Season Tickets - 2024/25

[blueparrot]

The only possible financial reasoning I can think of is that they want to raise the prices of the hospitality, which is where they actually make a lot of money, but feel like they have to have an overall price ladder which keeps hospitality attractive.

Apple does this more than anyone. If you want to buy an iPad the there’s an iPad you can buy at basically £50 increments from £450 to £2500.

It pushes people into buying the absolute best one they can afford, whereas if there were huge gaps, a lot of people who fall in the middle will just go with the cheaper option.

If they make the gap between hospitality seats and the best non-hospitality seats too big, they’ll kill their hospitality sales. And then they have to raise the price of all the seats down the ladder or they’ll create one of those gaps where everyone chooses the cheaper tier.


I’m not agreeing with it! I’m not even saying it necessarily works, I just can’t really think of any other reason.

I used to think they sat down in 2012 or something and thought ticket revenue is X, top clubs get Y, we can’t make that increase in 1/2 years so we’ll bridge it in 20 years. Mooney’s thread has made me doubt that though because even the total increase from 2014 to 2024 is something like an extra £5m/ year revenue? It’s completely insignificant.

Don't think that's the only reasoning. Prices are the only thing they can control season to season.Think matchday income is about 50/60 mill, which is sometimes more than our profits sometimes less.What they can't control or predict is prize money linked to on the field success. I assume part of the thinking is how can they control not making losses in a season when we win nothing and prize / sponsorship/ TV money dips for a year or 2, the answer,or their answer might be to get matchday income up to other clubs levels.Only a guess at their thinking to be fair.

 

[citytill1die84]

Whilst that is great for their fans, you are comparing two completely different businesses.

Stoke's crowds are pretty sparse and they are doing what they can to not put more people off coming. They need good PR to try and persuade people to come back.

City's crowds are good and for the bigger games we could probably sell out the stadium twice over. Demand is there. So the hierarchy aren't bothered about good PR or making the fans happy, they're playing with their spreadsheets and maximising how much they can charge without crowds dropping.

I put lol mate

 

[domalino]

Don't think that's the only reasoning. Prices are the only thing they can control season to season.Think matchday income is about 50/60 mill, which is sometimes more than our profits sometimes less.What they can't control or predict is prize money linked to on the field success. I assume part of the thinking is how can they control not making losses in a season when we win nothing and prize / sponsorship/ TV money dips for a year or 2, the answer,or their answer might be to get matchday income up to other clubs levels.Only a guess at their thinking to be fair.

The maths simply doesnt work.

36,000 season ticket holders getting a £35 increase is £1m.

It’s literally 0.1% of revenue.

The last 6 years of season ticket increase will have generated a combined total of about £10m over 5 years. City’s revenue over that period is over £2Bn.

Also it’s not really true that prices are the only thing they control season to season. They have control over every single aspect of the clubs finances. They can cut costs, bring in new partners, come up with new things to sell like tv series to Netflix or merchandise.

 

[blueparrot]

The maths simply doesnt work.

36,000 season ticket holders getting a £35 increase is £1m.

It’s literally 0.1% of revenue.

Yes but 1 mill over the last 10 years and it's 10 years of rises that people don't like not just this years is 10mill 20% of our average profit the last profit. Revenue is fairly irrelevant.Profit is the only figure that matter.
I'm not saying that's the reason,or justifys this seasons rise, only our actual profits on £700 mill turnover are very small ( if my business made less tha10% profit my accountant would be advising packing it in) and easilly wiped out,as well as being almost wholy dependent on matchday income.

 

[Eccles Blue]

Can I ask you if you have young kids, you know the next generation of “customers “ if locals can’t afford their tickets and subsequently their kids then who supports us? Do you think there will be 30/40k tourists each game? If that same person wants to go see a game they be looking at possible £150-200 for the day, not exactly cheap is it. All City have to do is put a few million aside from a sponsorship deal and all this would be a moot point. It cost my mate £120 for a full kit for his son’s birthday that’s his last one, next one will be a DHGate special.

