Don’t Blame Fans For The Empty Seats

[blueparrot]

Even more City fans if tickets where easier to get hold off and more affordable.

The FA Cp games being a prime example where season ticket holders give it a miss, and new City fans and families turn up in their 10,000’s because they can get affordable (family) match tickets.

Think it's more because we can get tickets together , rather than affordability, it is for us anyway, given more availabilty we'd have gone for a couple more league games rather than an FA cup game against Fulham.

 

[mcfcphil]

That would be great but it's not a small cost in the scheme of things. Halving ticket prices would cost us something like £15m, which may seem like nothing in terms of turnover but last financial year we lost nearly £30m, which was offset by nearly £40m profit on transfers.

Even since we've been in the CL in 2011, we've never made a profit before transfer dealings. Those transfer profits can't be relied on every year though even though our buying has generally been pretty good.

I’m surprised no club has ever secured an “official fan sponsorship” whereby the money generated goes towards offsetting the cost of attending matches.

City wouldn’t lose out financially, it would make football more affordable for fans and the exposure for whoever the sponsor was would be huge. Imagine the positive image an organisation/business would have for giving football back to the people.

 

[blueparrot]

I didn't say they should resign, I said they should offer to resign. The club pride themselves on having fan participation but if you read the minutes of previous meetings then you will see that ticket prices has never even been on the agenda. The City Matters reps have been told its a subject they are not allowed to talk about. They talk about vegan pies and six pint pourers but what's the point if some fans are being priced out?
Maybe if the club realised that it's a big subject amongst the fans they would react.

Fine except you've been told it is being talked about by a sub commitee.

 

[Gingers Dad]

Fine except you've been told it is being talked about by a sub commitee.

I also know that's not true

 

[blueparrot]

I also know that's not true

Do you.

 

[Gingers Dad]

Do you.

Actually I'll change that and say that I know there are no meaningful conversations going on with the club regarding ticket prices.

 

[blueparrot]

Actually I'll change that and say that I know there are no meaningful conversations going on with the club regarding ticket prices.

Guess we have to choose who to beleive then.

 

[Blue Mist]

I didn't say they should resign, I said they should offer to resign. The club pride themselves on having fan participation but if you read the minutes of previous meetings then you will see that ticket prices has never even been on the agenda. The City Matters reps have been told its a subject they are not allowed to talk about. They talk about vegan pies and six pint pourers but what's the point if some fans are being priced out?
Maybe if the club realised that it's a big subject amongst the fans they would react.

Who do they offer their resignation to and if it was accepted (!) do you want someone to replace them ? If so who ?

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

I’m surprised no club has ever secured an “official fan sponsorship” whereby the money generated goes towards offsetting the cost of attending matches.

City wouldn’t lose out financially, it would make football more affordable for fans and the exposure for whoever the sponsor was would be huge. Imagine the positive image an organisation/business would have for giving football back to the people.

I have often thought about this. It would be fantastic publicity value for any sponsor and the opportunity to directly target an entire fanbase. The sponsorship money could be ringfenced to reduce admission prices. The sponsors could get their logo on every season card etc etc. I also can't understand why the TV firms or the Premier League themselves don't insist that some cash from any broadcast deal is ringfenced to reduce prices for matchgoing fans.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Actually I'll change that and say that I know there are no meaningful conversations going on with the club regarding ticket prices.

If by "meaningful conversations" you mean the club putting ticket prices on the agenda for discussion at City Matters then you're correct. But the subject has been talked about.

I circulated a document comparing our seasoncard and matchday prices to those of the other top 6 clubs after this season's prices were announced. I've checked my notes from the various meetings and we've had discussions at the Ticketing working group, which is a forum that just seven of us, 3 from City Matters & 4 from the club attend. I can tell you that we had a meeting of this group on 3rd April, right before the Cardiff game last season, where we had quite an intense discussion about pricing strategy. The various working group meetings aren't formally minuted (though we're discussing whether they should be, if only for internal circulation), nor are the reps only meetings. Not everything goes in the minutes of the formal meetings with the club either because of data protection issues but more usually because it's commercially sensitive. So, for instance, we talked in detail about the inconsistency between seasoncard and matchday prices which can be quite different depending on where you sit. That classes as a meaningful discussion on ticket prices in my view.

