Season Ticket Pricing as a result of Stadium Expansion

[nice neil]

I get the impression judging from many replies to this issue on BM that most couldn't care less about Blues being priced out of watching city as long as they are alright jack.

My concern isn't just about being priced out but also the demographics changing inside the stadium so even if I wanted to go and watch City, I wouldn't enjoy myself sat amongst thousands of new fans who have chosen City as their BPL team.

Would you still enjoy going to the stadium if it was packed full of Tourists and the like, with little to no traditional matchday atmosphere?

I've been at City matches in recent times when we've had superb atmosphere in League matches then a week later I've stood at the same seat for the Real Madrid game and it's been flatter than a pancake, crammed with Tourists whilst Burnage Barry watches it down in the Pub.

This type of fan will increase as prices go up.

We are not, we're not really here
We are not, we're not really here
Just like the fan of the Invisible man we're not really here

instead of having a pop at 'tourists' perhaps you ought to ask the missing seasoncard holders where the fuck were they ?

YOUR (NOT YOU'RE) POST IS STUPID. the whole point he's trying to make, is that some seasoncard holders can't afford the cup games, and their seats are being filled by 'tourists', who can.

 

[SteWadda]

So to those of us in Level 2 they are saying "stump up, relocate to a cheaper poorer quality seat, or fuck off".
And they know that in the majority of cases someone like me who has been watching for 45 years will take one of the first two choices.
My first preference would be somewhere in CBL3 or EL3 or possibly South L2. The new seats in South L3 might be too far from the pitch, but having said that I usually cope when we go to SJP and those seats are even further away.
There's always T1 of course, but I want standing or sitting, not being up and down like a bride's nightie all match.

That's pretty much it. First option is not going to work for me, not going to pay £400 extra for a bar I don't want and won't use. Option 2 maybe, but 3rd tier is no good for me as it is too far away for my eyes. Option 3 is looking likely.

I'm sure there will be plenty of willing new supporters to take my place.

Why don't you do option 2 and buy some glasses withsome of the £400 you have saved?

 

[moomba]

So to those of us in Level 2 they are saying "stump up, relocate to a cheaper poorer quality seat, or fuck off".
And they know that in the majority of cases someone like me who has been watching for 45 years will take one of the first two choices.
My first preference would be somewhere in CBL3 or EL3 or possibly South L2. The new seats in South L3 might be too far from the pitch, but having said that I usually cope when we go to SJP and those seats are even further away.
There's always T1 of course, but I want standing or sitting, not being up and down like a bride's nightie all match.

That's pretty much it. First option is not going to work for me, not going to pay £400 extra for a bar I don't want and won't use. Option 2 maybe, but 3rd tier is no good for me as it is too far away for my eyes. Option 3 is looking likely.

I'm sure there will be plenty of willing new supporters to take my place.

Why don't you do option 2 and buy some glasses withsome of the £400 you have saved?

Already wear them (or contacts). I'll look at option two, but I've tried level 3 and it's no good for me.

 

[mostonbluemark]

Not wishing to be deliberately controversial, probably better to say "playing Devils Advocate", what if the Club limited the number of £299-£450 tickets to existing season ticketholders, like they do with Value Gold. Then once these had been taken up to open the rest up to those on the waiting list. Is there any precedence set where this has happened before? Cause a stir that would.

 

[Kakhaber Tskhadadze K.O.T.A.]

So to those of us in Level 2 they are saying "stump up, relocate to a cheaper poorer quality seat, or fuck off".
And they know that in the majority of cases someone like me who has been watching for 45 years will take one of the first two choices.
My first preference would be somewhere in CBL3 or EL3 or possibly South L2. The new seats in South L3 might be too far from the pitch, but having said that I usually cope when we go to SJP and those seats are even further away.
There's always T1 of course, but I want standing or sitting, not being up and down like a bride's nightie all match.

That's pretty much it. First option is not going to work for me, not going to pay £400 extra for a bar I don't want and won't use. Option 2 maybe, but 3rd tier is no good for me as it is too far away for my eyes. Option 3 is looking likely.

I'm sure there will be plenty of willing new supporters to take my place.

