Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[pauliewalnuts]

Pretty telling that they can do the installation of the entire Terrace View structure relatively quickly but people are still having to wait form them to provide toilet facilities which come anywhere near alignment with the price of match tickets.

Just fucking sort it out, it is so fucking annoying that there seems to still be lethargy in improving anything that doesn’t have pound notes attached to it.

[Clampy]

There are no towel dispensers - just two hand dryers...

Ah, ok. There's towel dispensers in the Upper Holte toilets. I presumed it was the same everywhere.

[rob_bridge]

People would be willing to spend a bit more money per visit to VP if the overall experience was better. Less queues and either better quality or lower prices.

Being honest when we were getting low 30k 10 years ago it was relatively easy to get served in Trinity but the whole catering thing has been an issue for longer. I remember a H&V article about it years ago.

The only way to generate a step up in income is to increase the ground capacity with special focus on corporate hospitality and/or garner far more global sponsorship deals. The former is being honest easier.

[Smithy]

On Twatter:

Russ Dale 🦁
@russkyd11
20h

Aston Villa matchday revenue... £36m....
Spurs matchday revenue.....£106m.....
But a new stadium would be a terrible idea wouldn't it? 🙄
Can't move forwards if you're standing still.
#avfc

I don't know whether the numbers are right, but I'm guessing the 3x differential is probably not far off being.

Although as they have a season ticket price difference over ours of + £200 at he lower end and + £1200 for the rich seats, it it not just coming from the bigger stadium but what people are prepared to pay. They also charge £45-£55 just to be able to buy day to day tickets on the priority route (not sure if they reach general sale). You do get all but £10 back in vouchers, but that is vouchers to get £10 off the Spurs streaming subscription, and the rest in club shop vouchers.

With the way we have reacted to the offerings our club has tried to get extra money in, I can expect similar when we try to go down similar routes.

Indeed.  We could close a chunk of that revenue gap just by putting up the prices of our tickets and anything match-day related to what Spurs charge, and by playing more matches at home (which we're doing this season). 

But can you imagine the carnage on here if we started charging two-grand or more for some of our season tickets?  This season our most expensive season ticket is still cheaper than Spurs' CHEAPEST season ticket, by about 10%.

A new stadium doesn't close that revenue gap unless we start charging Spurs-style prices.  And we can charge Spurs-style prices without moving to a new stadium, if we want to.

[Chico Hamilton III]

My son turns 18 the week before we play Spurs so he moves up an age/price bracket and I paid £110 for tickets for me and him in the lower Holte. Getting very close to my tipping point.

[Dogtanian]

The toilets in the upper Holte are a disgrace. I like some decent reading material while I pee, but the posters aren't updated enough and too often I am left reading the Saville plaque on the trough.

[frank black]

I was talking to some Spurs fans before the Fulham game. £60 quid a game was the season ticket price. They couldn’t get their heads around why we would baulk at paying this.. sadly it’s not far away before we’ll be paying similar.
They love their new stadium but hate the queues for a pint (apparently, but can’t imagine they’re as bad as ours). One of was a condescending idiot, so the cherry was on the cake when they lost.

[RamboandBruno]

I the think the Everton cup game alone, highlights the difficulties the club will have if ticket and season prices keep hiking up. I know its more complicated than this, people picking and choosing their games with euro and league games as well. But when i was down at Spurs last season, there were obviously thousands of tourists there, same as Chelsea the other week in the cup. The amount of photos being taken, seemed to me indicative of home supporters’  who didn’t/couldn’t get to games very often. Nevermind whether we want Villa to turn into a haven for tourists or not, the reality is we’re based in Birmingham and much as I see myself as Brummie first before any nationality and defensive of my city etc, we will never ever be able to attract as many of those one off supporters, who will also do a weekend in the smoke.
I know the argument then is the tourist fans of the Manchester clubs and Liverpool, but Man U & Liverpool have 50+ years of cup winning and brand building and Man City can afford to keep their prices low.

Villa have a problem I feel as they are literally in danger of pricing loyalty out of their market and I’m not convinced there are another 10,000-20,000 ready to commit to season tickets year after year (I know I sound all flintstone here).

One thing i would say, the tap and go bar, pre order bar and outside bar, have made it much easier to get a beer and food in the lower holte, even at half time.

[Percy McCarthy]

^^ You may have a point on the tourist thing, but I don’t know. The Premier League is a worldwide attraction after all. One thing we do know - we could sell more corporate, more GA season tickets and more individual match tickets if we had room. We should be making room.

Anyone remember that article years ago, something like ‘Why Villa and Not Everton’? It went into detail about our catchment area compared to other clubs. It could be a huge advantage.

[Drummond]

We all know football is too expensive. But we all want success. It's almost impossible to have  the latter without the former.

[London Villan]

We all know football is too expensive. But we all want success. It's almost impossible to have  the latter without the former.

Expensive compared to what though? If it's football 20 years ago then yes, but if you compare it to equivalent entertainment options then probably not.

A basic seat at the NEC for a gig £60+
Mostertrucks at the NIA £50+
Big show at the Hippodrome £70+

[dave.woodhall]

We all know football is too expensive. But we all want success. It's almost impossible to have  the latter without the former.

Expensive compared to what though? If it's football 20 years ago then yes, but if you compare it to equivalent entertainment options then probably not.

A basic seat at the NEC for a gig £60+
Mostertrucks at the NIA £50+
Big show at the Hippodrome £70+

You don't go to any of them every other week.

[Dogtanian]

We all know football is too expensive. But we all want success. It's almost impossible to have  the latter without the former.

Expensive compared to what though? If it's football 20 years ago then yes, but if you compare it to equivalent entertainment options then probably not.

A basic seat at the NEC for a gig £60+
Mostertrucks at the NIA £50+
Big show at the Hippodrome £70+

You don't go to any of them every other week.

True, but they're also not soul-crushingly important to us, either.

[rob_bridge]

We all know football is too expensive. But we all want success. It's almost impossible to have  the latter without the former.

Expensive compared to what though? If it's football 20 years ago then yes, but if you compare it to equivalent entertainment options then probably not.

A basic seat at the NEC for a gig £60+
Mostertrucks at the NIA £50+
Big show at the Hippodrome £70+

It is all relative.

Cheltenham Festival - cheapest standing is £50 and £7.50 a pint and the queues are much worse.

In the 2013-16 dark days me and the Missus used to pick up tickets for £15-£25 quid each on exchange sites. Trinity Lower, Holte Upper etc..

Pay 3 times that now only because people will pay.

The ground is full more or less every game - they made one mistake with Everton game.

Either existing punters pay more or we get more punters including richer Corporate ones.

[London Villan]

We all know football is too expensive. But we all want success. It's almost impossible to have  the latter without the former.

Expensive compared to what though? If it's football 20 years ago then yes, but if you compare it to equivalent entertainment options then probably not.

A basic seat at the NEC for a gig £60+
Mostertrucks at the NIA £50+
Big show at the Hippodrome £70+

You don't go to any of them every other week.

And neither do the new fans they want to attract to games.

They want the once or twice-a-season fan, that will make a day of the event, go to the shop, spend in the stadium, be happy to "experience" the Terrace View or Holte Suite - that is where the money is.

Whether they are tourists that want to see any PL match, or "supporters" of Villa from far-flung places, whose numbers will grow if/when we actually win something.