Empty seats.. worsening trend?

[Tim of the Oak]

Over the last ten years I've regularly had to let our five seats to empty over Christmas/New Year including cup games we pay for but can't attend.
@ Tim
If I let someone have my ticket and the knob en has a smoke, I'm the one who is banned
If Viagogo resell the ticket to a knob who breaks the rules it would be the club's fault[/quote]

Ok fair enough Squirty!

 

[squirtyflower]

Over the last ten years I've regularly had to let our five seats to empty over Christmas/New Year including cup games we pay for but can't attend.
@ Tim
If I let someone have my ticket and the knob en has a smoke, I'm the one who is banned
If Viagogo resell the ticket to a knob who breaks the rules it would be the club's fault

Ok fair enough Squirty![/quote]
If the club did an exchange I'd use it, but I think Viagogo is a rip off

Having said that it's not as easy to sell tickets as some of you made out

Last Feb we went skiing and I missed Chelsea in the Cup, Barca and Stoke, tough luck having three home games in a week.

The only tickets wanted were Barca

So these hordes of people desperate to use empty seats do not exist in my opinion, unless it's against the likes of United, Liverpool etc or in CL knock out games, which are the games the no-shows will also want to go to.

 

[marco]

the Sunderland game may have been a bit of a one off with regards to the amount of empty seats, the weather was blowing rain into the NS so a few must have shifted elsewhere and there were loads on the concourse during the game, but the unsold sections of seats could be identified, the question is unsold by who its not the club because they have no tickets so who own's these seats on behalf of the club,this is the 3rd party we must dump

Good post Marco. The weather was atrocious and it is also very unusual to have three home games in a week that spreads ticket demand.

I also think a few Blues have got lazy seeking tickets on Vianogo and caught a cold when there were 400 tickets for sal on there for the Sunderland game.

In the short term I would like to see one or two quick fixes including moving the free tickets that go to the Academy and Women's teams to the upper tier or spread out around the ground![/quote]

yes i'd def shift them to the upper tier, but if the club had 100% control of sales (no third party agencies) anything left could be given to the schools it would only happen in around 8/10 fixtures maybe 100/200 tickets tops but it would get the kids hooked and wanting to come again, i wouldnt have a problem as a paying customer if the club dished out the unsold for free but only to the schools

 

[maurizio]

Very few seats are empty around me in the east stand and the ground always looks full from my view. I've cottoned on to what people are grumbling about, it's the first few rows In the family stand that are obvious behind the goal on telly isn't it? If this is what is making people upset, surely the club could address it by swapping it from family use. Put the famlilies further back in the same

 

[marco]

Very few seats are empty around me in the east stand and the ground always looks full from my view. I've cottoned on to what people are grumbling about, it's the first few rows In the family stand that are obvious behind the goal on telly isn't it? If this is what is making people upset, surely the club could address it by swapping it from family use. Put the famlilies further back in the same

thats correct maurizo these tickets are given to the academy but it looks like there only used for the big matches, plus there are a number of season card no shows but that will be no worse or better than any other ground

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Over the last ten years I've regularly had to let our five seats to empty over Christmas/New Year including cup games we pay for but can't attend.
@ Tim
If I let someone have my ticket and the knob en has a smoke, I'm the one who is banned
If Viagogo resell the ticket to a knob who breaks the rules it would be the club's fault

Ok fair enough Squirty!

If the club did an exchange I'd use it, but I think Viagogo is a rip off

Having said that it's not as easy to sell tickets as some of you made out

Last Feb we went skiing and I missed Chelsea in the Cup, Barca and Stoke, tough luck having three home games in a week.

The only tickets wanted were Barca

So these hordes of people desperate to use empty seats do not exist in my opinion, unless it's against the likes of United, Liverpool etc or in CL knock out games, which are the games the no-shows will also want to go to.[/quote]

The spares I reciece and share are amongst friends - free of charge. I haven't given a season card to someone I don't know and don't plan to.

We don't have the stats on the level of demand (above current capacity) and the club will have helpful dats that informed the expansion of the South Stand. If I was to estimate, I reckon we get somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 fans at cup
Games who aren't regulars at league matches. I think we have a healthy demand for tickets but what I have noticed over recents seasons is that people need a lot of notice. You can't give tickets away (apart from the very big games you identified) unless you can give people a few days notice.

IMHO, we need to capture the extra demand during this - the most successful era in our history (and long may it continue).

