I know but the existence of a queue means that income is below maximum and it really isn't obvious that once you've got a season ticket you should have a right to keep it for life.... Reading my posts back, I've made myself sound like an arsehole. I wasn't trying to say that I was more entitled to tickets than anyone else, just that if the club was really out to screw the fans they've been doing a pretty poor job of it as they've been selling tickets below where they could have priced them even when there was a massive shortage.
The balance can be solved, but as I said that requires the club to "show its workings" (regardless of whether we like the truth of the numbers or not) .
It’s just greed by clubs. Like previously said, ticket prices don’t actually mean that much to clubs anymore because the tv money is the core of income. In theory as tv money goes up then ticket prices should come down. Having stadiums that aren’t full isn’t good for anyone.
Because it stops other fans having the chance to see the team in future seasons. I think a fairer approach would be a ballot each year. Possibly you should have priority in the ballot if you didn't get one the previous year. Off hand I can't think if anything else that I can buy which is rationed in this way.
Your last point is correct but people used to think that TV had to be rationed or people would stop going to matches. In reality the existence of wider TV coverage just encourages more people to want to see it live. I don't understand the point on greed. The clubs don't keep the money, it goes straight out the door mainly to pay players. If the average price in the new stadium is £1000 for a season ticket then cutting that in half reduces income by £31m per season. That's not in anyway negligible.
On SSC, much of the ire has been directed at the 1882 seats in the South Stand and what effect it might have on atmosphere. One of the contributors wrote this, which I thought was very good... For me I think the subtle point is that the 1882 club seats are for season ticket holders. They are not "Premium Seats" in the sense that any corporate or individual who flashes a large enough wadge of cash can buy their way in to the experience. To be able to purchase an 1882 seat you have to be one of the existing ST holders. I fully expect those seats to all be sold to people on in the existing 40,000 invitees without the club having to widen the invite out to members. In fact, my invite is for purchase phase 5 out of 8 and I'd be surprised if there are any South Stand 1882 seats available for me to pick. I think people's implied fear that there will be a pocket of suited and booted Sebastian's and Theresa's clutching their prawn sandwiches sat mute like rabbits caught in the headlights whilst Wingnut, Donkey, Shagger and Bones on the row behind are belting out "the thing I like most is being a Yid..." will prove unfounded. Very funny and probably spot on, too.
It's a reward for loyalty. Those fans have stuck with the club when things weren't going so well and we weren't selling out every match. Casting them aside for more money now is a poor decision for many reasons.
It certainly used to be but in the last two seasons at WHL I thought you could sell in your seat on Stubhub for a profit. So anyone with a season ticket would be mad to give it up.
The stub-hub thing was immoral and I would not have taken part in it. I would rather of given my ticket away to a committed Spurs fan. How is the resale of ST holders unused seats going to be done next season.
I actually don't know the answer to this but to what extent are season tickets sold on to others at a profit, I wonder. There is usually a black market in anything that is rationed.
Through the ticket exchange at the face value of the ticket rather than 1/19 of the season ticket cost, as per this season This will mean that selling Cat. C tickets will nominally be less profitable but you've got a much better chance of actually finding a buyer. I think this could be more common as ST holders look to recover some of the additional cost.
I doubt there's been much money in it this season. There's empty seats in virtually every match. Those sitting around me have been pretty consistently the same people too, anecdotally. There's one Polish guy who doesn't make it to every match, but that's about it. Lives in Poland, so it's understandable.
Thanks Brian. If there are any left at the end of the process I may think about purchasing a ST. As travel costs and hotel etc stick about £250 on every game I could probably only afford about 6 or seven league games plus CL games each season. If I can gat some back from games I don’t go to it would make it worthwhile.
I'll be one of your customers, then. Realistically, I can't make every game but if I had a ST, then I'd probably try. Attending the Cat. A games is not so important to me. I just like to go and cheer the boys on a few times a season and occasionally meet up with family at the game and pub, if it's Huddersfield or Arsenal.
Bayern Munich seem to do alright and they charge a lot less than they could. Look at Arsenal these days, nearly half of their season tickets holders don’t even bother turning up to games and the atmosphere at the Emirates is appalling.
People liked to attend because in addition to the football itself, you caught up with family and friends that you may otherwise infrequently see, or just to get out of the house on a whim and do something (my dad sometimes did that) . Raising the spectator costs sufficiently high prevents the above, regardless of how many free seats there may actually be on a given day.
