Attendance Prediction For Saturday

I'll say 10,800 so about on par with recent gates but with an increased home support and substantially lower away support.

Basically this Saturday will prove (as did the three Cat C games last season) that lower prices won't boost the attendance significantly and will probably cause a loss of revenue.

To make up for this I will be buying a retro shirt and I urge all other season ticket holders to do the same.

 

I don't think you will be far off with that. As you say the away support will be less but surely the home support will see another 1000 or so with the cheap tickets?

 

I'd expect 400-500 away fans and about 10,000-10,300 home fans. Althought that is a decent increase on the Leicester game it still worries me as the club would not be sustainable on that sort of income.

For the Cov game I can definitely see a sub 10k gate - 9,000 home fans and 600-700 away.

The £16 ticket will not have the desired effect.

 

I agree. I'd be surprised if we break the 11000 barrier.

 

9,750

 

10,500

 

Learn how to reply to the right f.king post Liam.

 

I think it will have an effect. Me for one. To really test the theory though, how about £16 for a "big" match, then we can all compare apples with apples.

 

But why would (and should) the club do they that? Making a big game £16 is throwing much needed revenue down the drain.

 

Based on that theory why not make all home games cat A at £50 a throw and see how the lads perform in front of 2 or 3,000.

 

They might have to the way football is going.

If we have a big game against a club who will bring a good support the club are not going to miss out on £14 a ticket and I can't blame them.

It's simple really - if Ipswich and Leeds are charging £35+, BFC CANNOT charge £16 and expect to compete.

 

A: we can't expect to compete
B: lower prices on more matches would inevitably give higher attendances and more pie/drink/programme sales
C: it will make a difference with me. Are you in denial?

I think the real problem is that lowering matchday prices would devalue the season ticket. But I just ain't going to pay £25 regularly to watch the Reds even with my1912 card.
I'm bored of being treated like a mug. So essentially, a trickle of games in a season at high prices or 8-10 games at a reasonable price? I know what I'd want and that's bums on seats and extra cash on the food stalls...

 

My point about them trying it with a big match was in response to your comment that saturday will prove that lower price tickets will not improve the attendance I.e. You've got to allow for the opposition, how many less would you expect at full price for Watford?

I don't actually ever expect them to do it, but on the other hand, when was the last time the ground sold out for a league game?

 

Based purely on the effort made by some fellow supporters, I'd love to see a demonstrable improvement on the gate on Saturday. I think perhaps 10K home supporter - i.e. retrieve the same amount as last year.

For what it's worth, I've spoken to almost every BFC fan I know this week, to advertise this game. Not one of them knew it was 'only' £16 to get in. I count 7 who have said they'll go based on what I've told them, and another 3 who 'might.' Maybe 5 others said they don't want to go back because they're fed up with rising costs and high prices, which is fair enough. 4 of those that are coming haven't been since the miners strike. It seems to me that there is a lot of untapped support out there, if only they are asked in the right way. In this case, it's probably the angle of 'proving the club wrong' which has worked for these guys, but hey, who cares.

But we'll never know what it might have been without this effort. Same as we don't know what the home gate would have been v Leicester if prices had been at the same level as last year.

Beyond owt else, the performance of the team matters most. The guys that haven't been for years will not come back if they think the product is rubbish, at £16 or £30. On the other hand, if they get a good experience and it brings back memories of what they first saw in football, they could come back. To which end... sensible pricing would help a great deal.

Going back to the start, I don't think the club shoud be evaluating the success of the pricing structure on this game alone, but if there are 1000 extra home fans that should be enough to make them take note. Sadly I don't have enough faith in those in charge to realise that those 1000 could be very, very significant in the long run if they just found a way to entice them back in for the long haul.

 

Ive been on a Watford forum earlier and they seem to think they are bringing around 1700 fans???
That surprised me.
I told them to please turn up in numbers with it being £16. And they say thats why they are fetching so many. That and the fact that they say they ard due a win, and see Oakwell as one of the 'proper' days out. Which was nice to hear.
If you all reckon that our efforts will prove fruitless, should I just not bother handing out these 250 or so flyers tomorrow..?..?

 

The food stalls don't bring extra revenue to the club, tendered out.

 

It was £15 last year and they brought 434. They were doing very well at the time too.

 

Maybe the new online ticketing site could give an overall number of ticket sales, it breaks down the individual area's.

 

Yes, but it was a bitterly cold day in the run-up to Christmas, with snow and ice everywhere. I was quite surprised that the game went ahead, and had it been an away match for us I almost certainly wouldn't have travelled.

 

Ponty 72... ...tendered out but surely not for a fixed sum though?? And if so I'll add car park to the list.