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Was Tonight Evidence That Cheaper Ticket Prices Can Work?


David
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Only downside was the embarassment of having to tell the United fans that there was not enough pies to go round, did they think that there would only be a few busloads of united fans down, the catering at FP is a joke :doh:

 

If thats the only thing we have to complain about then tonight was a very good night indeed :thumbup:

 

Same again on Saturday please.

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The big game brings out the casual supporter not just gate prices.

Not in my case. We could be playing Odense in Europe this weekend and the other half wouldn't pay £22 for it.

 

As she put it, she could go to a decent show in Glasgow for that and she would be sitting indoors in a comfy seat with a guaranteed performance, or pay even less to go to the cinema then a coffee afterwards.

 

Listening to her was interesting, as it was the opinion of a person who was at the game that isn't a "die-hard" who'll pay over the top prices for a less than stellar product.

 

She simply doesn't think that £22 to watch Scottish football is value for money, and regardless of whatever excuses the club has for not charging less on a weekly basis, the harsh truth is we'll get the same crowd (and that will eventually decrease over the next year or so) unless we sort our pricing out.

 

The only people who'll pay current prices are mugs like all of you & me :doh:

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Only downside was the embarassment of having to tell the United fans that there was not enough pies to go round, did they think that there would only be a few busloads of united fans down, the catering at FP is a joke :doh:

Our loss, last night was a real opportunity to make some much needed cash from the catering.

 

 

 

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I think last night proved that reducing the prices increses attendance and also atmosphere, but more importantly could bring in more fans who would have loved last night and want to come back to more games.

 

I have to say last night was the best game I have been at since the Odense game. Both these games were played in front of a full Fir Park.

 

In the long run reducing prices will increse profits at Fir Park, but it needs to be a long term plan. Not just a one off.

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ticket prices were great last night - me, the mrs and the wean, all in for £25

what does Saturday bring? £44? big difference

 

guy in my work just came and spoke to me (him and his boys are Celtic daft - live in Wishy) and he said his boy (6yrs old) came in from school yesterday asking to go to the game with his pal. And he loved it !! And altho they are Celtic fans, the guy has always said, if his boys want to go to Fir Park - he will take them.

 

BUT THE PRICE NEEDS TO BE RIGHT - its why they dont go to Parkhead - just too expensive

 

now come Saturday - if his boy gets the rush to come again - can he magically produce "the normal price "for the tickets??? Not really

 

We cant encourage folk to come along at the price we charge

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Delighted to see my prematch prediction come true, not the result or goalscorers or that but as always anytime we get a bigger than normal crowd their are always some numpties that reckon their was barely a seat left and it was nigh on a full house.

 

Yes there were more Well fans in than we used to lately on top of a surprisingly healthy away support but from my vantage point in the East I could see plenty seats around the section or two in front and to right of me, plenty in the POD and plenty in the Cooper and again plenty in the South.

 

Fact is if there were approx 4800 well fans in last night that is probably a good 1500 more than we're used to of late/ I dunno whether they count comp tickets or not so maybe there more in the ground than the official attendance but there is no way we're whacking thousands of the gate to dodge some tax. An 8337 crowd give or take a few is pretty much what was likely there.

 

Just a shame we don't get more crowds like that.

 

On the general point indeed the low entry fee helped but a good few factors combined to help the healthy turnout and if we reduced saturdays attendance to a tenner I doubt we'd get as good a result and crowds would soon slip back to the norm more or less unless we suddenly started winning nearly every week and playing like a mini Barcelona into the bargain.

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On the general point indeed the low entry fee helped but a good few factors combined to help the healthy turnout and if we reduced saturdays attendance to a tenner I doubt we'd get as good a result and crowds would soon slip back to the norm more or less unless we suddenly started winning nearly every week and playing like a mini Barcelona into the bargain.

Are you being serious? You think that the crowds would slip back to the average unless we started playing like Barcelona? :laugh:

 

Think how many 'Well fans there are out there who don't go to games regular because of the pricing. I know of at least eight of them, all of whom were at the game last night.

 

They would all be at the Aberdeen game if pricing was £12 or so. It isn't, so they won't be. The momentum that we could have gained from that win last night will be lost after this weekend.

 

If you take into account the neutrals who came along and really enjoyed themselves too, such as my other half, you would see an increase in attendance.

 

Sure, it may spike initially then drop off slightly, but as someone said, it'll take a prolonged period of lower prices, where people start to realise that the cost of going is not as much as they thought originally.

