Blackburn to reduce ticket prices by more than a quarter

[Scottish Mag 3]

Blackburn are to cut the cost of the average season ticket at Ewood Park by more than a quarter next season.

Rovers will pass on savings totalling more than £1m to fans in a bid to halt falling attendances.

 

Blackburn chairman John Williams said: "We hope these prices will retain existing fans and also attract back those who have not been for some time.

 

"We have recognised the concern of fans who feel that the cost of watching live football has become too expensive."

 

The Premier League's new £625m overseas TV rights deal has increased pressure on top clubs to cut prices.

 

I've been lucky enough to play in front of packed stadiums across Europe and I know the positive effect it can have - so it would be great to see Ewood packed every week next season.

 

Rovers join Chelsea, Everton, Bolton and Wigan in confirming a reduction or a freeze in ticket prices for the 2007/08 season.

 

Under the new pricing scheme, 5,500 season tickets will be available at £249, while the average for the Blackburn End will fall by 30% from £425 to £299.

 

The most expensive ticket will come down from £595 to £399.

 

Rovers will also launch a "We Believe" campaign to demonstrate their commitment to grassroots fans.

 

Williams added: "We have addressed this issue and at the same time made sure we remain competitive on the pitch.

 

"Fans want to see the best players in action at Ewood Park and for the club to continue to be a force in the Premiership.

 

"We believe that the best way to enjoy Premiership football is watching it live in the stadium.

 

"We will continue to look at different ways to add extra value for season ticket holders as they are the lifeblood of the club."

 

Rovers' average crowd this season has been little over two thirds of Ewood Park's 31,000 capacity.

 

And Blackburn boss Mark Hughes added: "The players all want to play in front of full stadiums and it makes a huge difference to them.

 

"The supporters really can act as the 12th man and lift the players.

 

"I've been lucky enough to play in front of packed stadiums across Europe and I know the positive effect it can have, so it would be great to see Ewood packed every week next season.

 

"When the ground has been full for games this season against the likes of Liverpool and Bolton the atmosphere has been amazing.

 

"Football is a passionate game and we want passionate supporters in Ewood Park to help inspire the team.

 

"Cost is an issue and we have taken the bull by the horns and reduced prices and hopefully this will encourage even more supporters to come to games."

[themags 0]

in response to this, Newcastle will freeze season ticket prices

[Gemmill 34166]

That's brilliant from Blackburn. I don't expect any other clubs to follow suit. Particularly not NUFC.

[sweetleftpeg 0]

Meanwhile, at SJP, Fat Fred puts his tin hat on.

[Dr Gloom 19735]

we should blatantly lower price for cup games where we're struggling to fill the stadium.

 

as long as there's a full house very week in the league, season tickets won't be going south anytime soon. i don't see fred worrying too much about corporate social resposibility

[smudger 0]

Take note Fat fred and follow suit. Dont freeze prices, reduce them man and give the fans something back for once.

[LeazesMag 0]

That's brilliant from Blackburn. I don't expect any other clubs to follow suit. Particularly not NUFC.

 

Are you really an accountant Gem ?

 

What impact do you think less income will have on the clubs spending power ?

 

No doubt you would be the first to complain if the club stopped attempting to buy quality players .......

 

There is no quicker way to oblivion for NUFC ie where we were for decades prior to the current board taking over, than reducing income into the club. Apart from re-employing Souness, who you backed, that is.

 

To give a balanced look on this, while it is a worthy gesture by Blackburn, they are only doing it because they can't fill a small ground because they have poxy support. Remember the mackems dishing out freebies and such like, and were the source of piss taking by us for doing it ie caring club and all that bollocks ? What did you think of that ?

 

The only ways clubs can withstand reduced admission fees, is

 

1. If players salaries are capped, and it simply isn't going to happen

2. Standing areas in stadiums to get more people in to make up the shortfall in income [short term before greed took over again anyway]

[LeazesMag 0]

we should blatantly lower price for cup games where we're struggling to fill the stadium.

 

as long as there's a full house very week in the league, season tickets won't be going south anytime soon. i don't see fred worrying too much about corporate social resposibility

 

I agree with this, which would be without any doubt whatsoever a good move.

Edited March 2, 2007 by LeazesMag

[sweetleftpeg 0]

No doubt you would be the first to complain if the club stopped attempting to buy quality players .......

 

Ow, stop it, it hurts.

[Gemmill 34166]

That's brilliant from Blackburn. I don't expect any other clubs to follow suit. Particularly not NUFC.

 

Are you really an accountant Gem ?

 

What impact do you think less income will have on the clubs spending power ?

 

No doubt you would be the first to complain if the club stopped attempting to buy quality players .......

 

There is no quicker way to oblivion for NUFC ie where we were for decades prior to the current board taking over, than reducing income into the club. Apart from re-employing Souness, who you backed, that is.

