Etihad Campus, Stadium and Collar Site Development Thread

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We have sold out games that are two or three weeks away and people don't think we could fill another 6000 in that time at the right price. Of course we can. (And will)
 
worsleyweb said:
We have sold out games that are two or three weeks away and people don't think we could fill another 6000 in that time at the right price. Of course we can. (And will)
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thats the key to selling out, if we price tickets correctly we could sell out 60,000 no problem
 
Cheadle_hulmeBlue said:
thats the key to selling out, if we price tickets correctly we could sell out 60,000 no problem
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Exactly. Not fucking rocket science really, so the club should hopefully get it. Oh, and those extra will spend at the club shop, and food kiosks.....maybe some beer as well.
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
We were getting 40k in 2006/7. When we won the title we were getting 7k more. This season we'll get a similar increase in our average crowd. Leicester is pretty well sold out next week. What's to say we couldn't add another 5-6,000 in the next 4 years? If we can persuade 50,000 people to attend a game just 2 or 3 times a season, we could do that.

As a business, we're in a growth phase. All our commercial efforts are going to increasing awareness and demand. Therefore we need to ensure we can meet that demand. And speaking as a fan who pays to go to games, I do not want a situation wher the execs constantly push up prices as demand increases and supply remains constant because that's the other side of shaelumstash's arguments. Even with 60k seats in the stadium, there are games we will sell out. But I don't want to be paying £1,000 for a bog-standard season ticket or £80+ for a single ticket.

The return on investment argument is largely irrelevant I suspect, for two reasons. First, I doubt it would be assessed as a stand-alone project, where we need to measure the rate of return against the spend. Increasing demand increases our overall value as a brand and company. Plus although we don't own the stadium, it is an asset in our balance sheet and its value would increase. Also, the money would probably come from Abu Dhabi rather than be sourced commercially so we wouldn't need to worry about justifying it on a commercial basis.
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I totally understand your point about the reverse to the argument. I remember discussing Tom Glick's pricing structure with you when we were at a reduced capacity due to the extension. He was ramping prices up in order to maximise revenue, and he was pricing a lot of loyal fans out. That's not fair on regular fans.

You pointed out he was looking at it from a short term commercial point of view; he'd prefer less fans paying higher prices than more fans paying less if it meant we took more through the tills that week. That's no way to run a football club, I agree, and getting towards the £80 a ticket mark would be unacceptable. We're a long way off that yet.

To make my point using a simplified example, let's say for arguments sake we currently charge £40 for a match ticket. We're currently averaging 53k. In my opinion, it would make no sense to increase the capacity to 62k because we would have to drop ticket prices in order to attract extra fans.

So currently: 53,000 x £40 = £2,120,000 ticket revenue per game

If we expanded to 62,000 and priced tickets at £30

If we expanded now: 62,000 x £30 = £1,860,000

So although people say "Expand, price it right, we'll fill it, simple." It's actually not that simple. Why would the club expand if it means they would be taking less money? Prestige of having a bigger stadium, future proofing, great. But it would cost them £50million to expand and take less revenue, it just doesn't make any sense.

My view is that we continue to expand our match going fan base organically. Keep prices affordable, but not giving them away. So let's say keep them at £40 a ticket. the 53k average this season might jump up to 54k average next season. 55k the season after. If we got 55k the season after, all paying £40 a ticket, it would be clear that it would make sense to expand because demand is outstripping supply.

So let's say after the 3rd year we expand to 62k, we can then still charge £40 a ticket. We might not fill it, we might be just short, say 60,000. So we're back where we are now, and the whole process starts again.

60,000 x £40 = £2,400,000.

That's a £280,000 a match increase in revenue from currently. If the stand cost £50m, it would pay for itself in under 10 years. Whereas if we expand now and drop ticket prices, it will actually lose us money in the short term.

We definitely want to get to 62k eventually. But my point is it's better to wait a couple of years than to expand right now.
 
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Shaelumstash said:
I totally understand your point about the reverse to the argument. I remember discussing Tom Glick's pricing structure with you when we were at a reduced capacity due to the extension. He was ramping prices up in order to maximise revenue, and he was pricing a lot of loyal fans out. That's not fair on regular fans.

You pointed out he was looking at it from a short term commercial point of view; he'd prefer less fans paying higher prices than more fans paying less if it meant we took more through the tills that week. That's no way to run a football club, I agree, and getting towards the £80 a ticket mark would be unacceptable. We're a long way off that yet.

To make my point using a simplified example, let's say for arguments sake we currently charge £40 for a match ticket. We're currently averaging 53k. In my opinion, it would make no sense to increase the capacity to 62k because we would have to drop ticket prices in order to attract extra fans.

So currently: 53,000 x £40 = £2,120,000 ticket revenue per game

If we expanded to 62,000 and priced tickets at £30

If we expanded now: 62,000 x £30 = £1,860,000

So although people say "Expand, price it right, we'll fill it, simple." It's actually not that simple. Why would the club expand if it means they would be taking less money? Prestige of having a bigger stadium, future proofing, great. But it would cost them £50million to expand and take less revenue, it just doesn't make any sense.

My view is that we continue to expand our match going fan base organically. Keep prices affordable, but not giving them away. So let's say keep them at £40 a ticket. the 53k average this season might jump up to 54k average next season. 55k the season after. If we got 55k the season after, all paying £40 a ticket, it would be clear that it would make sense to expand because demand is outstripping supply.

So let's say after the 3rd year we expand to 62k, we can then still charge £40 a ticket. We might not fill it, we might be just short, say 60,000. So we're back where we are now, and the whole process starts again.

60,000 x £40 = £2,400,000.

That's a £280,000 a match increase in revenue from currently. If the stand cost £50m, it would pay for itself in under 10 years. Whereas if we expand now and drop ticket prices, it will actually lose us money in the short term.

We definitely want to get to 62k eventually. But my point is it's better to wait a couple of years than to expand right now.
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Cheadle_hulmeBlue said:
and ? it doesnt make what he's saying wrong and it s what we should be doing.
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Mate, it's a brilliant quote and I've used it before myself. I wish all clubs had that mentality.

Unfortunately with FFP it's not feasible for us. We need to increase match day revenue to remain competitive. We've caught up and overtaken our rivals in some respects on commercial and broadcast income. But match day we still lag some way behind.

It's a pipe dream to think that Sheikh Mansour is going to spend £50m expanding the stadium and slash ticket prices as a gift to the fans. In my opinion we will only expand when it makes commercial sense to do so.

Sheikh Mansour is the best owner in the history of football, we couldn't have anyone better. But he's not stupid.
 
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