Idea to get more people in to Oakwell

I have witnessed periods where attendances at Oakwell were quite a bit lower than they are today, but to realistically sustain a Championship club we need more income from ticket sales and possibly at the same time reduce the prices - to do this we need more people to turn up on a consistent basis.

One big step towards this would be to offer a more dynamic pricing and discount system that doesn't require people to go to the box office or faff around with stubs from previous matches.

I would propose introducing a card system but with a card which actually provides access to the ground and stores information on previous matches attended. A number of other clubs have these in one form or another.

This would open up endless possibilities for offering different payment methods and discounting fans for their loyalty by offering lower prices the more games a person attends. Tie it all into a website and mobile phone app that tells allows you to how much your next match ticket will cost, allow the card to be sort of "topped up", pay for games with a text (effectively deferring the cost of the game until you get your phone bill), maybe even give people small amounts of credit back if a game is lost.

I don't even think it would be that expensive in relative terms to implement such a system - probably in the region of £20,000. Either have the odd automatic turnstyle that you scan your card at to gain entry, or give the normal turnstyle operator a device to scan it.

The cards themselves could just be applied for on the website at no cost and maybe come with a discount off the following match to encourage takeup.

The technology and back-end software to allow all this is pretty basic and it's tried and tested, we're basically talking something like a Tesco Clubcard with a few additions. It seems an obvious route to take for me and surely has no disadvantages, would pay for itself in no time and obviously the traditional method of buying tickets would be available as there are going to be a number of people who would find cards, scanners and phone apps too confusing.

Whilst I sympathise with the people responsible for marketing at the club in that they no doubt have hardly any money for advertising and to consider systems like this, they must surely realise that by doing nothing the attendance is just going to continue to fall and they can't keep blaming it all on the recession.

The situation at Oakwell reminds me of a pub I used to visit often; the number of regulars gradually fell and the landlords answer was to raise the prices - more people stopped going regularly and the prices continued to rise to the point where they were ridiculous to be honest and as far as I know not many people go to that pub anymore even though the prices have come back down to what you might expect.

The club are at a similar tipping point in my opinion and in danger of attendances falling to levels that would even struggle to sustain competitive football at third tier level.

Don, Mark or anyone else at the club if you read this - look into it and don't take the first quote you are given as the price it's going to cost. I honestly believe there will be local companies who could supply all the hardware and backend system for this for no more than £20,000 with minimal ongoing costs. The cards themselves will cost pennies each as all they are doing is storing a membership number that calls for information from a server to provide or deny access to the stadium.

 

Fantastic idea

I thought interest free monthly payments where s fantastic offer.

Very good idea but I think the club do advertise.

But you have to look at the site, read the chron etc to see them.

But I could say I'd watch whoever near me when where away but don't because i don't see offers. But u don't see offers because I don't look for them.

 

Advertising seems restricted to their Facebook page and not much else. The Burnley game summed it up for me - hardly anyone knew the prices had been reduced to £20 on the gate, some of my friends turned up and put £28 down on the turnstyle and were surprised when only £20 was taken.

Even if they just did a bit of advertising on Dearne FM - chip shops and pubs advertise on there so it can't cost that much. Put the club into more people's minds and people will start to come back.

I don't think the club have ever been further away from the community and seemed to be far better run in that respect during the John Dennis era, I know that ended in administration but that was mainly due to the ITV Digital collapse and the debt wasn't actually that big.

The current regime remind me of the USSR, very little transparency, say they're going to do something then don't and run by people who don't know how to move with the times.

 

We did used to advertise around the town but take it, it wasn't worth it.

Maybe advertising on big billboards around the local area is the most obvious way as everyone see's those.

But I think the idea of lower prices don't work.

What we need is a spark, a show if intent to say we have ambition. New owners with good ideas and a statement if intent early on to spark interest.

 

I'm open to a takeover, surely it can't be any worse than what we currently have. I'm very grateful that Patrick Cryne has put us in a healthy financial position, but we really need to be taking a bit of a gamble if we want to start moving up the league which in turn will bring the crowds in.

