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Season Ticket Prices Increase
Tuesday, 15th Apr 2014 12:07

Saints season ticket holders were slightly disappointed to hear today that the price of watching the team next season will once again increase.

The increase is minimal and works out on average at about £1 per game over the season, but I just have the feeling that Saints have missed a trick here to show that they are truly in touch with the cost that some supporters have to pay to watch the team.

By putting up the prices slightly they have not really put that much more money into the coffers over the course of a season, if we have 20,000 season ticket holders taking into account concessions etc, barely £500k, not even the prize money for finishing one place higher in the Premier League.

But the end result is that for a very small amount of money you have made a fair chunk of the hard core supporter base feel a little disgruntled whereas by a small decrease in prices, even as small as a £1 a game reduction it brings a feel good factor to the supporters and makes them more likely to renew or indeed take out tickets for the first time.

Indeed it could be said we have a declining attendance level, although on a game by game basis its only around 800 down on last season that has to be aligned with the fact that this season has been a lot more excitement on the pitch, it doesnt take a genius to realise that if your crowds are declining off the pitch at a time when on it you are in the ascent, there is something wrong.

So if we say a 4-5% increase in price will directly correlate a 4-5% decrease in sales that would immediately wipe out any extra income from increasing the prices, therefore the price rise will have had a negative effect on income, someone somewhere has not been doing their sums on this.

Of course we wont lose all the income from season ticket holders who dont review, research shows that fans rarely move from one supporting group to another, ie a season ticket holder wont usually go from going every week to going once a year, but the income from a former season ticket holder does decrease dramatically, firstly there is the ticket income, instead of £650 say from a full season the ex T holder will go to around 10 games on average paying around half the money he did for his season ticket, so that is a big loss .

But then there is the peripheral income, a season ticket holder is far more likely to buy a replica shirt or other merchandise, they are far more likely to habitually have a half time pint or other food etc, not to mention that their families are far more likely to buy Saints merchandise for Xmas & birthday presents.

The long and short of it is that a season ticket holder could be worth around £1- 1.2k in income a year to a club, whereas a non season ticket holder will struggle to hit £500.

But there are other knock on effects like advertising incomes etc which are harder to calculate.

All indications so far are that the new board in place understand the supporters and the culture a lot better than our old CEO, however that does not mean they will get everything right and I think this is one area where they haven't, perhaps it will be a lesson learned and this time next year they will have a re think or perhaps they know what they are doing and that next season they will be proved right.

Photo: Action Images



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halftimeorange added 13:08 - Apr 15
If you consider that our league attendances have fallen just wait until next season's FA cup tickets go on sale. After showing no ambition in that direction this time round Saints might well record all-time low gates for the competition. That, I suggest, will cost the club more revenue than the minimal increase set for 2014/15 season tickets. We all saw the shabby showing at Sunderland and what that cost was our fans goodwill.
4

saintmark1976 added 14:34 - Apr 15
I sometimes wonder if the Saints board have anybody with a basic grasp of economics.

The product we market has about 800 less takers for every home game than it did twelve months ago. We have no chance of competing for the title or for a place in Europe with the top teams and it appears that we do not wish to become involved in the latter stages of the knock out competitions.

Question, how do we attract more takers and increase our income for the next twelve months? Answer, we need to put the prices up!

Have they never heard of the law of supply and demand?

What next. Increase the booking fee for match day tickets and charge more for programmes ?
-2

mikesaint added 16:39 - Apr 15
I was hoping season ticket and match prices would go up more so we could buy new players. We still have one of the lowest ticket prices in the league. If we want to finish in the top four we must pay more.
-1

LesVivian added 17:04 - Apr 15
The money taken at the gate is miniscule compared to the TV money! Not just Saints, but ALL clubs should reduce significantly the cost of tickets - there is already a 'lost' generation of fans who find it cheaper to go to the pub, and watch the matches there- the next generation will also not be able to afford tickets so will also go to the pub! The problem with this is that the 'big' clubs get too much exposure; TV fans feel that every player should be as good as the overpaid 'top' players, so when they do go to a match, they know little about the reality of clubs who have to scrap to stay up, grinding out results, and are therefore disappointed with many of the matches. Too much money goes out of the game to agents etc, and there is a growing worry that the 'top' clubs will exit to a European league, leaving the less wealthy also-rans to scrap amongst themselves for a slight chance at the big time! Promising players will want to move on to the lucrative 'European' league, because the clubs will not be able to afford to keep them! Cut ticket prices, and attract more fans!
2

davepid added 21:59 - Apr 15
Pity Cortese isn't still around, we could blame it all on his megalomaniac personality. But there again we are still paying for his extravagant training centre.
1

simmo400 added 06:27 - Apr 16
They can charge as much as they want the pub will still show all premier league games for free. Personally will only get a season ticket when this stops ie if we were drop out the Prem.
0

Whatsforpud added 17:03 - Apr 16
You say that our average attendance is 800 down on last season. We still have two potential 'sell-outs' to come, which will reduce that figure. Also, I get the impression that the away support hasn't been as high this year. Anyone got any comparative stats on this? Perhaps the home support will end up about the same.
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