When I had to stop going because I couldn't afford it, as I had 4 children to pay for as well, they were 'the next generation of 'customers''. I explained to them that I couldn't afford it and they understood.
When they were older and started earning their own money, delivering papers, working at a Saturday job they bought their own tickets. They caught a bus part of the way and walked the rest.
I'm not whining, complaining or being an 'I'm all right Jack' person just explaining that that is life. Sometimes we can afford it and sometimes we can't.
Two of them continue to support their team, albeit one from Canada and another I won't mention (;-))
. The Canadian one has even started on the next, next generation and both his daughters are City mad. When they come over here they love to go to the games and were at Raheem Sterling's first away match and he came over and gave them his shirt which has pride of place on the wall over in Vancouver.
Plus in the next, next, next generation (great-grandson) there is another Junior Blue or whatever they are called now. He is a registered Citizen and has attended a couple of matches.
So the next generation that you are talking about will still support City I'm sure. :-)

 

[M18CTID]

I just can’t understand the whinging and whining on here about SC prices. It has been like this for years. For more years than I can remember I was unable to afford SC/Ticket so just had to get a Matchday card and get to games as or when I could afford them. Just do the same and stop whining. We all have to make sacrifices in this day and age. If you can’t afford it don’t go. I used to save up to get there and was restricted to about once a month. Yes I missed going but didn’t bellyache like some on here. Will you be going to the Co-Op live every week when it opens? Will you be complaining about their ticket pricing? Can’t afford it? Then don’t go. Same as everything else in life.

Each to their own but if there is no pushback whatsoever from fans then we'd be getting fucked up the arse with ticket prices even more than we are now. Fan activism in the past led to the club charging cheaper prices for the CL Semi Final against Real Madrid in 2016 compared to the previous round against PSG. Co-ordinated fan activism with the FSA and involving fans from all 20 PL clubs led to a £30 cap on away Premier League tickets which has now been in place for 8 seasons.

As for the Co-Op Live, very few people attend gigs every week in the way football fans attend matches so that's like comparing apples and oranges. As it happens, I've got tickets to 3 gigs there in June and July and yes, the prices are expensive but like I said I don't attend as many gigs as I do football matches.

 

[Betterdeedthan red]

The maths simply doesnt work.

36,000 season ticket holders getting a £35 increase is £1m.

It’s literally 0.1% of revenue.

The last 6 years of season ticket increase will have generated a combined total of about £10m over 5 years. City’s revenue over that period is over £2Bn.

Also it’s not really true that prices are the only thing they control season to season. They have control over every single aspect of the clubs finances. They can cut costs, bring in new partners, come up with new things to sell like tv series to Netflix or merchandise.

They could easily pay the players a little bit less.
The money they earn is absolutely ridiculous

 

[pace89]

I just can’t understand the whinging and whining on here about SC prices. It has been like this for years. For more years than I can remember I was unable to afford SC/Ticket so just had to get a Matchday card and get to games as or when I could afford them. Just do the same and stop whining. We all have to make sacrifices in this day and age. If you can’t afford it don’t go. I used to save up to get there and was restricted to about once a month. Yes I missed going but didn’t bellyache like some on here. Will you be going to the Co-Op live every week when it opens? Will you be complaining about their ticket pricing? Can’t afford it? Then don’t go. Same as everything else in life.

There's a weird Stockholm syndrome that afflicts people that makes them think they should be grateful for paying through the nose to watch the thing that ultimately only exists because of them. It's not the same as everything else in life. The club exists - and Sheik Mansour had an investible proposition - because generations of City supporters dedicated themselves to the club. Football clubs rely on the loyalty of people who don't give up when the club they follow goes for decades without a sniff of success. Just look at all the people on here connected to the Swales out movement, setting up fanzines, attending AGMs and EGMs as well as going home and away every week just to keep the club they love going in the vague hope that one day we might have some success. And the thanks that we get for that is fucking Soriano treating us with contempt because we can't be sufficiently monetised. And then Pep asks for the atmosphere to be better.

The supermarket analogy doesn't work at all - a City fan priced out of attending after years of committed support isn't going to make the choice to go to Bolton or Oldham because it's a bit cheaper, they'll just be disenfranchised by the club that belongs to them and become bitter and angry. Football is based around sentiment and loyalty not rational choices, if it was rational there wouldn't be 120ish professional clubs in England.