I work in the Health Service and Inseenthe empty seat issue a bit like bed blocking where occasionally people can't get timely treatment in hospital because hospital wards arenfillednup with peoe who are well enough to be cared for at home or else where in the community. I think we are in danger of losing out on some fans who can't go to games because games are "sold out" only to see on TV that there were empty seats in the stadium!

 

[bluesimon]

Here are the facts:

Official attendances for Man City Premiership Matches:

06-07 759,646 (39,981 per match)
07-08 800,400 (42,126 pm)
08-09 815,105 (42,900 pm)
09-10 864,740 (45,512 pm)
10-11 872,195 (45,905 pm)
11-12 893,851 (47,044 pm)
12-13 892,506 (46,974 pm)
13-14 894,527 (47,080 pm)

The 'OFFICIAL' capacity is 47,405 (current reduced because of the expansion building works.

THESE ARE THE FACTS. Every single premiership club works on the same basis insomuch as they have to declare their official attendance, whether it be made up by way of sales of season tickets, comps, hospitality, academy, players family/friends etc, etc.

Since the 06-07 Season - Man City are the ONLY club that has significantly increased it's attendance by such a large margin (approx by 18%) - why? because it could . Since 06-07, the capacity has always been 47,405 and therefore, we have now, on average, maxed out.

No other football club in the UK, in the last 10+ years, has seen anything like this kind of growth - because most of them were either treading water or their stadiums were at capacity & relatively maxed out. Around 2000, Chelski were having an average of 34,000. When Roman took over in 2003, attendance had grown to around 41,500, surprise surprise - because they also had close on £1bn chucked at them as well over a period of time (taking into account the value - with inflation - of their expenditure compared to City.

City revenue has increased from 06-07 @ 84.6m Euros to 12-13 to 316m Euro. No surprise there. In 06-07, we were not even in the top 20 table of European team revenues. But 12-13, we were 6th, with only PSG with a faster growth

So, who the fuck cares if there are a a few hundred empty seats for our premiership games. The growth in 'official' attendance at Man City is unprecedented in the Premiership and we have 'officially' been camping on the doorstep of capacity for 6 seasons now. We will shortly be the 2nd largest premiership stadium and it is guaranteed that there will be empty seats galore over the next few years for the fans of other clubs and the football pundits to crow about - but do we really give a fuck?? There will be loads more tourists, more hospitality, more languages spoken at the Derby than at the UN, loads more sales of half and half scarfs and pies will increase to £8!

As long as we continue to be challenging for titles and are nailed on for top 2/3 in the premiership each season, there can be 40,000 empty seats for all I care.................

I for one, like the fact that the atmosphere for many homes games is rather understated. I love it when most of the 'smaller' clubs fans starting singing - 'Where were you when you were shit'. Our reply should be ' We are here now YOU are shit'.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Here are the facts:

Official attendances for Man City Premiership Matches:

06-07 759,646 (39,981 per match)
07-08 800,400 (42,126 pm)
08-09 815,105 (42,900 pm)
09-10 864,740 (45,512 pm)
10-11 872,195 (45,905 pm)
11-12 893,851 (47,044 pm)
12-13 892,506 (46,974 pm)
13-14 894,527 (47,080 pm)

The 'OFFICIAL' capacity is 47,405 (current reduced because of the expansion building works.

THESE ARE THE FACTS. Every single premiership club works on the same basis insomuch as they have to declare their official attendance, whether it be made up by way of sales of season tickets, comps, hospitality, academy, players family/friends etc, etc.

Since the 06-07 Season - Man City are the ONLY club that has significantly increased it's attendance by such a large margin (approx by 18%) - why? because it could . Since 06-07, the capacity has always been 47,405 and therefore, we have now, on average, maxed out.

No other football club in the UK, in the last 10+ years, has seen anything like this kind of growth - because most of them were either treading water or their stadiums were at capacity & relatively maxed out. Around 2000, Chelski were having an average of 34,000. When Roman took over in 2003, attendance had grown to around 41,500, surprise surprise - because they also had close on £1bn chucked at them as well over a period of time (taking into account the value - with inflation - of their expenditure compared to City.

