Southampton FC have made much of their new fanzones opening on 3 sides of St Mary's over the next fortnight, but with barely a pint poured, many Saints supporters are already turned off of using them.
When Southampton FC announced that they were building fanzones, it seemed a great idea and indeed still is, not just from from the perspective it will make attending games an occasion with live bands etc, but also from the fact that with access into St Mary's now being further limited, especially on the Kingsland side, if congestion is to be avoided, then it relies on a fair amount of the crowd being there early and staying behind after in the fanzones.
Some fans raised eyebrows and commented that at last seasons price of £5.50 for a pint of 4% beer, around £1.25 or so dearer than an equivalent pint in the pubs in the City Centre, that they would avoid the queues and stay in their usual watering holes, but most did say they liked the idea, their concerns were mostly about pricing and large queues.
Now it seems Saints have come up with a fool proof way of keeping those queues short, Saints supporters attending the friendly against Lazio found that the price of a pint had gone up by 70p, last season Kingfisher & Thatchers Cider were £5.50, now they both are a whopping £6.20, almost £2 more than what you would expect to pay in town.
Of course you expect to pay a bit more in a football stadium for a pint, but not at such a mark up !
Southampton FC are missing a trick here, it is a great idea to have these fanzones, it is a great idea to help crowd flow issues, it is a great idea to bring more revenue streams into the club and sell beer to supporters where the profit will help the club and not the big pub companies, I am sure that there will be a fair few try them in the first few weeks of the season, but the club have shot themselves in the foot by upping the prices by such a big amount, a far higher rate than inflation.
All in all the major advantage will be that for those that do go into the fanzones, the queues won't be very long.
This is typical of Southampton FC whenever someone within the club has a good idea, those tasked with putting it into practice, don't seem to have a clue about the target market they are trying to attract.
If they were offering a Premium beer at £6.20, then it wouldn't be too bad, although still a fair bit higher than most pubs, but to be honest £6.20 a pint for a 4% cooking lager is daylight robbery beaten by major venues and music festivals.
I truly hope these fanzones are a success, but someone has got this badly wrong.