Now I was going to raise this prior to the Southport game but thought it better to get the season out the way and done with first. Just to reiterate this is just a suggestion for debate, not a demand.
I'm going to try and explain my reasoning behind the family ticket suggestion with the following true story. Apologies for it being somewhat lengthy:
Now prior to attending the Kidderminster game I suggested to my wife, taking her and my daughter to the game. My wife declined as she felt bad about the £15 ticket. I did suggest just taking my daughter but then felt bad about leaving my wife at home on her own. In the end I nearly didn't go. This has actually been a reason for me missing quite a few games this season as I don't get many days off to spend with my family.
I assume others may have had the same dilemma.
Yet when I went to the Kidderminster game I noticed more female fans than usual, and then discovered that women were being admitted for free as part of ladies day (yes I must have been living under a rock!). I got home and told my wife, after which she said she'd wished we'd gone together... I noticed that many of the women attended seemed to be with family.
Then prior to the Southport game I went to Danson Park with my wife and daughter. I suggested we all go to the game together. My wife said it was okay, I could go on my own. I said our daughter would be admitted for free but my wife insisted the £15 it would cost for her was too much even when I offered to pay... Yet again I nearly didn't go because I felt bad about leaving my wife and daughter at home. Had it not been the last game of the season and my wife insisting I go, I would have probably not gone.
I went to the Southport game pleased to see a large attendance with many children but the vast majority seemed to be with their father's/male guardians with much fewer women present than the Kidderminster game.
Now I fully appreciate the club have listened to supporters in the past, and been very generous in initiatives like admitting children for free, and for which we are eternally grateful. However as stated above, I believe there are obstacles such as the examples I gave above that create a stumbling block for the kids go free initiative. So I don't want it to seem like the club have given us an inch and now we're taking a mile.
I feel that a family ticket may possibly be the missing piece of the jigsaw. How a family ticket would work is up for debate. Would we let the 2nd parent/guardian in for free? Would we just subsidise the second parent/guardian? We'll discuss that later.
I think we've been barking up the wrong tree by trying to attract new supporters to the club with flyers/leaflets. As I've found with my mates, they'll happily come if I buy them or subsidise their ticket but aren't willing to come back if it means paying £15. Yet won't hesitate paying £15 to enter Venue nightclub in New Cross to drink £5 a pint Stella all night to deafening cheesy music...
I think if we're serious about the target 1,000 initiative then I think we've got to push the family club image a bit more. We've started well with the kids go free initiative. Now we've just got to try and encourage the Mums to come as well.
Charlton have sold family tickets for donkey's years, with their rebranding as a family club in the 90's leading to them achieving their target 10,000 initiative and eventually going up to the Premiership.
Millwall also have their own family initiative, although they've got a lot of work to do still before I ever consider taking my daughter there...
So like I said it's just food for thought to provoke debate.
Best case scenario we could trial a family ticket at one of the pre-season friendlies. Probably not against Charlton/Millwall etc. as we're likely to have big gates anyway.
Ultimately the board are the ones with the view of the books and the club budget. Although we don't have many female season ticket holders/regular attendees, I appreciate the budget is still tight so would understand if they didn't proceed with this initiative.
No harm in debating this however.
Fire away!
-- Edited by WingsTillIDie on Monday 27th of April 2015 06:13:32 PM
-- Edited by WingsTillIDie on Monday 27th of April 2015 06:14:45 PM
Women and teenagers are definitely missing at PVR. I think all teenagers should be free so we might gain the potential paying fan in the future. Although there were lots of teenagers against Southport? Family tickets are a good idea.
End of the day, football is too expensive for the average person in the street. And that is from the top, to our league and below. £15 for a non league match is too much. When we were in the conference (before Jamie took us up) the admission worked out about £9 in today's money.
I would rather have 1,000 people paying a tenner than 600 paying £15. Looks good to have more people in, attractive to sponsors/advertisers and would give the players a boost. If that means family tickets or women half price etc then I'm all for it.