I think the crowds at the start of the 96/97 season were probably comparable to what they are now but during the second half of the season we were nearly selling out. I'm realistic and know that a promotion push is somewhat unlikely in the near future, but you never know it only takes a bit of luck with two or three signings to really push up this league as we found out last season when we had Vaz Te, Drinkwater and Butterfield in the side.

 

Sounds a great idea. But o would be amazed or
20 k would cover it I would say the hardware alone would cost far In excess of that

 

It was nearly always ticket only when we were in Premier league

 

In 96/7 we didn't see a real increase until the last few games. Only being in the top 6 at start of April will bring people back en masse. Don't think gimmicks will tbh. Tenner entry for every game might but we can't afford that. The card idea would be good though, just don't think it would have any significant effect on attendance.

 

Topless go go girls.

Scoreboards

Decent half time fodder

Proper pricing strategy.

 

Win more matches. Simple as that

 

Somehow I don't think this will be practical, but it certainly has vision. Whether it will entice people back, that is another matter.

I think the problem is changing people's habits when it comes to how they spend their leisure time and disposable income. There are so many alternatives nowadays and competition for your hard earned. Oakwell has to offer more than just football, it needs to become the entertainment and activity hub of the town and surrounding areas. It needs to attract the whole family, if there were activities for the Mums and daughters, then Dads and sons can go to the footy without any complaints from the girls. They can arrive together, eat together, do their own things for a couple of hours, then go home together afterwards. It would provide an additional revenue stream and tick all the boxes regarding 'quality family time', which is a pressure in itself come Saturday. The community outreach programme is all about football, what about netball or hockey for the lasses? We certainly have the facilities, we just don't have the imagination or vision.

 

The thinking behind the card idea was to increase the opportunities people have to buy tickets and to provide a more convenient way of people taking advantage of discounted tickets. I'd think of it kind of like having a season ticket but you have to pay for matches individually. Obviously the lump sum the club receives from traditional season tickets is key to how they set their budgets for the season so the discounts on the card (based on matches attended) couldn't be huge but I definitely think it worth doing given the relatively low cost of implementing it.

In 10, 20 years time will we really be faffing around with tickets and handing cash over the turnstyle? I very much doubt it, so why not just bring something like this in now alongside traditional methods of tickets/cash on the door?

The club will have the details of everyone who has a card so they can send them post and emails about upcoming games. Even if only a small percentage of card holders act on the advertising then it's got to be worth it.

I could go on forever about the advantages - another would simply be things like if we ever went on a decent cup run again. I was lucky enough to get tickets for all our cup games in 2008 (with obviously Liverpool and Chelsea being the main ones) but at one stage I thought I was even going to struggle for a ticket to the home game v Chelsea despite attending most matches at Oakwell in the league until that point. The cards would provide a much fairer way of allocating tickets to people. If you're familiar with the system the FA use for England matches for allocating away tickets and Euro/World Cup tickets then it could work like that.

 

I can definitely see the advantages as regards administration, alerting people to offers and removing paper ticketing. It would certainly create an incentive to attend the odd extra match. I like your idea for versatility, for example I would spend £150 in the close season for a half season ticket that I could use on home matches of my choice, on a credit point system.

It's a great idea, but by itself it is not enough to get people back to Oakwell in any serious numbers. It would work well with other initiatives and should we go on a 12 match UN-beaten run and crowds shoot up 2-3,000 - it would come into it's own.

 

Topless go go girls who have paid £5 on the scoreboard eating gastro food. Nice

 

Sadly, the only two guarantees to get crowds down to Oakwell are a home cup tie against Man U, Man C, Chelsea or Liverpool (although several other teams would guarantee a full away end), or a run that takes us into the automatic promotion spaces during the last third of the season. Half-time entertainment won't have any effect at all, and the ticketing idea, which a few of us have mentioned in the past, isn't likely to bring in many more fans, although would please existing ones. The only matchday experience that will matter is a top Premiership opponent or a successful side in the top two.

 

Bumping this as part of the current discussion on tickets...