Season Tickets

[SoccerHQ]

How many league games wont be Category A next season? What's the cheapest match-day ticket you could pay at VP in 24/25?

https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2024/june/30/ticketing-details-for-2024-25/

Cheapest adult ticket (with no discount entitlement) for a Cat B is £44-50

I haven't seen a split of Cat A/B.

Could that be flexible as the season progresses depending on how Villa and the opponents are doing in the league ?

Isn't it usually the entitled six, the 'derbies' - Wolves, Leicester, and for no other reason than they're owned by a disgusting regime and therefore destined for greatness, Newcastle?

Newcastle was actually a Cat B game in 22/23. Only got bumped up last season.

It will pretty much be everyone who finished top half + Wolves and then everyone else will be Cat B.

[Pat Mustard]

Everything about the pricing approach for this season, from the highest corporate level to the lowest ST and match by match tickets stinks and I think will be disastrous in the long-run.  It seems the club have unilaterally decided that 40k is the maximum number of tickets we want to sell, and so will absolutely squeeze the nuts out of that with no regard for what happens 10 years down the line when we may not be doing as well as we are now.

The biggest clubs without exception are the ones who attract the biggest crowds - regardless of changes in how people consume football, that is one thing that will never change.  Just at the point when we have the opportunity to join that band of clubs we are limiting ourselves by keeping the capacity low whilst simultaneously making it virtually impossible for anyone but the richest to afford tickets.

Last season we were able to go to almost every game - me on my ST, my wife and daughter using their memberships to get tickets for each match.  I was trying to work out yesterday what that will mean next season, and due to the new prices the cheapest possible option that everything would work out for us next season on match tickets alone is just shy of £3k  (which is around £1k more than last season) - in reality it will probably be considerably more than that as no doubt the Cat4 tickets will be massively in demand from now on.

Now we are generally fortunate in that we are both working and have a decent wage, but the increase means that next season we will be picking and choosing from now on.  So we have a situation in which 2 potential ST holders will stop going to every match, and in my daughter's case you will probably lose her as a regular forever once she reaches the point of job/university in the next few years.

I've said this before, but we seem to be incentivising Heck and his team to milk the support for everything they can now with no regard for 5 years time.  Long-term the club will lose the potential regular support like us, the backbone of individuals and companies who have supported the corporate sections for years and, to be honest, the people coming into these new sections that are being created when they realise the state of some of  the areas they will be watching games from.  I can't see many of them being ecstatic to find they're paying £4 or £5k a season to watch matches from the North Stand lower or in a standing section in the Holte?

Sorry for the long post, but it's the one thing the club are getting absolutely wrong on every level at the moment, and it just happens to be the single most important thing about the game.

[sid1964]

I agree the club has got the pricing structure for games wrong - IF by the end of this season, we are not challenging for a European spot, then we will see how many of the "day trippers" want to watch Villa the following season and are prepared to pay the £70 + per game and how quickly the corporate sections sell out.

[Chris Harte]

That ain't a long post, Pat. That's a brilliant post that highlights perfectly why the club's thinking seems to be so short-term.

I only hope that my suspicions that the North Stand rebuild has been merely delayed (based on what was implied in Heck's video last December) while they bolster the revenue earning options elsewhere in the ground. It is a risky strategy that could all unravel if they team cannot keep up the level of performance on the pitch.

Matchday prices are ridiculous, btw. I wonder how they compare with elsewhere?

[Villan82]

Everything about the pricing approach for this season, from the highest corporate level to the lowest ST and match by match tickets stinks and I think will be disastrous in the long-run.  It seems the club have unilaterally decided that 40k is the maximum number of tickets we want to sell, and so will absolutely squeeze the nuts out of that with no regard for what happens 10 years down the line when we may not be doing as well as we are now.

The biggest clubs without exception are the ones who attract the biggest crowds - regardless of changes in how people consume football, that is one thing that will never change.  Just at the point when we have the opportunity to join that band of clubs we are limiting ourselves by keeping the capacity low whilst simultaneously making it virtually impossible for anyone but the richest to afford tickets.