 

[John Wayne]

There's a weird Stockholm syndrome that afflicts people that makes them think they should be grateful for paying through the nose to watch the thing that ultimately only exists because of them. It's not the same as everything else in life. The club exists - and Sheik Mansour had an investible proposition - because generations of City supporters dedicated themselves to the club. Football clubs rely on the loyalty of people who don't give up when the club they follow goes for decades without a sniff of success. Just look at all the people on here connected to the Swales out movement, setting up fanzines, attending AGMs and EGMs as well as going home and away every week just to keep the club they love going in the vague hope that one day we might have some success. And the thanks that we get for that is fucking Soriano treating us with contempt because we can't be sufficiently monetised. And then Pep asks for the atmosphere to be better.

The supermarket analogy doesn't work at all - a City fan priced out of attending after years of committed support isn't going to make the choice to go to Bolton or Oldham because it's a bit cheaper, they'll just be disenfranchised by the club that belongs to them and become bitter and angry. Football is based around sentiment and loyalty not rational choices, if it was rational there wouldn't be 120ish professional clubs in England.

The store manager at Asda doesn't ask me to create a better atmosphere next time I'm in the shop either. It's reciprocal - the manager cannot demand a good atmosphere if the CEO sees the relationship with the fan as purely transactional.

 

[PPT]

There's a weird Stockholm syndrome that afflicts people that makes them think they should be grateful for paying through the nose to watch the thing that ultimately only exists because of them. It's not the same as everything else in life. The club exists - and Sheik Mansour had an investible proposition - because generations of City supporters dedicated themselves to the club. Football clubs rely on the loyalty of people who don't give up when the club they follow goes for decades without a sniff of success. Just look at all the people on here connected to the Swales out movement, setting up fanzines, attending AGMs and EGMs as well as going home and away every week just to keep the club they love going in the vague hope that one day we might have some success. And the thanks that we get for that is fucking Soriano treating us with contempt because we can't be sufficiently monetised. And then Pep asks for the atmosphere to be better.

The supermarket analogy doesn't work at all - a City fan priced out of attending after years of committed support isn't going to make the choice to go to Bolton or Oldham because it's a bit cheaper, they'll just be disenfranchised by the club that belongs to them and become bitter and angry. Football is based around sentiment and loyalty not rational choices, if it was rational there wouldn't be 120ish professional clubs in England.

Excellent post.

 

[Edghill OG]

They're niggly, annoying rises. I'm not buying the FFP excuse one bit. It's completely a drop in the ocean to them.

They probably think the current rate of rises year on year are the 'sweet spot'. As it's not significant enough to cause a large backlash but enough to alienate a number of fans to surrender their season tickets with the seat then being utilised for matchday or hospitality instead. If they thought they could get away with a 25 percent rise or something daft I believe they would. Be interesting to see what the prices will be in ten years time and whether those currently defending it will have changed their tune.

Cringe at the thought of matchday prices next season. Another reason why people hold on to their season ticket as they'll probably never get it back and will be held to randsom with matchday prices.

 

[John Wayne]

They're niggly, annoying rises. I'm not buying the FFP excuse one bit. It's completely a drop in the ocean to them.

They probably think the current rate of rises year on year are the 'sweet spot'. As it's not significant enough to cause a large backlash but enough to alienate a number of fans to surrender their season tickets with the seat then being utilised for matchday or hospitality instead. If they thought they could get away with a 25 percent rise or something daft I believe they would. Be interesting to see what the prices will be in ten years time and whether those currently defending it will have changed their tune.

Cringe at the thought of matchday prices next season. Another reason why people hold on to their season ticket as they'll probably never get it back and will be held to randsom with matchday prices.

I think they've calculated it well. They have freed up a small amount of tickets because some disgruntled and less affluent ST holders won't renew. They've irritated a lot more but not to the point that they'll give it up and will forget about it in a few weeks. They've also left a lot of people perfectly content because they still see it as value for money. This is all in their strategy.