We talked about pricing on 8th May, at both the Ticketing meeting and the full CM meeting with the club immediately afterwards. We talked about pricing at the full CM meeting on 11th October. We talked about a specific pricing issue, regarding upgrades to concessionary tickets, on 9th December. So I can assure you we've had lots of discussions about all sorts of issues over pricing. The reps have often discussed it privately as a group and I've spoken to Andrew Gilligan, Head of Research & insight, about how I believe pricing (among other issues) is a bar to getting the next generation of seasoncard holders established.

And as I've already said, I believe the club takes a short-term approach to pricing that is potentially damaging to their long-term interests and also want the whole issue of transparency to be put on the agenda for a CM meeting so we can discuss it with the club.

But we have to face the fact that the club is never going to come to City Matters and say "You tell us what prices should be and we'll go with what you say" because we don't make operational decisions.I think that's what Matty was alluding to on Cheesy's pod.

Guess we have to choose who to beleive then.

Hopefully I've helped people make that choice.

 

[jrb]

PB.

I know you can’t go into specifics on an open forum, but have you or any of the other reps brought up Season ticket prices for next season yet? Or is that still to be discussed with the club?

As you know, the fans have had 10 season ticket price increases in the last 11 seasons. The only season the season tickets didn’t increase was because of the fans backlash over the PSG ticket prices in the CL. Stand correct on that.

A season ticket freeze is now long overdue, regardless of all the new prize, TV, and sponsorship money that has flooded into the club this season.

 

[Blue Mist]

If by "meaningful conversations" you mean the club putting ticket prices on the agenda for discussion at City Matters then you're correct. But the subject has been talked about.

I circulated a document comparing our seasoncard and matchday prices to those of the other top 6 clubs after this season's prices were announced. I've checked my notes from the various meetings and we've had discussions at the Ticketing working group, which is a forum that just seven of us, 3 from City Matters & 4 from the club attend. I can tell you that we had a meeting of this group on 3rd April, right before the Cardiff game last season, where we had quite an intense discussion about pricing strategy. The various working group meetings aren't formally minuted (though we're discussing whether they should be, if only for internal circulation), nor are the reps only meetings. Not everything goes in the minutes of the formal meetings with the club either because of data protection issues but more usually because it's commercially sensitive. So, for instance, we talked in detail about the inconsistency between seasoncard and matchday prices which can be quite different depending on where you sit. That classes as a meaningful discussion on ticket prices in my view.

We talked about pricing on 8th May, at both the Ticketing meeting and the full CM meeting with the club immediately afterwards. We talked about pricing at the full CM meeting on 11th October. We talked about a specific pricing issue, regarding upgrades to concessionary tickets, on 9th December. So I can assure you we've had lots of discussions about all sorts of issues over pricing. The reps have often discussed it privately as a group and I've spoken to Andrew Gilligan, Head of Research & insight, about how I believe pricing (among other issues) is a bar to getting the next generation of seasoncard holders established.

And as I've already said, I believe the club takes a short-term approach to pricing that is potentially damaging to their long-term interests and also want the whole issue of transparency to be put on the agenda for a CM meeting so we can discuss it with the club.

But we have to face the fact that the club is never going to come to City Matters and say "You tell us what prices should be and we'll go with what you say" because we don't make operational decisions.I think that's what Matty was alluding to on Cheesy's pod.


Hopefully I've helped people make that choice.

But other than that what have you ever done for us :-)

 

[ballinio]

I’d like to know if they’re going to continue selling tickets in the home ends to away fans ?

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

PB.

I know you can’t go into specifics on an open forum, but have you or any of the other reps brought up Season ticket prices for next season yet? Or is that still to be discussed with the club?

As you know, the fans have had 10 season ticket price increases in the last 11 seasons. The only season the season tickets didn’t increase was because of the fans backlash over the PSG ticket prices in the CL. Stand correct on that.

