Ticket prices are now a problem at City

[HelloCity]

After the season ended I was 'surprised' to learn I would have to pay an extra £50 for my season ticket. This was on top of the £50 extra I had paid the previous year.

This time the price increase has pushed me to my absolute limit. I'm on all 3 cup schemes but only just. Any further increase and I'll be off a couple of them next season.

Others have already gone over their limit. The result is that they have dropped off all 3 cup schemes. A guy at work who's had his ST for 30 years told me he might go to the Bayern game depending on how the group is looking. Last season he was on the Cup Scheme.

Mentally that £50 increase is huge. It's big enough to stop supporters from buying extra tickets for all home cup matches. It also breaks the habit of going to the matches meaning that they might not even go to the odd game. If City hadn't increased the ST price by £50 then he would have gone to all three CL group games as a result of being on the CS and City would have made £100 from him in ticket sales. Increasing the ST price has actually resulted in him parting with less money to the club. I should add that he also went from Platinum to Gold.

Tonight we play Roma in a match which is no where near a sell out. Many of the empty seats will be where a season ticket holder should have been sitting. The club need to realise that while the price for this game is at an ok-ish level, the ST price increases have led to supporters quitting cup schemes and breaking the habit of going as they struggle to get the pennies together to pay for next season ticket increases.

With an expanded stadium just around the corner the club need to make sure they get the ticket prices in order ASAP.

 

[Blue Maverick]

Yep I'll be out of CL and league cup schemes next season as my chances of getting a final ticket for CL are crap and it's easy to get one for league cup final, the FA cup I'll stay in for now as that's harder for the final. If I'm off work and can afford any cup games I'll go but if they increase again next year, I'll be down to gold as well. Unfortunately my wage is down, pension contributions up and have a two year old now so I'm screwed. If I can manage it maybe a few aways this year bit I'd rather do a European away than 5 or 6 domestic aways.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

It's simple. Selling 40,000 tickets at £50 brings in significantly more revenue than selling 47,000 tickets at £35.

 

[mannycity]

Absolutely agree, whoever can have some influence at the club, ie, supporters clubs needs to inform executives on the board we are no Arsenal,Chelsea,or rags,

I know people, now that we've won things have stopped going,

We are going to look pretty silly in a few years,with a lot of empty seats,

Fill the ground with reasonable priced ticketing,

Unfortunately they are not getting cheaper,

 

[Blue Maverick]

It's simple. Selling 40,000 tickets at £50 brings in significantly more revenue than selling 47,000 tickets at £35.

Maybe but it doesn't look good on TV or add to atmosphere, plus factor in what those extra 7000 may spend at the stadium and shop etc.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

It's happened right across football, not just at City.

The horse bolted when the Taylor Report decreed that football should attempt to appeal to the middle classes.

Now it's just demand and supply, and the fierce competition for players and resultant exhorbitant wages will keep it that way. I paid £55 for a decent seat at a West End Musical the other week. That's how the game sees itself now: another form of entertainment.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

It's simple. Selling 40,000 tickets at £50 brings in significantly more revenue than selling 47,000 tickets at £35.

Maybe but it doesn't look good on TV or add to atmosphere, plus factor in what those extra 7000 may spend at the stadium and shop etc.

I'm not saying it's right and in fact I'm just writing an article for KOTK about this very subject.

But we have to face the fact we're run by accountants and marketing people now. I absolutely agree that having a full, noisy stadium looks far better than one with loads of empty seats. The former actually encourages people to want to become part of it in my view whereas once you see empty seats you tend to think "Well I can always get a ticket when I want one" or "I'm not bothering making the effort to go as it looks dead."

One of the problems is that there is no face-to-face contact between the club and the fans. Points Of Blue hasn't been held for a few years now, where we would have told the club what's wrong. The OSC won't do that as they're too worried about losing their ticket allocations. I'm getting very disillusioned with the direction we're going in as a club. It's possible to be successful on the field and still understand what your fans want. We've become a faceless, money-making, marketing machine.

 

[LoveCity]

It's simple. Selling 40,000 tickets at £50 brings in significantly more revenue than selling 47,000 tickets at £35.

Maybe but it doesn't look good on TV or add to atmosphere, plus factor in what those extra 7000 may spend at the stadium and shop etc.

