Individual Match Tickets

[lancs blue]

Stand corrected on some of this.

The way people apply for and pay for an away ticket via the OSC branches has been changed by the club.

The branch takes the names of OSC members for a certain away game. The OSC branch sends that list to the club. If you qualify for an away ticket the club sends you an email or link/message to your City mobile wallet, not been clarified yet, and you have 48 hours to pay the club directly for your away ticket or you lose it and it goes to back to the club.

I believe that's started with some OSC branches prior to being rolled-out to all branches as the season progresses.

 

[Invisible Man's Bandage]

There are multiple issues regarding ticketing right now but the two that stand out are the increases in matchday prices and the fact that it has become a free for all to secure tickets and that new SCs haven't been issued for two years running and maybe no new ones will be issued for the foreseeable future. Both are linked to the fact that we are now the leading club in the world in football terms and the club wants to ensure that commercially will become pre-eminent too. This means that our current relatively low matchday revenue needs to increase substantially.

Firstly the SC issue. The fact is the club doesn't need a large proportion of SC holders any longer and the per game prices are actually very low. A £750 SC works out at just under £40 a game and there are many thousands cheaper than that. I'm sure if the club thought they could get away with it without a huge uproar they would increase SC prices by 50% in one hit. As they can't they will not issue any new ones and the proportion will reduce gradually until the expanded NS is open. I doubt they will issue any then other than an unspecified token number so that the proportion of SC holders is closer to 50% of capacity.

Matchday tickets. As we are now the best football club in the world with the first genuine global superstar we have had then demand for tickets has rocketed. There is no cost to the club in selling £35 memberships as all they do is give you the opportunity to buy a ticket for a game. It therefore makes commercial sense to sell as many memberships as possible as it brings in extra revenue, adds to demand for tickets and increases the supporter base. Giving new members more or less the same chance of getting tickets as ones that have been attending matches for years ensures that more and more people will buy them.

That is the new reality as I see it and from an owner point of view it's hard to argue with it. Watching the best team in world football at lower PL pricing isn't on the agenda.

 

[Beaker]

There are multiple issues regarding ticketing right now but the two that stand out are the increases in matchday prices and the fact that it has become a free for all to secure tickets and that new SCs haven't been issued for two years running and maybe no new ones will be issued for the foreseeable future. Both are linked to the fact that we are now the leading club in the world in football terms and the club wants to ensure that commercially will become pre-eminent too. This means that our current relatively low matchday revenue needs to increase substantially.

Firstly the SC issue. The fact is the club don't need a large proportion of SC holders any longer and the per game prices are actually very low. A £750 SC works out at just under £40 a game and there are many thousands cheaper than that. I'm sure if the club thought they could get away with it without a huge uproar they would increase SC prices by 50% in one hit. As they can't they will not issue any new ones and the proportion will reduce gradually until the expanded NS is open. I doubt they will issue any then other than an unspecified token number so that the proportion of SC holders is closer to 50% of capacity.

Matchday tickets. As we are now the best football club in the world with the first genuine global superstar we have had then demand for tickets has rocketed. There is no cost to the club in selling £35 memberships as all they do is give you the opportunity to buy a ticket for a game. It therefore makes commercial sense to sell as many memberships as possible as it brings in extra revenue, adds to demand for tickets and increases the supporter base. Giving new members more or less the same chance of getting tickets as ones that have been attending matches for years ensures that more and more people will buy them.

That is the new reality as I see it and from an owner point of view it's hard to argue with it. Watching the best team in world football at lower PL pricing isn't on the agenda.

I agree that they’re making the criteria as loose as possible for the bigger games to give off the impression that it’s possible to sign up to a membership and then immediately secure tickets for whatever game you want.

I don’t think we’re too far away from it becoming a ballot.

 

[Invisible Man's Bandage]

I agree that they’re making the criteria as loose as possible for the bigger games to give off the impression that it’s possible to sign up to a membership and then immediately secure tickets for whatever game you want.

I don’t think we’re too far away from it becoming a ballot.

I'm sure aspects of ticketing practices of both our out of town neighbours and Liverpool have been examined to see how our matchday revenue can be increased :)

Though I'm sure our commercial people don't need much help in that department. I imagine whoever came up with the idea of a Silver 'seasoncard' that didn't include 30% of games (the most in demand ones) got a nice bonus.