 

The bottom line is, we can either look at changing our pricing structure and try to get some fresh skulls through the gates, or we can do fuck all and continue to see dwindling attendances.

 

That's the options we have.

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I thought FP looked pretty full for the recent Celtic game yet it was around 9,000. So last nights figures might not be that out, plus we needed to split the gate with Utd, so if you robbed them all the better :whistling:

 

As I could't make it last night and had to listen to the radio instead, they said Utd told the club that they should bring 1500 fans, so you can't really complain we ran out of pies if an extra 2000 arabs turned up.

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Crowd looked about right to me last night, I'd say the Dundee United support was just approaching 3000.

 

Thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere last night and it shows the impact reduced prices can make for non-TV games. However there was a lot at stake last night. Same prices next week and you would struggle to break the 5,000 barrier.

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Id say there was more than 10,000 there last night at the very least. Not in a million years was 1/3 of fir park empty last night.

 

 

Thought i was the only one, can somebody explain where the 5300 empty seats were?

 

i'd have said there was around 1000 spaces in the away end and the pod and about 500 each in the east and cooper.

 

On the op i really can't see it working, teams would lose far too much £ and for normal league games the crowd wouldn't be as high.For it to be worthwhile for the club the atts would need to more than double which they wouldn't.

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We've prooved it doesn't work in the past.

 

50% reduction in ticket prices = 20% increase in attendance = club losing money.

Doing it once, maybe even twice,a season isn't "prooving" anything. It has to be done over a long period of time for a good conclusion to whether it works or not to appear.

 

She simply doesn't think that £22 to watch Scottish football is value for money, and regardless of whatever excuses the club has for not charging less on a weekly basis, the harsh truth is we'll get the same crowd (and that will eventually decrease over the next year or so) unless we sort our pricing out.

Correct.

 

It's not rocket science. People will go to the football if the price is right. Especially nowadays where people are looking more at the value of products than the price.

 

£22 for SPL is daylight robbery and football clubs have been taking advantage of supporters for too long. With current prices and a 10 team league the SPL is headed for oblivion.

 

It's time for a revolution....

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As others have said, its not proof, but its evidence that theres an appetite for it. What worries me is that the way the reconstruction debate is going, the clubs appear to be chasing the TV money rather than attempting to get the fans back through the door.

 

Obviously clubs have to operate in their own best interests and work within the budgets they have, but for me, football on the telly is shite. If I can't make it, theres probably a good reason I can't and won't be able to watch it on the telly, but everything about the crowd last night showed how important a fuller house is. Eight teams of a ten team league trying not to drop points and clog the shite out of each other will drive more away. Paying the same price as now to watch worse football will not bring more in. The TV deal will provide cash but no-one will give a damn.

 

Jock Stein had a good point.

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Doing it once, maybe even twice,a season isn't "prooving" anything. It has to be done over a long period of time for a good conclusion to whether it works or not to appear.

 

 

Maybe... But why would the club want to significantly reduce they're income over a "long period of time" for a shot of somthing that may or may not work?

 

I totally agree that football is over priced. Die hards will pay no matter what. Fans that aren't willing to pay the price are unlikely to ever become regulars and while cheaper tickets will encourge more people to come it will never bridge the loss of revenue.

 

Yesterday was the perfect storm for a good crowd: Cup quarter final, not televised, no other major games on TV, beatable semi final opponents, two clubs who are main stays of the SPL.

 

Look at the last game we had with cheap tickets. The 6-6 hibs game. Remember that was a big game too (possibly deciding european football). Att. 6,241.

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The Hibs 6-6 game was on tv it is killing our game.

 

Maybe so...

 

But if people aren't willing to part with a tenner to come and watch their team live in a game that potentially seals qualification to a european competition I have little hope for reduced ticket prices being the answer for anything.

 

And where would our game be without the revenue generated from tv deals?

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If someone with a £100m plus personal fortune wants to step in and underwrite the experiment of putting gate prices down to a tenner regularly I'm all for it.

 

How else it could possibly happen I just don't see.

 

The other reasons for last nights crows included its importance, its lack of being on TV and opposition team on a run of good form making the journey all the more appealing.

 

I daresay if we slashed prices regularly we would see an increase in crowds but would it be enough to offset the difference. Would they still come if we crashed into the first division.

 

If the SPL collectively want to get heads together and cap prices then great but again unless revenue stayed at least the level we have we'd likely see even more diminished quality on the park and that is pretty frightening when you see the product as it is!

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