I'm not saying it's right and in fact I'm just writing an article for KOTK about this very subject.

But we have to face the fact we're run by accountants and marketing people now. I absolutely agree that having a full, noisy stadium looks far better than one with loads of empty seats. The former actually encourages people to want to become part of it in my view whereas once you see empty seats you tend to think "Well I can always get a ticket when I want one" or "I'm not bothering making the effort to go as it looks dead."

What is the cut-off point though?

Would City be happy with 20,000 tickets sold at £120? That'd make £0.4m more than 40,000 at £50 for example.

I think the first sign of problems with these new hikes was right away - Liverpool at home barely sold out, our first home game against last year's champions runners-up. Two seasons ago this would have been sold out 3-4 weeks in advance, but London prices made it a very late sell out. Same prices next season in the expanded stadium would mean lots of empty seats.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Maybe but it doesn't look good on TV or add to atmosphere, plus factor in what those extra 7000 may spend at the stadium and shop etc.

I'm not saying it's right and in fact I'm just writing an article for KOTK about this very subject.

But we have to face the fact we're run by accountants and marketing people now. I absolutely agree that having a full, noisy stadium looks far better than one with loads of empty seats. The former actually encourages people to want to become part of it in my view whereas once you see empty seats you tend to think "Well I can always get a ticket when I want one" or "I'm not bothering making the effort to go as it looks dead."

What is the cut-off point though?

Would City be happy with 20,000 tickets sold at £120? That'd make £0.4m more than 40,000 at £50 for example.

I think the first sign of problems with these new hikes was right away - Liverpool at home barely sold out, our first home game against last year's champions runners-up.

You and I see that as a problem whereas Soriano & Glick see it as vindication. Just selling out before the game, in their mind proves they've got the pricing "right".

 

[stony]

It's simple. Selling 40,000 tickets at £50 brings in significantly more revenue than selling 47,000 tickets at £35.

The difference between 47,000 tickets at £50 and 47,000 at £20 works out at £26,790,000 a season. So that's just short of £27M for a season, not counting cups. Those figures won't be completely accurate because of corporate seats, but its a rough idea.
Let's pretend we live in a world without FFP for a minute. If there is one club is the world who could take that sort of hit its City.
Think of the publicity we'd get for that and think of the shit our competitors would get.
Younger people could afford to go, people who make more noise. So not only are we guaranteed a full house every week, but the atmosphere would improve too. We'd also be guaranteeing the next generation of blues.
Think how much pressure other clubs would be under to reduce ticket prices if the champions were charging £20 to get in.

 

[Gingers Dad]

It's simple. Selling 40,000 tickets at £50 brings in significantly more revenue than selling 47,000 tickets at £35.

Maybe but it doesn't look good on TV or add to atmosphere, plus factor in what those extra 7000 may spend at the stadium and shop etc.

I'm not saying it's right and in fact I'm just writing an article for KOTK about this very subject.

But we have to face the fact we're run by accountants and marketing people now. I absolutely agree that having a full, noisy stadium looks far better than one with loads of empty seats. The former actually encourages people to want to become part of it in my view whereas once you see empty seats you tend to think "Well I can always get a ticket when I want one" or "I'm not bothering making the effort to go as it looks dead."

One of the problems is that there is no face-to-face contact between the club and the fans. Points Of Blue hasn't been held for a few years now, where we would have told the club what's wrong. The OSC won't do that as they're too worried about losing their ticket allocations. I'm getting very disillusioned with the direction we're going in as a club. It's possible to be successful on the field and still understand what your fans want. We've become a faceless, money-making, marketing machine.

Not very clever marketing to have 10,000 empty seats. Surely a much better way to sell the club is to have a full stadium with an exciting atmosphere. The people managing the stadium ticket prices need to have a long hard look at themselves because it's surely not in the clubs interest to have alienated so many supporters. No doubt family stand tickets have been distributed around the schools once again. Just to make it look like we sold out. Yet those parents who have paid for tickets for their kids get nothing back.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Maybe but it doesn't look good on TV or add to atmosphere, plus factor in what those extra 7000 may spend at the stadium and shop etc.

I'm not saying it's right and in fact I'm just writing an article for KOTK about this very subject.