Had a very long conversation one Friday night with Danny Wilson on this element of the expansion when he rang me after I had written to him and told him that City are selling over 125 years of loyalty to the highest bidder. We have 8 seats together on the Colin Bell 2nd tier (4 of us have had season tickets for 25 + years and we now have our kids with us). The price of our seats will inevitably go up as it is proposed a "semi corporate" area and i predict they will be £1500 + . He advised that we will only be affected IF the North stand is expanded and that is subject to demand - hence this "waiting list" gives City a gauge for demand.

We all know it is going to happen and my issue is that we will not get 8 decent seats together again as the new seats behind the goal will be no where near as good as our current seats. To be fair to Danny he went through it and gave me the sales chat "one of our challenges is not to alienate supporters like you" etc etc . I honestly do not see how City can sort our situation and it has crossed my mind more than a few times to give it all up which saddens me no end.

 

[JGL07]

Where do I start. First of all FA Cup & League Cup games don't sell out and this is despite the Club pitching most games at £15/20, hardly a rip off is it?

As far as I am aware all FA Cup matches at the Etihad have sold out for the last two seasons. United in 2011-12 sold out. Last season Watford, Leeds and Barnsley all sold out including the visitors end. City showed that by getting the pricing right the ground can be filled for a cup tie.

The League Cup is a tougher proposition as it will involve watching a reserve team from City playing another reserve team. More radical pricing structures will be needed to fill the all seats here (£10/£5?).

 

[moomba]

Had a very long conversation one Friday night with Danny Wilson on this element of the expansion when he rang me after I had written to him and told him that City are selling over 125 years of loyalty to the highest bidder. We have 8 seats together on the Colin Bell 2nd tier (4 of us have had season tickets for 25 + years and we now have our kids with us). The price of our seats will inevitably go up as it is proposed a "semi corporate" area and i predict they will be £1500 + . He advised that we will only be affected IF the North stand is expanded and that is subject to demand - hence this "waiting list" gives City a gauge for demand.

We all know it is going to happen and my issue is that we will not get 8 decent seats together again as the new seats behind the goal will be no where near as good as our current seats. To be fair to Danny he went through it and gave me the sales chat "one of our challenges is not to alienate supporters like you" etc etc . I honestly do not see how City can sort our situation and it has crossed my mind more than a few times to give it all up which saddens me no end.

It may be that a sign of "progress" is that some fans will fall by the wayside. I can certainly see me being one of those as to me, the impression I get from the club is that my loyalty and contribution in the difficult times counts for very little when it comes to how much I can be monetised in the future compared to a new supporter.

I'm not too upset at the idea of being an armchair supporter, City will certainly be more entertaining to watch on TV than I would have imagined years ago. And to be honest I'm already struggling to reconcile how much I'm paying to support the club compared to what I used to.

I did always think that my kids would follow me into having season tickets, but I can't see that happening any more. Which is a disappointment to me.

 

[johnmc]

Its a issue raised in most replies in this thread, so what do the club, or what should they commit to do to loyal fans? How much do the club owe loyal supporters?

In no other business would a supporter of 20 years be favoured financially over a new supporter ie if a loyal supporter is paying £500 a year for 20 years but a new supporter is offering to replace the existing supporter but pay £1,000 the new supporter gets the ticket.

In some peoples eyes this isnt right, but realistically how much do the club owe the loyal supporters. The Rolling stones put tickets up to £250 during the summer, most fans would have paid a tenth of that to see them in their early days and are now priced out. Should those fans get cheaper tickets because they were there at the start?

There is not one person on here who, if they had a business where they knew they could get a higher price for what they were selling, would not do exactly that.

Its a sad state of affairs really but football, despite a lot of people thinking it is, is no different to normal business sadly.

 

[moomba]

I understand why the club are doing it, but I also think its wrong to think of a club as just a business.

If it was most of us would have fucked off years ago.

Anyway, it is how it is and there is not much anyone can do about it. But we probably should end discussion about the changing demographics of the home support because its something that the club clearly wants to happen.

 

[bobmcfc]

I got a letter this morning asking me if I wanted to stump up £100 to reserve a shite seat in level three ! My initial thought was "why would I want to sit in level three" I have no clue why they are sending it to me. and my second thought was why they thought it was in anyway a tempting offer