I was wondering t'other day, when we got our season pass reminders in previous seasons. I think the club had been hawking them around by now in every year I can remember recently. I was advised today (based on 'informed' rumours) that for the time being they would not be going out and I was trying to figure out the rationale of not having the cash in the bank for next season as soon as possible? 1) Are we so cash rich that we dont need it for now? 2) Is it a question of this money appearing in next years accounts rather than this? Presumably that would produce a bigger loss for this year and mean we hit the ground running on our own two feet financially next season? 3) Is it a case of smart financial management to offset the massive profits of Allam Marine against the (presumably huge) losses of Hull City in a Group structure to reduce any tax liability for the Holding Company? Can they do that? 4) Is it just bad financial manangement (this I cannot believe!) 5) Are the pass renewal incentives simply 'in-the-post'? Edit: 6) Is it summat to do with FFP? 7) Am I imagining that the reminders have been hawked around earlier in previous seasons?
From my understanding of what I have been told is it is because of a scheme the Allams are drawing up. Its looking like next year will be the last year of our 'traditional season tickets', I don't think they are gong to sort it in time for next season!
its all bollocks really last years went on sale on Season Tickets 2011/12 Posted on: Tue 26 Apr 2011 http://www.hullcityafc.net/page/NewsDetail/0,,10338~2345015,00.html
So it wasn't just me who thought this maybe down to the FPP ruling, although not sure what huge benefit it can have unless we are expecting losses next year however we are allowed that if it is due to things two or three years ago, is that not correct?
READ THE ****ING DATE Season Tickets 2011/12 Posted on: Tue 26 Apr 2011 Season Tickets for the eagerly anticipated 2011/12 campaign are on sale now. Existing Season Ticket holders should receive their renewal forms through the post by the end of next week. Please complete and return them by Monday 23rd May (Monday 16th May if paying by Direct Debit) to guarantee your current seat at the best possible price!
My Dad goes mad about this and I know he browses but doesn't post on here so I'll make the point for him: Why the hell didn't we get the pass renewals out back in February when things were looking quite exciting and there was a chance we'd be in the PL next season? It's stupidity leaving it this long and waiting for the season to peter out into nothing before getting the passes out, especially when our form got so bad recently and they are now telling everyone how little money there will be in the summer. That'll make people renew... My Dad actually pointed this out to the club and they said the reason was that they are planning on restructuring the whole seating thing. They are planning on moving all family areas to one big one in the South stand meaning if you want yur cheap pass with your kids in the East or West, you'll have to move or pay the higher rate. Not only is that an awful idea but it still doesn't really explain why it's taken so long to get the passes out, considering they were planning this back in September...
If you're responding to my post, it doesn't matter that they're late. The point still stands. People who would have been excited about next season a few months ago will be pretty fed up lately (before today anyway).
1) The cash in the bank issue only applies to cash and debit card sales. Anybody who buys them on credit card the club doesn't start receiving the money until about November time. Because they cost more than £100 they fall under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. That means if we go bust and we've bought our tickets on our credit cards the credit card company has to give us our money back whether they can get it from the club or not. It'll be irrelevent anyway as we'll have the season tickets sold before 9th June when we have to start paying any new signings we make. Until the end of May we're still receiving installments of the parachute payment for this year as well. 2) Our accounting period runs to July 31st so they'll be in this year's accounts regardless. There's no accounting benefit to selling them in one period when they're for games in the next though. In basic terms, by selling them they get money in the bank as an asset, but they get a liability (debt) of the same size to the fans so there's no profit/loss to be included when the sale is made. There is a VAT advantage in delaying it. If they make the sale now they probably have to pay the VAT to the government with their next return (I'm assuming cash accounting for VAT is just for smaller businesses), by delaying it they might be able to put it in a later return and pay it later. Since the majority of money coming in won't be received until October/November it could be delayed to help cashflow over the summer. 3) As 2, there's no profit/loss adjustment caused by selling season tickets. The season ticket income will be spread over 23 games and the profit calculated for each game based on that, the cost, and other income all rolled into one. 4) Traditionally we've always had an early (January/February) launch of season ticket renewals. That doesn't seem to be normal though. Having been quite nomadic on messageboards April and even May launches have been quite common so we just appear to be falling in line. It's probably partly to do with fans still having the expense of away games and things to cover and Xmas bills coming in, so from a recession/recovery point of view having late sales is helpful for customers which avoids fans not being able to afford the renewal early, and then when they could afford it finding the price has risen significantly. Last year they were delayed because of the takeover and them deciding on prices. The season this year finishes earlier so it possibly feels like they've left it later than then even if it's the same time. I'll check my personal accounts later and see if I can see when I paid for it last year. (I account to the penny with exact dates because of how tight my budgeting needs to be) More to the point though, in the event we ever get promoted having established a later renewal time means they can set the prices based on the division we're going to be in. EDIT: Apologies to the people who've already raised some of those points, none of you had posted when I started typing mine.
It's not like they do all this without a plan though. They can't just organise a sales pitch based on the fact that we're not doing bad at the minute. The date they would be going on sale would have been decided last year. Also by the end of April - the club will be fairly certain of the league we would be playing in, which they wouldn't have been in February - and I think that would definitely have altered the price of the passes.
I don't think the date has actually been decided even now, the whole thing still seems to be up in the air because of this relocation nonsense. In 2008 they released the passes early and loads of people signed up with the hope of PL football. It turned out we got promoted anyway so it didn't matter but if we hadn't we'd still have had plenty of extra passholders as a result of the good marketing.
Good marketing? We always used to release them early, and that season we were late chargers for the playoffs so it wasn't a response to our position. The position I only remember not being great because at the end of the January transfer window that season it actually felt like they were writing the season off, and clearing the decks so that they were free to sign up who ever they wanted as soon as they found them.
It will certainly be interesting to see how many season ticket holders we actually lose in the summer.
This is the first I have heard of moves and reallocations...I do sit in the South Stand in pretty much the same postion I had at Boothferry, so are we going to made to move seats or can we keep the ones we have now if we want?
Maybe a bit of everything. Actually the club are better off selling less season tickets and having fans pay full pops on the day over the season. My pass means that i get each game for £15. The bloke 3 seats further on buys his match ticket on friday prior to each home game. He pays over £10 more per home game than me for the same game. The delay though imo maybe down to a bit of everything. No rush as the new season does not start until 18/aug/12.
Season passes are guaranteed cash for the club. There will be very few people who haven't got a pass and attend every home game
Nobody said they wernt. You did not read it properly. You will be surprised actually. But agree there more likely to be in the lower hundreds than thousands, The club know that season ticket sales will be down for a variety of reasons and unless something good happens in the summer it will be alot. Time will tell on that one i guess ?