City revenue has increased from 06-07 @ 84.6m Euros to 12-13 to 316m Euro. No surprise there. In 06-07, we were not even in the top 20 table of European team revenues. But 12-13, we were 6th, with only PSG with a faster growth

So, who the fuck cares if there are a a few hundred empty seats for our premiership games. The growth in 'official' attendance at Man City is unprecedented in the Premiership and we have 'officially' been camping on the doorstep of capacity for 6 seasons now. We will shortly be the 2nd largest premiership stadium and it is guaranteed that there will be empty seats galore over the next few years for the fans of other clubs and the football pundits to crow about - but do we really give a fuck?? There will be loads more tourists, more hospitality, more languages spoken at the Derby than at the UN, loads more sales of half and half scarfs and pies will increase to £8!

As long as we continue to be challenging for titles and are nailed on for top 2/3 in the premiership each season, there can be 40,000 empty seats for all I care.................

I for one, like the fact that the atmosphere for many homes games is rather understated. I love it when most of the 'smaller' clubs fans starting singing - 'Where were you when you were shit'. Our reply should be ' We are here now YOU are shit'.

Very well said, mate.

 

[pardoeofftomexico]

It has already been said more than once but some don't seem to be getting it. It is very, very unlikely that there are a significant number of season ticket holders who don't turn up on a regular basis. The empty seats are obviously mainly tickets unsold for whatever reason. The fact that they are all together at the front of the north stand is a clear indication that they are simply not sold. Obviously there are a few who buy a season ticket and don't go to that many games but we are talking about a few not any significant number.

A better question is why there are unsold tickets. If it is the cost then that is your answer.

You don't get it mate!

There are a range of contributory factors that many Blues have highlighted. It's much wider than the one issue you have chosen to select!
The club have sold 99 percent of available tickets as per the club accounts.!

No Tim. You don't get my comment. My main point was that people were going on about season ticket holders not turning up as if this was the reason for large blocks of empty seats in the North Stand which is obviously quite ridiculous and that a better question to ask was why there are unsold tickets. Of course there are a range of reasons why tickets may be unsold of which cost is clearly a factor to many who have previously said so.

 

[Victoria-bahs]

Just re post this to EVERY post.. maybe the penny will drop for the seat counters...


Here are the facts:

Official attendances for Man City Premiership Matches:

06-07 759,646 (39,981 per match)
07-08 800,400 (42,126 pm)
08-09 815,105 (42,900 pm)
09-10 864,740 (45,512 pm)
10-11 872,195 (45,905 pm)
11-12 893,851 (47,044 pm)
12-13 892,506 (46,974 pm)
13-14 894,527 (47,080 pm)

The 'OFFICIAL' capacity is 47,405 (current reduced because of the expansion building works.

THESE ARE THE FACTS. Every single premiership club works on the same basis insomuch as they have to declare their official attendance, whether it be made up by way of sales of season tickets, comps, hospitality, academy, players family/friends etc, etc.

Since the 06-07 Season - Man City are the ONLY club that has significantly increased it's attendance by such a large margin (approx by 18%) - why? because it could . Since 06-07, the capacity has always been 47,405 and therefore, we have now, on average, maxed out.

No other football club in the UK, in the last 10+ years, has seen anything like this kind of growth - because most of them were either treading water or their stadiums were at capacity & relatively maxed out. Around 2000, Chelski were having an average of 34,000. When Roman took over in 2003, attendance had grown to around 41,500, surprise surprise - because they also had close on £1bn chucked at them as well over a period of time (taking into account the value - with inflation - of their expenditure compared to City.

City revenue has increased from 06-07 @ 84.6m Euros to 12-13 to 316m Euro. No surprise there. In 06-07, we were not even in the top 20 table of European team revenues. But 12-13, we were 6th, with only PSG with a faster growth

So, who the fuck cares if there are a a few hundred empty seats for our premiership games. The growth in 'official' attendance at Man City is unprecedented in the Premiership and we have 'officially' been camping on the doorstep of capacity for 6 seasons now. We will shortly be the 2nd largest premiership stadium and it is guaranteed that there will be empty seats galore over the next few years for the fans of other clubs and the football pundits to crow about - but do we really give a fuck?? There will be loads more tourists, more hospitality, more languages spoken at the Derby than at the UN, loads more sales of half and half scarfs and pies will increase to £8!

As long as we continue to be challenging for titles and are nailed on for top 2/3 in the premiership each season, there can be 40,000 empty seats for all I care.................

I for one, like the fact that the atmosphere for many homes games is rather understated. I love it when most of the 'smaller' clubs fans starting singing - 'Where were you when you were shit'. Our reply should be ' We are here now YOU are shit'.

ps
bet the seat counters are all train spotters!