Season Tickets 2014/15

[Dave Clark Five]

Maybe the Norwich attendance should have been seen as an indicator of dissatisfaction.

[paul_e]

Maybe the Norwich attendance should have been seen as an indicator of dissatisfaction.

Do you mean the average attendance expectations should be based on the attendance of a game at 4pm on the Sunday of the League Cup Final which was played in driving rain?  Are you sure about that?  If anything that's a measure for about as low as it can get for a league game.

[Chris Harte]

I think it's a disgrace that prices have gone at all.

In this age of insane revenue from TV deals, in an age where the fan is more and more being told that their admission money counts less and less,  I feel that any rise, especially in view of the utter garbage we've had to endure at home in the name of supporting our team, is a real insult. And before "early" deals get a mention four premier league wins at home all season is not an incentive. It's on course to be the worst home record in living memory.

[Ad@m]

The club are not operating in a vacuum though. 19 other clubs will benefit from the increases in the TV money from this summer on. I can imagine that most of that money will follow the same route that increases in revenue in football have followed for 25 years; agents and players.

You cannot operate at the top with a monoeconomic revenue stream, because other clubs will beat you down with their resources.

I am all for a German style re-appraisal of things, but that ship sailed 22 years ago.

But what if the ST price increase ends up being the reason why fans don't renew and the club actually ends up losing out?

A 3% or 4% increase is highly unlikely to do that.  Football fans don't buy season tickets based on price - just like taking £20 off the cost of a season ticket wouldn't significantly increase the number of season ticket holders, adding £20 on won't significantly decrease them either.  There will undoubtedly be a small attrition rate but the price increase will more than compensate.

As amfy said, our gate receipts are much lower than similar sized clubs with smaller grounds simply because they charge more than we do.  If you think season tickets at the Villa are expensive your problem is with football in general, not the Villa.

[Dave Clark Five]

Maybe the Norwich attendance should have been seen as an indicator of dissatisfaction.

Do you mean the average attendance expectations should be based on the attendance of a game at 4pm on the Sunday of the League Cup Final which was played in driving rain?  Are you sure about that?  If anything that's a measure for about as low as it can get for a league game.

I doubt if the rain would have made much difference as tickets would be mainly sold by then. There is no doubt that it was a poor crowd. How many Villa supporters would have stopped away to watch the LCF? People are getting to the point of throwing the towel in. Loads of them have told me, usually at matches so I tend to take notice of them.

[eastie]

Maybe the Norwich attendance should have been seen as an indicator of dissatisfaction.

Do you mean the average attendance expectations should be based on the attendance of a game at 4pm on the Sunday of the League Cup Final which was played in driving rain?  Are you sure about that?  If anything that's a measure for about as low as it can get for a league game.

I doubt if the rain would have made much difference as tickets would be mainly sold by then. There is no doubt that it was a poor crowd. How many Villa supporters would have stopped away to watch the LCF? People are getting to the point of throwing the towel in. Loads of them have told me, usually at matches so I tend to take notice of them.

I agree with dc5 , it was our first home game for a month and a vital match - the attendance was poor and a sign of discontent in my opinion.

[PeterWithesShin]

Pretty much every season we have at least one crap attendance. It's when it becomes the norm is the time to worry.

[Dave Clark Five]

The club are not operating in a vacuum though. 19 other clubs will benefit from the increases in the TV money from this summer on. I can imagine that most of that money will follow the same route that increases in revenue in football have followed for 25 years; agents and players.

You cannot operate at the top with a monoeconomic revenue stream, because other clubs will beat you down with their resources.

I am all for a German style re-appraisal of things, but that ship sailed 22 years ago.

But what if the ST price increase ends up being the reason why fans don't renew and the club actually ends up losing out?

A 3% or 4% increase is highly unlikely to do that.  Football fans don't buy season tickets based on price - just like taking £20 off the cost of a season ticket wouldn't significantly increase the number of season ticket holders, adding £20 on won't significantly decrease them either.  There will undoubtedly be a small attrition rate but the price increase will more than compensate.

As amfy said, our gate receipts are much lower than similar sized clubs with smaller grounds simply because they charge more than we do.  If you think season tickets at the Villa are expensive your problem is with football in general, not the Villa.

You can argue with all manner of theories and suppositions. We will see what happens when next season comes around. The club are doing their best, on the marketing side, to sell tickets early. Unfortunately, the football side of the business is letting it down. That is what they pay to watch. Only the very committed, or those who need committing (probably the same people), will go for the early bird offers. Those who have held back to see what happens will need some convincing.
If I was to be asked by the club what I thought the mood of the fans was, I would tell them straight. Most fans are fed up and this would be proved correct in a vote. Not everybody wants to continually wait to 'see what happens in the next window'.

[PeterWithesShin]

A (semi) interesting guide will be Chavski. 2 years ago under McLeish we played them on March 31st at 3pm and got 34,740.

[pauliewalnuts]

Although season tickets are relatively price inelastic, I do think very frequently people make a decision regarding paying for the whole season in advance based on what they're getting in return - that being what we see on the pitch.

I'd imagine another season of a handful of wins plus some truly embarrassing home defeats will have more impact on the take-up of season tickets than a price increase. That's certainly the part the club needs to get right.

Our seasons tickets are (comparatively) cheap, I don't think they've ever been piss takers in that sense, but they desperately need to improve the football, especially at home, very quickly.

[Clampy]

I think the prices should have been frozen personally. Mine is £510 next season and although the increase only works out at an extra £1 per game, going over the £500 mark might be enough to put some people off.

[ChicagoLion]

Can anyone see season ticket sales going up? So selling the same number would be an achievement. Based on the home record and quality of football they will struggle to sell them, unless there is a significant change in strategy.

[stuart r]

You cannot operate at the top with a monoeconomic revenue stream

And on reading that sentence he sighed, slowly closed the lid of his laptop and walked away silently sobbing. The battle was lost and football was gone forever.

[Ads]

I made the word up from monocrop. Incidentally, there has never been anything modern in generally the club who spends the most, wins the most.

If all you have is TV money and 19 others have that, then you're going to have to do something very clever to give yourself the edge.

[andrew08]

I'm going to renew early as my monoeconomic income is cash flow positive right now and 10% off, even in vouchers, is a better return than leaving it in the bank.