I think we should look at our pricing generally. A family ticket wouldn't necessarily lead to more females in the ground - I suspect it would be unlawful to mention the sex of those purchasing it, so you could do two adults and two children at a reduced rate but it might just lead to people who would otherwise attend with children buddying up to cut costs.
I saw that Alfreton let people buy a number of tickets at a reduced price - if we let people buy, for instance, 5 for £12 a time it might encourage some to attend, particularly if they didn't have to pay up front.
I also think we should look at discounts for people upon proof of some / all benefits. If you're surviving on ESA or JSA £15 must be bordering on the impossible. We are meant to be a community club and whilst the free tickets in schools are an excellent idea I would like to see the club do more particularly towards the more disadvantaged.
Women and teenagers are definitely missing at PVR. I think all teenagers should be free so we might gain the potential paying fan in the future. Although there were lots of teenagers against Southport? Family tickets are a good idea.
End of the day, football is too expensive for the average person in the street. And that is from the top, to our league and below. £15 for a non league match is too much. When we were in the conference (before Jamie took us up) the admission worked out about £9 in today's money.
I would rather have 1,000 people paying a tenner than 600 paying £15. Looks good to have more people in, attractive to sponsors/advertisers and would give the players a boost. If that means family tickets or women half price etc then I'm all for it.
Well the 1000 fans paying £10 would generate more commercial revenue than 660 odd people paying £15.
Rather than reduce the general admission price for those that would normally attend, the family ticket is an attempt to attract mum's along with the family men and kids that may not normally attend. As mums and kids make up a small demographic of the current attendance, the additional revenue from the family ticket would be a bonus, along with the additional commercial revenue from the boosted attendance.
I notice that the majority of the families that attend games seem to get seats in the stands which adds a few more quid.
A family ticket could be worth exploring. However, I would question the idea of allowing women and teenagers in for free. It seems to me that the largest supporting group is the adult male, which indicates that this sector is the one to target. Do away with all concessions and allow free or heavily subsidised entry to men, this will increase the gate and support for the team. Job done.
I think we should look at our pricing generally. A family ticket wouldn't necessarily lead to more females in the ground - I suspect it would be unlawful to mention the sex of those purchasing it, so you could do two adults and two children at a reduced rate but it might just lead to people who would otherwise attend with children buddying up to cut costs.
I did think this might be a stumbling block although same-sex parents make up such a small percentage demographically I can't imagine too many problems arising from this. Neither can I imagine two pally Welling fans going through all the hassle of posing as same-sex parents/guardians just to save a few quid... Who knows I might be wrong on that one.
-- Edited by WingsTillIDie on Tuesday 28th of April 2015 02:52:49 PM
We need to look at our Ticket prices much to expensive you should look at the way Charlton FC make football affordable kept cost down for many a Season get the fans in the ground. Hence Welling UTD only get fans a 500 a game cut your price to £10 get more fans watching Welling.
We need to look at our Ticket prices much to expensive you should look at the way Charlton FC make football affordable kept cost down for many a Season get the fans in the ground. Hence Welling UTD only get fans a 500 a game cut your price to £10 get more fans watching Welling.
It's been discussed on here many times before but sadly like many other non-league clubs, we're trapped in a budget which doesn't leave much room for reductions. Most of my mates aren't willing to pay £15 but the problem is their ideal target price is probably about a fiver. Charlton do fiver a ticket but they can get 27,000 more fans than us at these games and it's only a one off.
We need to target demographics we don't normally get. Children used to be virtually non-existent at matches. Fortunately the kids go free offer has changed this. The additional revenue streams from merchandise ans junior wings mean we don't lose out. Plus it helps secure our fan base in the long term. The number of women I see attend games I could probably count on my hands. So yet again we can target this demographic for ticket reductions as we hardly make anything from this anyway plus as pointed out in my original example we can actually lose out from not attracting women to games, as in many cases if 'mum' doesn't go, Dad and the kids don't go either...
If we can boost the attendances by attracting new demographics, then hopefully increased commercial and retail revenue from this would allow room for general ticket price reductions in future.
-- Edited by WingsTillIDie on Tuesday 28th of April 2015 05:35:33 PM
