http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24014727 We are officially the most expensive team to watch in the division, and our high end season ticket is a massive £111 more than Man Utd - what an absolute disgrace and a farce. How the hell can Marcus Evans have the cheek to charge that obscene figure to watch one of the most boring teams we've ever had. And its not just season ticket prices, our most expensive match day price is a whopping £63...£63!!! to watch that pile of dross! And people wonder why i don't go that often anymore...and wonder why our attendences are dwindling every year. The management seriously need to change their tactics and try and get more people through the turnstiles. Forget holding poxy Barry Manilow concerts, we need to get back to basics and engage with the fans, make it a day out they'll enjoy and not have to go without food for a week to buy a ticket. My 35 year love affair with Ipswich is seriously being challenged at the moment. There is nothing positive at all coming out of this club, and i'm absoultely disgusted at Marcus Evans. Forget Keane being the dark lord, i think Evans has a lot more questions to aswer, and i believe he is the problem at our club!
I certainly cannot argue with that Stretch... when I was last back in Suffolk I decided that £34 to go watch us play Leeds was a bit too much.. especially when there was a beer festival on so decided that would be money better spent What I will say is that with FFP coming in, we are now having to rely more heavily on main revenue streams, such as season tickets and gates income... ME has clearly looked at the situation and wants to milk as much out of supporters/Customers on a match day as he isn't as freely able to plough money into the club as he once was.. on one hand you could argue that we all want more quality players so this added income is the sacrafice that is needed to increase the revenue.. but you could also strongly argue that it is bloody ridiculous and people are less likely to go with these costs and effectively the income will decrease due to lack of bums on seats... What this does make very clear though, is that other clubs are far more aware and responsive to the situation and made clear efforts to engage the fans. Once again we seem to be a few steps behind the pack
Some further reading if you are interested in the topic http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24051718 Some more information on ticket promotions and offers that are available in the championship
The highest-priced ticket at Portman Road costs £63.50, but that includes a £3 programme, tea and coffee, and access to an exclusive bar. The cheapest match-day ticket at Ipswich is £23.50. "We recognise that we are more expensive in some areas of ticketing than a number of Championship clubs but in other areas we are very comparable with our league rivals," said a club spokesperson. "We have frozen season ticket prices for the third successive year and the seventh time in 11 years. Our supporters under the age of 11 could again purchase a season ticket for just £10." Although I do totally agree that our match day ticket prices are a complete farce, (an adult match day ticket should be around £22 behind a goal, for all home league games) This £63 ticket is probably no more than a couple of hundred or so seats & it does have extras, it is also worth noting that nearly all of these seats sell or are already held by season ticket holders. I also think we should applaud the club for the £10 season ticket for under 11s (although again I think that should go further probably up until the age of 14). I am not trying to defend the clubs ticket policy, I do agree that we are to expensive, just trying to balance the view.
The area in question is block D of cobbold stand, for the record just been in the ticket web site for a look, you will be amazed at what I found; Just been on the ticket web site, over 90% of tickets in that area have already been sold for the next 3 home games, so clearly someone is paying those prices.! I am not sure that we have another area of the ground that sells out 90%+ of its available seats...!
Have to say I don't have a problem with what has been reported in terms of those tickets in Block D of the Cobbold Stand. If people are prepared to pay that sort of money for I geuss corporate tickets I think that's fine. As the report said out of 220 seats 217 have been sold as season tickets, which is great and I'm sure has given us extra money. Perhaps Evans has offered them all to his friends and family or to business men, which is a way of increasing revenue. I also on the whole do not have a problem with the average price of our season tickets, yes it's alot of money but it seems reasonable enough. What I have a real problem with is the average match day tickets and the grading of tickets, IMO that is ridiculous!!!
very true comments from all but this isnt news It was the same when the report was published last season and it has been debated many times Personally I think we all consider our pricing strategy to be stupid but the ITFC commercial team must have done their sums and decided its better to have 17000 fans at a higher price than 23000 fans at a lower price. Personally I would love to see upwards of 22000 fans there on a regular basis. It improves the match day experience greatly but I assume the club is more interested in the cash than the atmosphere. Anyone know anything about the difference in sums for more fans at a lower price?
The jump from 'average match day tickets for season ticket holders' to the prices paid by 'casual fans' is what the issue is.. A season ticket of £390 works out at around £17 per home match for a season ticket holder. For joe public to then pay double that (£34) for some matches seems to be where we are killing the attendances.. I personally think the season tickets are a fair value (or as fair could be in this market) and maybe the club are hoping that will be apparent for fans and will therefore decide to get a Season Ticket instead. But it doesn't seem to be working and it's putting off the majority of Town fans turning up to take in a handful of matches during the season
Spot on KOPR, I think this is what 100% of fans have the issue with, I do not have a real issue with the price of my ST....The issue is £30+ for a match day ticket, is a complete joke, that is why I think around £22 is a more realistic price, that way the season ticket holders still get value for money for their commitment, the casual supporters pay a realistic & affordable walk up price. Surely this would increase attendances & increase match day revenue throughout the ground.?