 

To give a balanced look on this, while it is a worthy gesture by Blackburn, they are only doing it because they can't fill a small ground because they have poxy support. Remember the mackems dishing out freebies and such like, and were the source of piss taking by us for doing it ie caring club and all that bollocks ? What did you think of that ?

 

The only ways clubs can withstand reduced admission fees, is

 

1. If players salaries are capped, and it simply isn't going to happen

2. Standing areas in stadiums to get more people in to make up the shortfall in income [short term before greed took over again anyway]

 

Yes. For the umpteenth time, I am an accountant. What profession do you lend your dazzling array of talents to btw? Just out of interest, and seen as you have such a strong opinion on what others do for a living (accountants, teachers, etc.)

[LeazesMag 0]

That's brilliant from Blackburn. I don't expect any other clubs to follow suit. Particularly not NUFC.

 

Are you really an accountant Gem ?

 

What impact do you think less income will have on the clubs spending power ?

 

No doubt you would be the first to complain if the club stopped attempting to buy quality players .......

 

There is no quicker way to oblivion for NUFC ie where we were for decades prior to the current board taking over, than reducing income into the club. Apart from re-employing Souness, who you backed, that is.

 

To give a balanced look on this, while it is a worthy gesture by Blackburn, they are only doing it because they can't fill a small ground because they have poxy support. Remember the mackems dishing out freebies and such like, and were the source of piss taking by us for doing it ie caring club and all that bollocks ? What did you think of that ?

 

The only ways clubs can withstand reduced admission fees, is

 

1. If players salaries are capped, and it simply isn't going to happen

2. Standing areas in stadiums to get more people in to make up the shortfall in income [short term before greed took over again anyway]

 

Yes. For the umpteenth time, I am an accountant. What profession do you lend your dazzling array of talents to btw? Just out of interest, and seen as you have such a strong opinion on what others do for a living (accountants, teachers, etc.)

 

So what exactly do you think the result would be if the club dropped admission prices ? From an accountants perspective ?

[Gemmill 34166]

That's brilliant from Blackburn. I don't expect any other clubs to follow suit. Particularly not NUFC.

 

Are you really an accountant Gem ?

 

What impact do you think less income will have on the clubs spending power ?

 

No doubt you would be the first to complain if the club stopped attempting to buy quality players .......

 

There is no quicker way to oblivion for NUFC ie where we were for decades prior to the current board taking over, than reducing income into the club. Apart from re-employing Souness, who you backed, that is.

 

To give a balanced look on this, while it is a worthy gesture by Blackburn, they are only doing it because they can't fill a small ground because they have poxy support. Remember the mackems dishing out freebies and such like, and were the source of piss taking by us for doing it ie caring club and all that bollocks ? What did you think of that ?

 

The only ways clubs can withstand reduced admission fees, is

 

1. If players salaries are capped, and it simply isn't going to happen

2. Standing areas in stadiums to get more people in to make up the shortfall in income [short term before greed took over again anyway]

 

Yes. For the umpteenth time, I am an accountant. What profession do you lend your dazzling array of talents to btw? Just out of interest, and seen as you have such a strong opinion on what others do for a living (accountants, teachers, etc.)

 

So what exactly do you think the result would be if the club dropped admission prices ? From an accountants perspective ?

 

I think we are going to see a drop-off in season ticket sales in the summer. Some of the league attendances this season have shown that we no longer have guaranteed sellouts. I'm making numbers up here, but if we say that at present we are selling 48,000 season tickets at £500 a piece on average, that's revenue of £24m. Now, say we are going to lose 5,000 renewals in the summer - I don't think that's unreasonable btw, people are getting sick of the mediocrity (yes, yes, 5th best, I know).

 

So, that would leave us selling 43,000 at £500 for £21.5m. If you were to drop the price by 5% across the board, you would only need to retain less than half of those non-renewers for that to leave you breaking even and still making £21.5m. That's breaking even on tickets alone btw, I'm not even factoring in the extra £20m we're supposed to be getting from the TV money. Why not offer that to the fans? At worst, if you still only get 43,000 renewing at the 5% discounted amount, you lose out on £1m revenue. You could easily make that back with one sold out cup match at SJP. A 10% discount would see you lose £2m, but again, you could make that back with a cup run.

 

It's a goodwill gesture that could make a lot of difference. In the grand scheme of things it makes fuck all difference to the club's finances. It could even improve them in the long term as you get more kids able to afford going to the cup matches and catching the bug etc.

[LeazesMag 0]

That's brilliant from Blackburn. I don't expect any other clubs to follow suit. Particularly not NUFC.

 

Are you really an accountant Gem ?

 

What impact do you think less income will have on the clubs spending power ?

 

No doubt you would be the first to complain if the club stopped attempting to buy quality players .......