 

[Jazzyblue]

There are multiple issues regarding ticketing right now but the two that stand out are the increases in matchday prices and the fact that it has become a free for all to secure tickets and that new SCs haven't been issued for two years running and maybe no new ones will be issued for the foreseeable future. Both are linked to the fact that we are now the leading club in the world in football terms and the club wants to ensure that commercially will become pre-eminent too. This means that our current relatively low matchday revenue needs to increase substantially.

Firstly the SC issue. The fact is the club doesn't need a large proportion of SC holders any longer and the per game prices are actually very low. A £750 SC works out at just under £40 a game and there are many thousands cheaper than that. I'm sure if the club thought they could get away with it without a huge uproar they would increase SC prices by 50% in one hit. As they can't they will not issue any new ones and the proportion will reduce gradually until the expanded NS is open. I doubt they will issue any then other than an unspecified token number so that the proportion of SC holders is closer to 50% of capacity.

Matchday tickets. As we are now the best football club in the world with the first genuine global superstar we have had then demand for tickets has rocketed. There is no cost to the club in selling £35 memberships as all they do is give you the opportunity to buy a ticket for a game. It therefore makes commercial sense to sell as many memberships as possible as it brings in extra revenue, adds to demand for tickets and increases the supporter base. Giving new members more or less the same chance of getting tickets as ones that have been attending matches for years ensures that more and more people will buy them.

That is the new reality as I see it and from an owner point of view it's hard to argue with it. Watching the best team in world football at lower PL pricing isn't on the agenda.

I fear you're right. I'm slowly coming to terms with the idea that league home games at the Etihad have become a luxury good for us non-ST holders - not just price rises every season but the fight to get tickets post-Real. It's not something I did before apart from watching friends' sides but I've taken the kids to a few pre-season friendlies between Gtr Mcr non-league/lower league sides this month and we've enjoyed ourselves.

We are Blues but I can't let the way things are going stop us from getting our live football fix. We are not walking away, these sides are nowhere near close enough to City to mean we are 'being unfaithful', but it's helping them understand we may never get season tickets for all three of us and it's giving them something of the vibe that I experienced at Maine Rd as a kid thirty years ago.

We are meeting other Blues in the same boat, particularly dads and lads. Personal circumstances as well as the direction of travel with demand and price means I think we'll be lucky to get to 12 games across all comps at the Etihad this season and not 20. In all likelihood it will be a fight for FA Cup, Carabao and early stage CL this season too.

 

[Prophet of Doom]

The bottom line is our Matchday revenue is miles behind Utd and Spurs.

The only way we will close the gap is by reducing seasoncard holders though annual churn, increasing hospitality sections, and increasing prices of individual tickets and seasoncards.

I do feel sorry for anybody who doesn’t have a season card. Putting all games on sale at the start of the season makes it very difficult.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

I'm sure aspects of ticketing practices of both our out of town neighbours and Liverpool have been examined to see how our matchday revenue can be increased

Say what you want about scousers, but they have organized themselves and had some major successes on things like the cost of children's tickets.

 

[jrb]

I believe that's started with some OSC branches prior to being rolled-out to all branches as the season progresses.

I only found out last night at the first branch meeting I attended before this coming season.

 

[Jazzyblue]

Say what you want about scousers, but they have organized themselves and had some major successes on things like the cost of children's tickets.

Adult prices would be a lot more justifiable if ST holders and matchday members with younger loved ones could offset some of the cost with decent child prices, but some of our 'child's prices' are ludicrous and will be to the long-term detriment of the club imo. The £1 FA Cup tickets and £5 - to £12 Cat C tickets made a real difference in previous seasons but I don't doubt these are a thing of the past.

 

[jrb]

The bottom line is our Matchday revenue is miles behind Utd and Spurs.

The only way we will close the gap is by reducing seasoncard holders though annual churn, increasing hospitality sections, and increasing prices of individual tickets and seasoncards.

I do feel sorry for anybody who doesn’t have a season card. Putting all games on sale at the start of the season makes it very difficult.

I sincerely hope Khaldoon and Soriano are ready for football and life after Pep goes in two seasons time. Because he won't renew his contract again. If City win the Super Cup and the World Club Championship, Pep's done it all. (he's done it all! :-) )Off home to sunny Barcelona he goes. Let's see who City get as the next manager after Pep, which will be a thankless task, how the team fairs, and if it doesn't, how our new support holds up. The old legacy FOC's like you and me will still be supporting the team regardless of any possible dip in form and no trophies, but will the new fans?