Exactly and how many of us went straight to buying season tickets??? They're limiting the scope of people who come to see matches who potentially in the future may become season ticket holders and Town fans for life
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23723537 Nevermind all that. Check out this ridiculous BBC calculator. You have to select your team... but then put in all the data yourself, including the cost of the ticket, travel, how many games you go to and how much you spend on refreshments... THE ONLY DATA IT HOLDS IS THE COST OF A PROGRAMME FOR THE CLUB. That is what our old 606 money goes on folks...
I did send a long letter to the club regarding this 3 years ago. I got the usual drivel response. I just hope people continue to vote with their feet. I think we have 12,000 season ticket holders, so have done nothing to attract the casual v Boro. The German model is where it's at. Leverkusen are selling tickets for 17 euros v Man Utd in the c league, they could sell them for at least tripple that and sell out. However, they are choosing not to. Schalke the other season tried to get 5 euros more out of Dortmund fans for the big derby, up from 20-25 euros a pop. Dortmund responded by sending half back. Hertha Berlin charge around 18 euros a game. If they haven't sold out, tickets on the day are CHEAPER!!!! Why are the German's lightyears ahead of us.. I was delighted to hear last year Man City sent back over 500 to Arsenal, when they tried to rinse them. Stoke are putting on free coaches to all fans this season. WBA tickets are going down. Norwich ( boo ) cleverly 10 years ago targetted families for season tickets instead of individuals. They were constantly selling out in League 1 for goodness sake! We are an absolute embarrassment off the pitch. Rememeber the Leicester game, where the club were trying to make people pay 50% of the match fee for the replayed game!?
A lot of good points you make there Westy. There is certainly something to be learned from looking at how other clubs are doing things.
A friend of mine turned up on the day a couple of seasons ago and was charged £41.50 to sit in the Britannia Stand. He also got a ticket for his 5 year old, which was £5. So the wage-earner was discouraged from coming back by the price whilst his nipper was put off by the quality of the game...
We're absolutely miles off the pace with ticket prices - I mentioned various things to the club, and was treated to the usual rubbish. Our attendances are falling rapidly - I predict another 3 years of decline may make them realise something needs to happen.
Put this on TWTD earlier today; OK how about this; The club picks approx. 5-6 home games that run consecutively that they as yet have not started selling to non season ticket holders, they price these at lets say £20 each for the lowest grade seat, ramp up accordingly, all under 11s are a quid, all under 16s are a fiver. The club would then be able to see if cheaper tickets would generate more support that would then create more match day revenue, if it does not then we can all shut up & let them run the club as they see fit........IMO...this would create more revenue.
" The club picks approx. 5-6 home games that run consecutively " Only issue with that, is people only have £££xxxx to spend over a month or two. People would still pick and choose which of the games, and sadly, £20 compared with £26 ( which is the cheapest ticket anyway for every game apart from 4 or 5 A games ) is not going to make much impact. Like your thinking though! I remember when Leeds jacked the prices up, were losing around 7000 a game, and were still making a massive %%% more. Pretty sure we're going down this route. Fact of the matter, is the C games for Yeovil tonight and others is quite reasonably priced. I just don't think the whole category thing should really apply, does any club spring out to you as an "A" game now like when Newcastle were down, or Norwich for obvious reasons, and maybe Leeds? We should charge a flat rate for all games. I don't think getting rid of telephone sales has achieved much whatsoever short-term either!!! Surprised this hasn't yet been mentioned. Ironically, when we had Arsenal in the carling cup semi, and the club could have really cashed in by jacking up the price, it was very very cheap. Are we completely backwards!?!?!?
My thinking behind the run of games is that fans would probably be able to afford 3-4 games out of those 6, as apposed to how things are priced now, with them only able to afford to go to 1 or 2 in 6. I am really worried that tonight's attendance could dip below 15,000....on the flip side that may be a good thing to wake up those dinosaurs who came up with our match day ticket price strategy, it may be the wake up call they need to rethink the prices...! I do agree that the category thing is a real joke, especially in the Championship, Leeds was grade A, Brighton was grade B & Yeovil is grade C.......Cmon ITFC is there really any need for this, to me it does not make any sense....!
For me no league came should be categorised. All teams are in this league on merit, either too big for league 1 or not good enough for the premier league.
