored the shirts also gave a coupon to entice you to buy food while you were there.
- Credit card companies: Sign up on the night and you get some free merchandise.
- The Scouts are often given free tickets for games that wont sell out.

US sports are all about the day out and having fun. The game is often secondary to the overall entertainment experience - Especially with baseball, basketball and hockey, where there are several games per week - NFL is slightly different and probably more akin to our football in that regard.

[Wilf Shergold]

Might be a bit of both jonny - i.e. start from yield per seat as a base price from one end, use the maximum you think the market will stand as a ceiling at the other, then work toward the middle in an attempt to find the optimal range

So why couldn’t it be the best of both worlds? Back of a fag packet:

Match ticket £25 on the day. If the club sell, pre-season:

5k or below season tickets sold , average £18/ticket/match.

8k = £15/ticket average.

10k or more = £10/ticket average.

That way fans are incentivised to get a mate to buy a st and STFC stand to get £2.3m income versus £2.07m, plus ancillary merch/food sales to the extra 5k spectators per match. When you buy your st you know you’re saving, say, £7/match, even if sales don’t reach 5k. That goes up to £15/match at the 10k/£10 level. So encouraging new supporters to buy a season ticket could save you £8 a match, or £184 for the season.

Rough figures of course, prob too generous.

Win win, club and supporter. A great crowd, and better atmosphere, every match.

[Posh Red]

Current averages for League 1, should anyone give a shit

 1,651    Sheffield U
 1,173    Coventry C
    957    Portsmouth
    841    Swindon T
    801    Preston NE
    704    Bournemouth
    652    Doncaster R
    600    Tranmere R
    563    Notts C
    555    Shrewsbury T
    544    Brentford
    447    Crewe A
    426    Carlisle U
    396    Walsall
    369    Bury
    326    Scunthorpe U
    307    L. Orient
    307    Yeovil T
    292    Oldham Ath
    278    Stevenage B
    276    Franchise
    262    Crawley T
    255    Colchester U
    205    Hartlepool T


And for what it's worth our average home attendance is 8,478 which includes an average of 487 visitors.
I know we have had the debate about crowds in the championship, so as an example Peterborough average 1,815 away fans at London Road so far this season.

[Posh Red]

Current averages for League 1, should anyone give a shit

 1,651    Sheffield U
 1,173    Coventry C
    957    Portsmouth
    841    Swindon T
    801    Preston NE
    704    Bournemouth
    652    Doncaster R
    600    Tranmere R
    563    Notts C
    555    Shrewsbury T
    544    Brentford
    447    Crewe A
    426    Carlisle U
    396    Walsall
    369    Bury
    326    Scunthorpe U
    307    L. Orient
    307    Yeovil T
    292    Oldham Ath
    278    Stevenage B
    276    Franchise
    262    Crawley T
    255    Colchester U
    205    Hartlepool T


And for what it's worth our average home attendance is 8,478 which includes an average of 487 visitors.
I know we have had the debate about crowds in the championship, so as an example Peterborough average 1,815 away fans at London Road so far this season.

[cheltred69]

Notable that Franchise have the 4th lowest away numbers yet have averaged a little more than us at home.
The support they have built up clearly hasn't turned into a passion yet!

[Ardiles]

Notable that Franchise have the 4th lowest away numbers yet have averaged a little more than us at home.
The support they have built up clearly hasn't turned into a passion yet!

Looks as if they haven't got around to giving free tickets away for away games yet.  

[chalkies_shorts]

Looks as if they haven't got around to giving free tickets away for away games yet.   

Looks as though they give an average of 276 per away game, free transport, free burgers and a blow job from Wankelma thrown in. Ra Ra Franchise.

[Bukkake Regiment]

Current averages for League 1, should anyone give a shit

 1,651    Sheffield U
 1,173    Coventry C
    957    Portsmouth
    841    Swindon T
    801    Preston NE
    704    Bournemouth
    652    Doncaster R
    600    Tranmere R
    563    Notts C
    555    Shrewsbury T
    544    Brentford
    447    Crewe A
    426    Carlisle U
    396    Walsall
    369    Bury
    326    Scunthorpe U
    307    L. Orient
    307    Yeovil T
    292    Oldham Ath
    278    Stevenage B
    276    Franchise
    262    Crawley T
    255    Colchester U
    205    Hartlepool T


And for what it's worth our average home attendance is 8,478 which includes an average of 487 visitors.
I know we have had the debate about crowds in the championship, so as an example Peterborough average 1,815 away fans at London Road so far this season.

Hopefully we can catch Pompey up between now and the end of the season.

[Peter Gibbons]

Hopefully we can catch Pompey up between now and the end of the season.

whilst it suits me, being a northern based fan, I doubt our run of games north of the trent during april will do much for our away average

[Bukkake Regiment]

I can see us taking 2000+ to Sheffield United, and if there's something to play for at Scunthorpe we will sell out there. Doncaster on the other hand... Early kick off, bank holiday, on tv - 400-500 tops.

[chubbslovesbeer]

I can see us taking 2000+ to Sheffield United, and if there's something to play for at Scunthorpe we will sell out there. Doncaster on the other hand... Early kick off, bank holiday, on tv - 400-500 tops.

We will take more than 2000+ to sheff utd depending on league.