Leeds have frozen most season-ticket prices for the 2016-17 and announced "a truly unique, one-off incentive" for fans to buy them by the end of May. Is it a good idea?
The offer was announced in an offer on the club website, which said "As a clear statement of our intent to gain promotion, in the event that the club does not reach at least the Play-Offs in the 2016/17 season, we will offer all Season Ticket holders who purchase their Season Ticket before the May 31 deadline a 25 per cent refund on their Net Season Ticket price.
"In addition, should general admission Season Ticket sales surpass 15,000 by July 31, 2016, and the club does not reach at least the Play-Offs, the Season Ticket refund, for qualifying Season Ticket holders only will increase to an incredible 50 per cent of the Net Season Ticket Price."
"We are more determined than ever to gain promotion from the Championship and are fully committed to doing everything we can to return this great club to the Premier League in 2016/17. With the full support of our fans, we believe we can achieve this goal next season”
Clearly the aim is to reverse the decline in attendances that has set in during the years the club has stagnated in ‘The Championship’, to bring in extra revenue and generate a better atmosphere. Hopefully this will hopefully inspire the team to better home form than they managed for most of the season that is mercifully coming to an end.
The average Elland Road for the 2010/11 season was 27,296, as we rode a wave of optimism following our promotion from the wasteland of League One. Our seventh place that season seemed to be a sign of progress, but we’ve been slipping backwards ever since. A series of mid-table campaigns have seen our average attendances drop to 24,278 in 2014/15 and only 22,611 for the current season.
The offer has generated a lot of interest on the messageboards, and no doubt there will be quite a decent take-up from fans who don’t currently have season tickets. But the pitfall I can see is that the club is committing itself to quite a large payout if we don’t manage to secure a top six finish.
Adult season tickets are on offer in the North and South stands for £445 for renewals and £487 for those who don’t have a season ticket holders. Taking these figures as a rough average, I make it that if 15,000 season tickets are sold, the 50% promise would mean that refunds totalling around £3.5m would then become due.
The exact figure would obviously depend on the number of tickets sold and the portion sold in the more expensive stands and to those qualifying for concessions. But it would still be a lot of money for the club to find in one go, especially if we were to have another disappointing season, resulting in fewer individual match tickets sold to non-season ticket holders and less income from the corporates.
So the offer is a bit of a gamble, but if it helps to generate a wave of optimism then it might just work. As ever, much depends on what Cellino does next, and how this affects the performance on the pitch. If he ditches Steve Evans, finds another coach and signs another load of Italians we’ve never heard of, will we be able to achieve a top six finish?