 

There is no quicker way to oblivion for NUFC ie where we were for decades prior to the current board taking over, than reducing income into the club. Apart from re-employing Souness, who you backed, that is.

 

To give a balanced look on this, while it is a worthy gesture by Blackburn, they are only doing it because they can't fill a small ground because they have poxy support. Remember the mackems dishing out freebies and such like, and were the source of piss taking by us for doing it ie caring club and all that bollocks ? What did you think of that ?

 

The only ways clubs can withstand reduced admission fees, is

 

1. If players salaries are capped, and it simply isn't going to happen

2. Standing areas in stadiums to get more people in to make up the shortfall in income [short term before greed took over again anyway]

 

Yes. For the umpteenth time, I am an accountant. What profession do you lend your dazzling array of talents to btw? Just out of interest, and seen as you have such a strong opinion on what others do for a living (accountants, teachers, etc.)

 

So what exactly do you think the result would be if the club dropped admission prices ? From an accountants perspective ?

 

I think we are going to see a drop-off in season ticket sales in the summer. Some of the league attendances this season have shown that we no longer have guaranteed sellouts. I'm making numbers up here, but if we say that at present we are selling 48,000 season tickets at £500 a piece on average, that's revenue of £24m. Now, say we are going to lose 5,000 renewals in the summer - I don't think that's unreasonable btw, people are getting sick of the mediocrity (yes, yes, 5th best, I know).

 

So, that would leave us selling 43,000 at £500 for £21.5m. If you were to drop the price by 5% across the board, you would only need to retain less than half of those non-renewers for that to leave you breaking even and still making £21.5m. That's breaking even on tickets alone btw, I'm not even factoring in the extra £20m we're supposed to be getting from the TV money. Why not offer that to the fans? At worst, if you still only get 43,000 renewing at the 5% discounted amount, you lose out on £1m revenue. You could easily make that back with one sold out cup match at SJP. A 10% discount would see you lose £2m, but again, you could make that back with a cup run.

 

It's a goodwill gesture that could make a lot of difference. In the grand scheme of things it makes fuck all difference to the club's finances. It could even improve them in the long term as you get more kids able to afford going to the cup matches and catching the bug etc.

 

Not a lot to argue with there. Some would also say the directors could waive their dividends to make up or help the deficit, but they have done that already this year, not that my paltry 10 quid or whatever it has been in the past would go very far

 

At the end of the day, money is important though, plenty of people go on about one or two million quid being the difference between signing a player who would be good for the club and missing out. There is no doubt that it would be a good goodwill gesture, but I think doing it in the Cup Games is more feasible and realistic, don't you ? Especially when there are a lot of cup games. Bringing in the next generation of supporters etc etc ..... most of us started going when we were kids, so we have to get the kids coming in and get them hooked.

 

I agree that season ticket sales will probably drop this summer, although all it takes is improved performance on the field and they would be back.

[Gemmill 34166]

That's brilliant from Blackburn. I don't expect any other clubs to follow suit. Particularly not NUFC.

 

Are you really an accountant Gem ?

 

What impact do you think less income will have on the clubs spending power ?

 

No doubt you would be the first to complain if the club stopped attempting to buy quality players .......

 

There is no quicker way to oblivion for NUFC ie where we were for decades prior to the current board taking over, than reducing income into the club. Apart from re-employing Souness, who you backed, that is.

 

To give a balanced look on this, while it is a worthy gesture by Blackburn, they are only doing it because they can't fill a small ground because they have poxy support. Remember the mackems dishing out freebies and such like, and were the source of piss taking by us for doing it ie caring club and all that bollocks ? What did you think of that ?

 

The only ways clubs can withstand reduced admission fees, is

 

1. If players salaries are capped, and it simply isn't going to happen

2. Standing areas in stadiums to get more people in to make up the shortfall in income [short term before greed took over again anyway]

 

Yes. For the umpteenth time, I am an accountant. What profession do you lend your dazzling array of talents to btw? Just out of interest, and seen as you have such a strong opinion on what others do for a living (accountants, teachers, etc.)

 

So what exactly do you think the result would be if the club dropped admission prices ? From an accountants perspective ?

 

I think we are going to see a drop-off in season ticket sales in the summer. Some of the league attendances this season have shown that we no longer have guaranteed sellouts. I'm making numbers up here, but if we say that at present we are selling 48,000 season tickets at £500 a piece on average, that's revenue of £24m. Now, say we are going to lose 5,000 renewals in the summer - I don't think that's unreasonable btw, people are getting sick of the mediocrity (yes, yes, 5th best, I know).