But we have to face the fact we're run by accountants and marketing people now. I absolutely agree that having a full, noisy stadium looks far better than one with loads of empty seats. The former actually encourages people to want to become part of it in my view whereas once you see empty seats you tend to think "Well I can always get a ticket when I want one" or "I'm not bothering making the effort to go as it looks dead."

One of the problems is that there is no face-to-face contact between the club and the fans. Points Of Blue hasn't been held for a few years now, where we would have told the club what's wrong. The OSC won't do that as they're too worried about losing their ticket allocations. I'm getting very disillusioned with the direction we're going in as a club. It's possible to be successful on the field and still understand what your fans want. We've become a faceless, money-making, marketing machine.

Not very clever marketing to have 10,000 empty seats. Surely a much better way to sell the club is to have a full stadium with an exciting atmosphere. The people managing the stadium ticket prices need to have a long hard look at themselves because it's surely not in the clubs interest to have alienated so many supporters. No doubt family stand tickets have been distributed around the schools once again. Just to make it look like we sold out. Yet those parents who have paid for tickets for their kids get nothing back.

Absolutely right.

 

[BertTrautmann'sParachute]

It's simple. Selling 40,000 tickets at £50 brings in significantly more revenue than selling 47,000 tickets at £35.

That certainly is simple.

 

[paulchapo]

It's simple. Selling 40,000 tickets at £50 brings in significantly more revenue than selling 47,000 tickets at £35.

Maybe but it doesn't look good on TV or add to atmosphere, plus factor in what those extra 7000 may spend at the stadium and shop etc.

I'm not saying it's right and in fact I'm just writing an article for KOTK about this very subject.

But we have to face the fact we're run by accountants and marketing people now. I absolutely agree that having a full, noisy stadium looks far better than one with loads of empty seats. The former actually encourages people to want to become part of it in my view whereas once you see empty seats you tend to think "Well I can always get a ticket when I want one" or "I'm not bothering making the effort to go as it looks dead."

One of the problems is that there is no face-to-face contact between the club and the fans. Points Of Blue hasn't been held for a few years now, where we would have told the club what's wrong. The OSC won't do that as they're too worried about losing their ticket allocations. I'm getting very disillusioned with the direction we're going in as a club. It's possible to be successful on the field and still understand what your fans want. We've become a faceless, money-making, marketing machine.

I am suprised there are no face to face meetings anymore between the club and fans,this from a club that is always bigging up ''The customer/matchday experiance.'' I expect the fact they send out so many e mail questionnaires means they probably feel they are
talking face to face in a way,although we all know this isn't quite the same.

I too am getting disillusioned with the direction the club is taking.Again this is from a club who seem to trot out how important our history and tradition is,yet not really take on board the main part of that was proper dialogue with the fans and sensible pricing.

We as fans all know that without the massive outlay of cash from our new owners we would have won nothing and still be a yo yo/mid table club at best and we are eternally grateful for that.The problem is what made our club unique was our loyal self depreciating fan base and if the price of that success is to drive this fan base away and replace it with a new,bland, only known success type of fan, then they have killed the club almost as effectively as if it was put out of business anyway,in my and a lot of other fan's eyes.

As a club we are now at a crossroads and i don't think our owner or his charges realise how crucial where they go from here will be to our very identity and soul as a club.

 

[ytic04]

I'm also at my price limit for the cup schemes and will probbly have to choose to drop out next season.
Not so sure it's just the price of the tickets though, we are now playing more cup games than we've ever been used to and every time we're drawn at home there's another automatic raid on by bank balance by City.
To be fair i don't they couldn't have priced the Sheff Wed match any better but the attendance shows people are having to make financial decisions to the number of matches they can go to. The same round match next season will be even emptier if we draw a club with no away fans and the new stand open.

 

[alib]

The disappointing thing is that with the huge increase in Sky tv money this year all clubs could have frozen or even reduced season ticket prices? Instead ticket prices continue to rise well above the rate of inflation to ridiculous levels pricing out thousands of fans whilst the extra tv money goes into the pockets of multimillionaire players

 

[northstander]

the most important thing for city is to have a capacity crowd, sensible prices mean a full house, not only that the extra revenue from merchandise sales will help balance the revenue figures. problem for tonight and CL matches though is, who determines the price, city, visiting team ( as in domestic cups ) or eufa ? i don't know

 

[willipp]

Maybe but it doesn't look good on TV or add to atmosphere, plus factor in what those extra 7000 may spend at the stadium and shop etc.

