I’m all for cheaper tickets but here’s a few questions I’ve got to inform the business case to Danny, Roel and Soriano:
1. It’s Haaland whose captivating the younger audience and the teams success on the pitch. That needs to be paid for and our match day revenue lags behind other top teams.
2. Why select premium / semi corporate tickets to illustrate price hikes / comparisons. When did the working classes buy these tickets in the good old days. Only when there was nothing else available and on special occasions I guess. I recall as a teenager the only tickets available for a Boxing Day game was on the top tier of the Kippax. City charged £30 odd quid for these tickets a quarter of a century ago and the deal didn’t include a can of pop or sweet FA other than the seat. It was a nil nil bore draw btw.
3. I’ve managed to sort 3 tickets together online for the Everton game (this week) for a Dad and his 2 sons. The price was £90 odd quid in total. Too expensive but not terrible for the Everton game / nearest home match after Christmas.
4. Are these plastics / tourists mainly filling the 10k or so of seats that didn’t get sold out for Cup games. (I know the Vianogo tickets etc are a con). These plastics / tourists also break the tradition of leaving the game 10 minutes early, apparently.
5. Ticket sales across Prem matches and Cup games are as good as they’ve ever been.
6. Dynamic pricing has been introduced so there are cheaper tickets (bought early) in the family stand.Tickets are more expensive for last minute purchases.
7. This forum called for casual workers etc to be paid in full for what would have been match day work but for the pandemic. We listened to you and paid them in full. This money had to be found and paid.
8. You said the atmosphere would be much better when safe standing was introduced. Why are you now saying it’s all about the price of tickets.
Like I said I’m all for cheaper tickets and younger fans going. I’m just pointing out what might be the response from Club officials who don’t support City. They aren’t the Club. We are btw.
I’ll try and answer point 1. My take on it. I might get around to your other points at some point? So many points! :-)
Haaland not only captivates our young audience, he captivates all of us. He’s our super star. A player every City fan wants to watch, young and old. Unfortunately, unless you have a season ticket, have a Citizens Card, or you buy a ticket from a ticket resale site, you’re not going to see Haaland play often. Even if you can buy a match ticket, they aren’t cheap and affordable for many City fans.
Right now.
Everton.
2 tickets in NSL1/the Family stand. Different blocks as there are no tickets together left.
Adult - £57.50.
Under 18 - £30.00.
Total = £87.50.
Add food and drinks for the Adult and Under 18 as a minimum. No travel costs, match programme, souvenir, it’s workout at £100, give or take.
The only tickets left in the FA Cup against Chelsea are in CBL3 and ESL3.
Adult - £40.00.
Under 18 - £25.00.
Total = £65.00
As for paying Haaland.(and the other players) Yes, our match day revenue is behind the other big PL clubs, but our match day revenue only brings in a small overall percentage of our overall annual income. The vast majority of our income, which has increased season upon season is from TV money, CL money, prize money, numerous new sponsorship deals across the board, Summer tours, etc. (City will get a huge one off payment from FIFA for all the City players that played in the World Cup)
What the other big clubs have over us is bigger capacity stadia, which brings in more revenue. United, Arsenal, Spurs. Liverpool will have a bigger capacity stadium next season. Only Chelsea have a smaller capacity stadium, but the new Chelsea owners are looking at redeveloping Stamford Bridge. Newcastle’s capacity is similar to ours, with no room for expansion. City are looking at expanding the North stand. Proposals to be made public early next year. But expanding the North stand will take 2-3 years to finish. Until then demand for season tickets and match tickets will continue to outstrip supply.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, even for Khalddon, Soriano and the other directors. But as I and many others have stated on here, the North stand expansion should have started 3 years ago during Covid. Yes, there would have been issues to resolve like labour, sourcing materials, cost issues, etc. But those issues could have been worked around. If you remember, most construction sites were still open during COVID, with stringent Covid practices in place to keep the construction sites functioning. We’d probably have a 60,000+ capacity stadium by now or by next season. Ready for Pep’s contract extension, and ready for a certain Mr Haaland, that more of our young audience would see and be captivated by.