 

So, that would leave us selling 43,000 at £500 for £21.5m. If you were to drop the price by 5% across the board, you would only need to retain less than half of those non-renewers for that to leave you breaking even and still making £21.5m. That's breaking even on tickets alone btw, I'm not even factoring in the extra £20m we're supposed to be getting from the TV money. Why not offer that to the fans? At worst, if you still only get 43,000 renewing at the 5% discounted amount, you lose out on £1m revenue. You could easily make that back with one sold out cup match at SJP. A 10% discount would see you lose £2m, but again, you could make that back with a cup run.

 

It's a goodwill gesture that could make a lot of difference. In the grand scheme of things it makes fuck all difference to the club's finances. It could even improve them in the long term as you get more kids able to afford going to the cup matches and catching the bug etc.

 

Not a lot to argue with there. Some would also say the directors could waive their dividends to make up or help the deficit, but they have done that already this year, not that my paltry 10 quid or whatever it has been in the past would go very far

 

At the end of the day, money is important though, plenty of people go on about one or two million quid being the difference between signing a player who would be good for the club and missing out. There is no doubt that it would be a good goodwill gesture, but I think doing it in the Cup Games is more feasible and realistic, don't you ? Especially when there are a lot of cup games. Bringing in the next generation of supporters etc etc ..... most of us started going when we were kids, so we have to get the kids coming in and get them hooked.

 

I agree that season ticket sales will probably drop this summer, although all it takes is improved performance on the field and they would be back.

 

I'm not daft enough to think that directors would waive dividends, and they shouldn't have to to fund a slight tweak in ticket prices. Yes, £2m would make a difference if you're looking to sign a player, but if you consider that you're probably going to lose that £2m anyway due to a fall in season ticket sales then dropping the prices a touch may even get you back £2m that you've already lost (using the example above, if you dropped the prices by 5% and retained 2,300 or so of the 5,000 that you would otherwise have lost without the reduction, then you've broken even on the lost cash, any more than that and you're showing a gain).

 

If the drop in prices did lead to them losing significant revenue (although I fail to see how it could), you could make the money back on general sale tickets or by adjusting your policy for cup ticket pricing. Hit the corporates first - there's a not a lot to do in Newcastle by way of corporate entertainment, so take advantage of that by increasing the prices a bit. Companies will pay, (what choice do they have, the rugby?!), individuals won't.

Edited March 2, 2007 by Gemmill

[Ally 0]

Gemmill actually sounds half-clever here.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

Not a lot to argue with there.

*falls off chair*

[toondood 0]

Not a lot to argue with there.

*falls off chair*

 

what has Blackburn got to do with Newcastle, what a load of nobs.

[Gemmill 34166]

Not a lot to argue with there.

*falls off chair*

 

what has Blackburn got to do with Newcastle, what a load of nobs.

 

Thick tit.

[Super7 0]

Haven't Blackburn said they are able to reduce their prices because of the massively increased TV money next year which I understand is about 20 million more?

 

In my view rather than reducing prices Newcastle should include cup matches in the seaon ticket thereby filling the stadium for these games. Although this would decrease ticket revenue this should be made up for with the extra TV money and the spending on drinks, programmes, food etc by all the fans in a full SJP. When I went to the pre-season friendly at Celtic a few years ago the Celtic fans were boycotting the match in protest at the fact their Champions League tickets weren't included in the season ticket - all the other cup tickets were.

[Baggio 0]

Not a lot to argue with there.

*falls off chair*

 

what has Blackburn got to do with Newcastle, what a load of nobs.

 

toondood sticking up for Leazes again.

 

Not another alias surely?

[snakehips 0]

Haven't Blackburn said they are able to reduce their prices because of the massively increased TV money next year which I understand is about 20 million more?

 

In my view rather than reducing prices Newcastle should include cup matches in the seaon ticket thereby filling the stadium for these games. Although this would decrease ticket revenue this should be made up for with the extra TV money and the spending on drinks, programmes, food etc by all the fans in a full SJP. When I went to the pre-season friendly at Celtic a few years ago the Celtic fans were boycotting the match in protest at the fact their Champions League tickets weren't included in the season ticket - all the other cup tickets were.

 

From what I've heard on the radio, the club which finishes bottom of the Premiership gets £30m!!!! Therefore, that's the minimum a club can expect

[Guest alex]

Haven't Blackburn said they are able to reduce their prices because of the massively increased TV money next year which I understand is about 20 million more?

 

In my view rather than reducing prices Newcastle should include cup matches in the seaon ticket thereby filling the stadium for these games. Although this would decrease ticket revenue this should be made up for with the extra TV money and the spending on drinks, programmes, food etc by all the fans in a full SJP. When I went to the pre-season friendly at Celtic a few years ago the Celtic fans were boycotting the match in protest at the fact their Champions League tickets weren't included in the season ticket - all the other cup tickets were.

 

From what I've heard on the radio, the club which finishes bottom of the Premiership gets £30m!!!! Therefore, that's the minimum a club can expect

How much working out did that take btw?