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Post by sponge on Apr 22, 2006 9:55:51 GMT
I know we haven't finished this season yet but looking ahead would it be beneficial to drop prices next season. I feel that £7 is a bit steep for this level & people i've spoken to who don't watch us are a bit surprised at how much the admission charge is. I know the cost of running the club is huge but next season we will have even less travelling with Fleet,Bashley,Lymington & Newport switching leagues. Our mileage next season will be a fraction of what it was in the Southern league.
With Brighton being relegated & with their financial constraints there is the real possibility that they will not be challenging for promotion & people will not be prepared to part with £20 plus to watch them & would be an opportunity to attract some of them here.
I don't know what Crawley charge but it only costs £2 more to watch Lewes than us & they have built up a sizeable fan base from the Brighton area. I think that by dropping prices to £5 the club would lose nothing in the long run & may even increase turnover.
With the signing of a few more experienced players for next season there is every chance that we could be challenging for promotion and it would be a great opportunity to increase the fanbase.
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Post by dazzer6666 on Apr 22, 2006 14:06:01 GMT
I'd agree - could be a case of less is more. Need to combine any drop with better publicity though to get people interested. As it happens I was chatting to a 'gulls season ticket holder at the Cray game last week, and he said pretty much the same as you Sponge so the opportunity is definitely there if someone is prepared to take the gamble.
Maybe the club should look at having some matches with free entry for kids (get them interested, and as it is only a couple of quid anyway, the loss of income would be minimal). Might be a good way of getting some publicity as well.
Anyway, good shout..............
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Post by refsworstenemy on Apr 22, 2006 18:50:57 GMT
I have been a bit annoyed by the price of season tickets as well. I had a season ticket for 2 years in a row, but the season ticket price meant that if you missed more than about 2 games a season you were down on the deal. Unfortunately both seasons I had to miss around 4 games which meant it would've worked out cheaper not to have one. I'm no accountant, so I'm not really arguing much with the club prices, but it does feel a bit odd that the club want more supporters yet charge so much.
I am also a bit miffed at the price hike for the programmes this year. It went from 50p to £1 and lost about 40% of it's thickness in the process. I always buy one because I like to collect them as a souvenier but that is the main area where I have felt totally conned this season. It bothers me much more than the ticket price!
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Post by Smurf on Apr 22, 2006 21:40:23 GMT
im all for cheaper prices and all that .... however i could say a lot more on here , but that would get me into trouble ;D
What was that i hear !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRING BACK THE FANZINE ;D
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Post by hillfanatic on Apr 23, 2006 9:14:18 GMT
I agree with the that idea of admission prices tailored to attract the "floating fans" although we have to think of costs, Sponge wrote earlier about bringing in some experienced players, unfortunately they expect more than beer money! If it is viable would it make sense to drop prices to attract more, how many more would we attract, you are talking about dropping the cost by £2, these days that is less than a pint of beer! My opinion is, if they gripe about £7 they will gripe about £5.
In response to RWE I think £1 is really good value for the programme, OK it is not so thick, but you know "Its not the quantity its the quality" and there is definitely more work going into the programme now. As for the price, if you go round the league i think you will find that this is the cheapest. I cant remember where it was, think it was last season, i brought a programme away, it cost me 2.50 and it had 6 pages that were not ads and most of that were team sheets, pen pics and history of the club!
Up the Hill
Bring back the Fanzine
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Post by waspexile on Apr 23, 2006 17:59:46 GMT
Yep, £7 is a bit steep.
Drop the price? Bring a friend/missus/neighbour and they get in for half price?
You also cant beat the "kid for a quid" idea, as they inevitably pester dad (or mum!) for a kit kat, raffle ticket, scarf, shirt, programme or whatever.
Trouble is, extra sales need organising and require more volunteers which is always the problem.
Free kids is even better, or how about turn up at 3 consecutive home matches and get the 4th half price
Cheaper season tickets would flick my switch, as would some sort of bulk ticket for evening matches (speaking selfishly). After all, standing around in the evening from Oct to March is sometimes a test of character and any incentive would be welcomed!