Last season we were able to go to almost every game - me on my ST, my wife and daughter using their memberships to get tickets for each match.  I was trying to work out yesterday what that will mean next season, and due to the new prices the cheapest possible option that everything would work out for us next season on match tickets alone is just shy of £3k  (which is around £1k more than last season) - in reality it will probably be considerably more than that as no doubt the Cat4 tickets will be massively in demand from now on.

Now we are generally fortunate in that we are both working and have a decent wage, but the increase means that next season we will be picking and choosing from now on.  So we have a situation in which 2 potential ST holders will stop going to every match, and in my daughter's case you will probably lose her as a regular forever once she reaches the point of job/university in the next few years.

I've said this before, but we seem to be incentivising Heck and his team to milk the support for everything they can now with no regard for 5 years time.  Long-term the club will lose the potential regular support like us, the backbone of individuals and companies who have supported the corporate sections for years and, to be honest, the people coming into these new sections that are being created when they realise the state of some of  the areas they will be watching games from.  I can't see many of them being ecstatic to find they're paying £4 or £5k a season to watch matches from the North Stand lower or in a standing section in the Holte?

Sorry for the long post, but it's the one thing the club are getting absolutely wrong on every level at the moment, and it just happens to be the single most important thing about the game.

100% agree with every single word. Especially the bit and bold. I am frustrated by how obvious this is and how muted the reaction has been. Heck is in real time ballsing up our best chance of being that club we always knew we could be.

[AV82EC]

I’m in no way trying to belittle Pats excellent post (which I tend to agree with incidentally) but when the clubs stated aim is to go all out to maximise revenue and get us to £400m revenue by the end of 26/27 (?) then I’m afraid short term matchday income generation will be prioritised over thinking about longer term supporter engagement and building out a wider regular match going fan base. I don’t like it but I understand why they’re doing it. As Pat and others have pointed out, what happens if we throw in a season in that period finishing 9th with little or minimal cup involvement. The ability to sell tickets at all price points becomes a much harder sell.

[Dogtanian]

The thing is, I think we're the only ones in the equation who are thinking about finishing mid-table in the foreseeable future...

[AV82EC]

The thing is, I think we're the only ones in the equation who are thinking about finishing mid-table in the foreseeable future...

But it could happen. As Ads has pointed out on here before, we tend to look at these things in a very limited lens, we’ve got about 8 or 9 other clubs 6 of whom already have that financial advantage who are trying to do exactly what we are as well so it’s not beyond the realm of possibility we may have one of those seasons where we end up being “there or thereabouts”.

Sorry if that comes across as arguing a point you maybe didn’t mean reading your reply back.😂

[eamonn]

We need a manager who is better than the other top six/seven clubs to stay in the mix as we don't attract the top, top players. If Unai leaves or just fails to get the same hit tune out of his squad, (didn't some ex-player say they got burnt out by the intensity of playing for him? Not Pauella, obvs), we could easily tumble back to being part of the 7/11 (th) club.

[Dogtanian]

I'm not saying it couldn't happen, I just think we are now owned and run by ambitious people with confidence in their own abilities and they're not sat there thinking this is a flash in the pan.

Every season we have been progressing, and the more you progress the more you attract top people who help you progress even more.

If Emery went next season, we wouldn't automatically be dropping back to the Smiths and the Gerrards. And one poor season wouldn't undo all of the good commercial, branding, and profile work that has been done either.

[PeterWithesShin]

In the last 90 years we've only once put together consecutive top 5 finishes. Us having a bit of a doubt isn't really a shock.

[Dogtanian]

Yep, don't get me wrong, my brain literally cannot accept we might have a third successful season in a row... same as I couldn't believe we could win the Conference League last season and why I bet on Spurs getting top 4 last year.

My hope for this season is top six finish and a third consecutive year of european football, and to get to the knockout stage in the Champions League.

[Dogtanian]

...although Emery has achieved at least a 3 place improvement on league position in both of his seasons... 

[rob_bridge]

Yep, don't get me wrong, my brain literally cannot accept we might have a third successful season in a row... same as I couldn't believe we could win the Conference League last season and why I bet on Spurs getting top 4 last year.

My hope for this season is top six finish and a third consecutive year of european football, and to get to the knockout stage in the Champions League.

I'd view that as a successful season all things considered.

[Dogtanian]

I've had two missed calls this afternoon trying to flog me hospitality tickets...