I'm not saying it's right and in fact I'm just writing an article for KOTK about this very subject.

But we have to face the fact we're run by accountants and marketing people now. I absolutely agree that having a full, noisy stadium looks far better than one with loads of empty seats. The former actually encourages people to want to become part of it in my view whereas once you see empty seats you tend to think "Well I can always get a ticket when I want one" or "I'm not bothering making the effort to go as it looks dead."

One of the problems is that there is no face-to-face contact between the club and the fans. Points Of Blue hasn't been held for a few years now, where we would have told the club what's wrong. The OSC won't do that as they're too worried about losing their ticket allocations. I'm getting very disillusioned with the direction we're going in as a club. It's possible to be successful on the field and still understand what your fans want. We've become a faceless, money-making, marketing machine.

I am suprised there are no face to face meetings anymore between the club and fans,this from a club that is always bigging up ''The customer/matchday experiance.'' I expect the fact they send out so many e mail questionnaires means they probably feel they are
talking face to face in a way,although we all know this isn't quite the same.

I too am getting disillusioned with the direction the club is taking.Again this is from a club who seem to trot out how important our history and tradition is,yet not really take on board the main part of that was proper dialogue with the fans and sensible pricing.

We as fans all know that without the massive outlay of cash from our new owners we would have won nothing and still be a yo yo/mid table club at best and we are eternally grateful for that.The problem is what made our club unique was our loyal self depreciating fan base and if the price of that success is to drive this fan base away and replace it with a new,bland, only known success type of fan, then they have killed the club almost as effectively as if it was put out of business anyway,in my and a lot of other fan's eyes.

As a club we are now at a crossroads and i don't think our owner or his charges realise how crucial where they go from here will be to our very identity and soul as a club.

The question that raises for me is whether the people who make these decisions actually care if certain people are priced out. As long as there is a bum on that seat, they dont care if thats you, a guy who has been watching City 50 years or a tourist from Norway. In fact they probably dont want the old fans to an extent, they want the day trippers spending money in the shop, not the likes of me or a lot on here who probably go in the club shop once every year at most.

Up to 2 years ago i would probably do about 7 or 8 league games a season, now i doubt ill do more than 2 or 3 this year. I dont expect it change and in my view i just have to accept it as the way it is.

 

[Blue2112]

It's been a tough decision this week for me but for the four of us at £35 each I would normally find the money from somewhere but as I've never been a fan of the current set up of the CL and especially these early profit making rounds coupled to the fact that UEFA and their cronies like Rummenigge have tried to hamstring us at every opportunity I've decided to fuck these corrupt bastards off and not give them a single penny of my money. I know it won't make a blind bit of difference but at least I will feel like I've stuck two fingers up at them and be £140 minimum better off in my pocket for doing so. Much preferred the League Cup last week every time.

 

[paulchapo]

The question that raises for me is whether the people who make these decisions actually care if certain people are priced out. As long as there is a bum on that seat, they dont care if thats you, a guy who has been watching City 50 years or a tourist from Norway. In fact they probably dont want the old fans to an extent, they want the day trippers spending money in the shop, not the likes of me or a lot on here who probably go in the club shop once every year at most.

Up to 2 years ago i would probably do about 7 or 8 league games a season, now i doubt ill do more than 2 or 3 this year. I dont expect it change and in my view i just have to accept it as the way it is.

I think they are ruthless in the fact they want as much money as possible and a bum on a seat and you are right, those people in charge of that don't care who sits in that seat.The problem is they keep on telling us they DO care and our opinion DOES count,hence the endless surveys.

That is fine,it is the owners club now and he can do as he wants with it.The atmosphere and banter matter not a jot to him thousands of miles away,he never attends a live game anyway,in spite of having all the wherewithal at his disposal to do so.

Maybe the slight nagging doubts as to why he bought the club and the direction we would go once he did are coming home to roost.Personally i hope it gets sorted and as much as we will expand and gain new fans we won't lose our identity as a family club and our unique brand of humour.Whatever happens i am grateful for some of the best memories of my life recently, after supporting City for over 46 years,nothing can sour or erase them.