Any other ideas out there (apart from free beer - buy 8 pints get the next 8 free etc etc)
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Post by refsworstenemy on Apr 23, 2006 21:26:22 GMT
In response to Hillfanatic, I suppose you are right. A lot of the thickness that went was advertising, so I can see where you are coming from. In comparison to the Crawley Town prorgramme we are doing ok! That cost me £2.50 for the Crawley Town vs Crystal Palace reserves game and about 60% of the programme was about their forthcoming friendly against AFC Wimbledon!
What bothered me was how it suddenly doubled in price. Obviously this is because it was cheap in the first place.
I would've said it would be a good move to make the season tickets encorperate one of the cups. It should remian profitable then, because if we go out the cup early on the supporter loses out rather than the club, if we stay in we will be making prize money in the cup to subsidise the season ticket holders getting in free. I'm not suggesting it'd be all cups, maybe just the FA Trophy or Sussex Senior.
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Post by Dan BHTFC on Apr 23, 2006 21:38:53 GMT
Our programme must be one of the better in the league, Dover's was better but they are a bigger club.
£7 is a bit pricey for the league we are in, Horsham only charged £6.50 on Monday and look where they are in the league!
Kids for a quid could work but I was thinking the other day about a 'Family Ticket', 2 Adults and 2 Kids for £12 plus £1 for each extra kid, that way we would get more families interested and they in turn could get the interest of other families
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wideman
Part-Time Supporter
Posts: 13
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Post by wideman on Apr 24, 2006 8:01:33 GMT
I think you have to also think about the need to clawback the financial position-every club deliberates long and hard about admission prices-but this football thig is all about supporters-thats the magic word support, you have to support both in terms of turning up, singing, drinking in the bar etc-but you also have to support financially-the entry price is one way of putting your hand in the pocket to restore some kind of financial viablility-so it is a tough call but I think we all have to dig deep and get out of the habit of expecting 'something for nothing'.
There are a small army volunteers-same faces every week/season but there are also the same amount of people at every club who expect to just turn up and enjoy-surely this has to be at a cost-it is expensive to produce a programme-football does not make money -it just spends spends and then spends-the key is to get the 'firm' to make enough profit to then feed the clubs spending aspirations.
I sympathise with the difficulty of all clubs in setting the entry cost and programme cost.
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Post by sponge on Apr 24, 2006 12:53:11 GMT
I've heard of a few people who have said they would rather pay the extra few quid and watch Crawley in the conference. The problem we have is competition. Crawley,Brighton,lewes and Charlton who have been busy marketing themselves in Sussex and Kent. One off offers like the middy one last season work on the day but it's a bit like the buy one get one free offers at Iceland. When the offer stops no one buys the product again. Lowering the admission price and making a splash about it in the papers would,i think,be far more effective.
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Post by Dan BHTFC on Aug 3, 2006 17:47:41 GMT
Admission Prices 06/07
Adults: £7
OAP's: £5
Under 16's: £2
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Post by deeudon77 on Aug 4, 2006 8:41:10 GMT
Well here we go again,nothing changes,same old comments.It has been well documented that Burgess Hill does not want a football team, successful or not.As with most clubs there will be a hard core of support and then a few inquisitive types,groundhoppers,cup run supporters,etc, but nothing, whatever the incentive will bring in any more supporters.The only exception would be entry for free and of course that would end the existence of the club as we know it. Then it would be back to playing village football having to run jumble sales etc to pay for the players kit and charge the players for the coach, if we needed one ,to play Ditchling in the Mowatt Cup.Let's get sensible and accept that if you support your local team in a standard of football that should have a reasonable standard of players then you will have to put your hand in your pocket to do so.The entry prices are set by the powers that be and are pretty much adhered to by all clubs concerned.There have been all manner of suggestions to encourage extra support in recent seasons but the best way to increase support is to play attractive football and even at this level to see some very good players.If you do not want to pay the going rate then perhaps watching Fairfield (with respect) on the "rec"for free might be your scene.We have been governed by Directors in recent seasons so there is very little supporters can do even if they are unhappy with the way the club is run ,so its basically a case of "put up or shut up".Let us hope we have a better season especially after last years poor start.And please do not encourage Smurf to drink too much as he is starting to join the fat boy club!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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