A season ticket freeze is now long overdue, regardless of all the new prize, TV, and sponsorship money that has flooded into the club this season.

We brought them up last season so thanks for jogging my memory. We challenged the club at a full CM meeting, which might have been the 8th May one, why prices hadn't been announced yet and made the case for a freeze. Another challenge we made was that the lack of an announcement was linked to the fact that we were still in contention for the treble at that point and that our suspicion was that they were waiting to see what they could get away with. The club claimed they'd had no discussions about pricing, even at that late stage, which most of us found hard to believe.

 

[Gingers Dad]

If by "meaningful conversations" you mean the club putting ticket prices on the agenda for discussion at City Matters then you're correct. But the subject has been talked about.

I circulated a document comparing our seasoncard and matchday prices to those of the other top 6 clubs after this season's prices were announced. I've checked my notes from the various meetings and we've had discussions at the Ticketing working group, which is a forum that just seven of us, 3 from City Matters & 4 from the club attend. I can tell you that we had a meeting of this group on 3rd April, right before the Cardiff game last season, where we had quite an intense discussion about pricing strategy. The various working group meetings aren't formally minuted (though we're discussing whether they should be, if only for internal circulation), nor are the reps only meetings. Not everything goes in the minutes of the formal meetings with the club either because of data protection issues but more usually because it's commercially sensitive. So, for instance, we talked in detail about the inconsistency between seasoncard and matchday prices which can be quite different depending on where you sit. That classes as a meaningful discussion on ticket prices in my view.

We talked about pricing on 8th May, at both the Ticketing meeting and the full CM meeting with the club immediately afterwards. We talked about pricing at the full CM meeting on 11th October. We talked about a specific pricing issue, regarding upgrades to concessionary tickets, on 9th December. So I can assure you we've had lots of discussions about all sorts of issues over pricing. The reps have often discussed it privately as a group and I've spoken to Andrew Gilligan, Head of Research & insight, about how I believe pricing (among other issues) is a bar to getting the next generation of seasoncard holders established.

And as I've already said, I believe the club takes a short-term approach to pricing that is potentially damaging to their long-term interests and also want the whole issue of transparency to be put on the agenda for a CM meeting so we can discuss it with the club.

But we have to face the fact that the club is never going to come to City Matters and say "You tell us what prices should be and we'll go with what you say" because we don't make operational decisions.I think that's what Matty was alluding to on Cheesy's pod.


Hopefully I've helped people make that choice.

Good to hear that you have had discussions regarding big issues like ticket prices. But if it's never in the minutes then we will never know who you've spoken to or their response.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Good to hear that you have had discussions regarding big issues like ticket prices. But if it's never in the minutes then we will never know who you've spoken to or their response.

Sometimes you can get more done quietly behind the scenes but I do agree it is something we need to either get onto the agenda or at least start a serious, ongoing discussion in the Ticketing forum (which feeds into the main forum).

 

[Gingers Dad]

Who do they offer their resignation to and if it was accepted (!) do you want someone to replace them ? If so who ?

I don't know who they offer their resignation to. But it is an elected position so presumably there will be elections in the future where new people could stand for election?

 

[Tim of the Oak]

I don't know who they offer their resignation to. But it is an elected position so presumably there will be elections in the future where new people could stand for election?

At least the Away tickets are going to lower points than many Blues expected. City Matters seem to have brought about an improvement in that regard.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

When it comes to the crunch, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop going, but the fact that I’m seriously thinking about it, would never enter my head a few years ago. I was at the Leicester game a couple of games ago and the two seats either side of had been bought by an Israeli family. All game I was being asked who our number 26 or number 17 was. One also had an iPad and was invading my space waving it around taking photos. Did my friggin head in. He even asked me to move out of my own seat so all his family could sit together ffs.

I was also asked to move out of my seat so a bloke could sit with his son for the SheffUtd game. He was sat about eight rows back.

 

[The Northern Baptist]

I don’t think cheaper season tickets will necessarily mean less empty seats would it?

If anything, cheaper season tickets could mean more people don’t mind missing more the odd game.