 

[freshie]

 

[Theblueguy]

They're niggly, annoying rises. I'm not buying the FFP excuse one bit. It's completely a drop in the ocean to them.

They probably think the current rate of rises year on year are the 'sweet spot'. As it's not significant enough to cause a large backlash but enough to alienate a number of fans to surrender their season tickets with the seat then being utilised for matchday or hospitality instead. If they thought they could get away with a 25 percent rise or something daft I believe they would. Be interesting to see what the prices will be in ten years time and whether those currently defending it will have changed their tune.

Cringe at the thought of matchday prices next season. Another reason why people hold on to their season ticket as they'll probably never get it back and will be held to randsom with matchday prices.

Regarding the matchday prices... in the 22/23 season they had three games with cheap under18 tickets. My son had a ticket near me for £12 minus the £5 for his membership = £7 for Brighton. This season the cheapest was £23 - £5 = £18, a 91% increase. Sheff Utd was £33. Interested to see what happens next season.

 

[Edghill OG]

Regarding the matchday prices... in the 22/23 season they had three games with cheap under18 tickets. My son had a ticket near me for £12 minus the £5 for his membership = £7 for Brighton. This season the cheapest was £23 - £5 = £18, a 91% increase. Sheff Utd was £33. Interested to see what happens next season.

This is the thing the percentage increases aren't sustainable at the rate they're going. Given how integral the match-going fan is to the club and the league as a whole I think a regulator should ensure that rises can only be increased (at the maximum) to the rate of inflation. Instead Haaland will probably sign a new contract at 1.5 million a week and the circus continues.

I believe City were one of the only clubs that were against the £30 away tickets. Says it all really. Need somebody that's been a lifelong City fan fighting our corner in the boardroom. Fair play to the likes of Alex at City Matters, but from the outside it looks like they're completely ignored by the club and wasting their time.

 

[domalino]

They could easily pay the players a little bit less.
The money they earn is absolutely ridiculous

Every year they announce the ticket increase I think it’s an open goal for the players to offer to pay it instead.

Our last wage bill was £423m.

If the players took a 1 day pay cut it would raise the same amount as the ticket increase.

The club would earn more than £1.2m for the PR alone.

 

[Blue Maverick]

When I had to stop going because I couldn't afford it, as I had 4 children to pay for as well, they were 'the next generation of 'customers''. I explained to them that I couldn't afford it and they understood.
When they were older and started earning their own money, delivering papers, working at a Saturday job they bought their own tickets. They caught a bus part of the way and walked the rest.
I'm not whining, complaining or being an 'I'm all right Jack' person just explaining that that is life. Sometimes we can afford it and sometimes we can't.
Two of them continue to support their team, albeit one from Canada and another I won't mention (;-))
. The Canadian one has even started on the next, next generation and both his daughters are City mad. When they come over here they love to go to the games and were at Raheem Sterling's first away match and he came over and gave them his shirt which has pride of place on the wall over in Vancouver.
Plus in the next, next, next generation (great-grandson) there is another Junior Blue or whatever they are called now. He is a registered Citizen and has attended a couple of matches.
So the next generation that you are talking about will still support City I'm sure. :-)


View attachment 111256

Brilliant for them, now get a paper round or do a Saturday job and see how many tickets they can afford now, plus go with their mates, not all can afford it. I’m just suppose a romantic when groups of us could just go to a game for a few quid, those days have long gone and unfortunately many will never experience it.

 

[117 M34]

I know that Alex from city matters said the club told them of the price increase last week and CM objected.

However, and maybe as a suggestion for future years, could this objecting have been done more proactively in earlier meetings and them tell the club in advance of decisions being made that there shouldn't be a price increase instead of when the decision has already been made?

 

[uwerosler28]

I genuinely believe lots of the flexi golds will be released to new non current season ticket holders, the club have created a process where they can say a certain % of tickets go on sale for every match whilst also securing 150 quid up front for every seat that would have been sold anyway. A small number will be kept back in the 3rd tiers to sell as packages. Why would they keep any seat back from a flexI gold application to sell on a match to match basis when they can get 150 quid for it now and still charge whatever they want when the match comes around?

 

[tregyblue61]

Had a look at the Hotel price online, around £120.