The Fill Oakwell Campaign!! - have a look and please add your comments and ideas

12,000 at an average of 160 quid was doable on my figures

but like i said it was VERY basic.

 

the probelm with doing a sliding scale is

You need to set a min figure that WILL go ahead should they number be reached or it would turn into a nitemare. When people sign up it needs to be as if it WILL happen. People wanting to drop out should they sign up can not be allowed without penalty - this is the major sticking point and the thing that would be difficult.

A petition has been suggested to me to register interest - i could set this up on the net (or on here if site admin are ok with it). It needs to be made private though with just numbers of people signed up shown to protect privacy etc.

 

I like the idea

I think it needs you to run a variety of numbers for the season ticket sales.

Say

7000, 8000, 9000, 10000, ... 16000

Keep all the assumptions the same but vary the season ticket sales - then you can see at what point season ticket sales need to get for it to be beneficial to the club.

Once you know the break even point it's much easier to assess the level of risk if your assumptions are a bit optimistic. The key to the whole thing is the amount of risk.

Personally I'd say if it only broke even at 14000 then it's high risk because it requires a large increase to be beneficial.

I'm guessing you need to double ticket sales to halve the cost, and generally price elasticity doesn't work like that - on the data I use through work, double the offer and get a 50% increase in take-up. Short term promotions can show massive sales up lifts, but long term discounts lead to price errosion and so it's difficult to maintain the increased volume.

 

but im guessing that

those products are things you buy over and over (consumables in some way) throughout the year.

A season ticket cannot be bought in the sale for example. Its a one of thing for the season. I know we have half season tickets but this have to be removed (or sold at full price). The half season ticket would be in effect the same price as a full one.

The whole thing needs full cooperation both ways! If the club go out on a limb to offer it then the fans have to back it.

I reckon the clubs main worry is what if we go up? We wont need a scheme like this. Well i reckon the fans would understand either a small increase in the price in this situation! If its all laid out then club have nothing to hide etc. and the fans have no worries. If they are truly behind fetching football to the cummunity they would not be worried about making a profit - so long as it balanced the books.

 

Actually the single purchase arguement

works in my favour.

With super market goods (which the example is taken from) one person can buy the offer multiple times (and they often do), meaning you can get a 50% uplift in sales from a 40% uplift in customers, becausee some customers stick it in their cupboard and stock up.

Season tickets are one per person so no mutli-purchase means for a 50% uplift in sales you need a 50% uplift in customers.

If we could only sell 12000 tickets when we had a good team and optimism was high I think in the current climate 10000 would be a reasonable expectation.

Customers (which is essentially what fans are) will always vote for cheaper. Which I fear is why everyone is willing to sign up to your idea - we'd all love cheaper tickets AND more expensive players being signed.

Sorry to sound like a miserable cynic, but my job is to put some reality into the unrealistic expectations of people who are running sales promotions. People always over estimate the impact of their promotion - it's human nature.

I actually believe that the depth of your offer is too generous. My clients always want to give generous offers and it's really hard work to convince them that promotions are more likely to break even if they give a smaller discount.

The flip side of this is, that the profit you say the club doesn't need to make is the money that would pay for potential new signings - which everyone complains isn't there.

 

keep it coming

A good mind mapping sess can only be good.

Ok, if 50% off is too much and you still dont think we'l get the take up then maybe we should ask BFC what it would take, i.e. what figures could they offer if we increased our season ticket sales by x amount next year.

Surely something can be done!

Season tickets are too expensive for a lot of people to get upfront and then there are those that dont want to setup credit agreements.

The big question as i see it now is would the extra 10,000 fans come forward - i think not! Would an extra 7,000 come forward? I think maybe if the price was right.

 

I think you've got to reward loyalty and stop people leaving

A flat discount for everyone isn't fair.

Much better is a sliding scale.

Something like a 5% discount for every year you've had a season ticket - probably with a cap at say 10 years, but at that point you get a 50% discount.

I think you also need some sort of discount for people who used to have a season ticket to get them back. The most likely people to return are those who did have one and have lapsed.

Maybe if you had a ticket for 4 seasons but haven't had one for two years you get a 10% discount - 20% for the years you had one less 10% for the two years you didn't.

Maybe after 10 years rather than going up your discount gets protected. So if you've been going for 11 years and then you miss one, you still get the 50%.

A few saesons ago they seemed to be discounting match day tickets all the time which to me seemed daft because it made having a season ticket less attractive. They should be ensuring there is a reason to hold on to your season ticket year in, year out.

 

RE: I think you've got to reward loyalty and stop people leaving

The downside to this is the revenue coming into the club is going to fall every year pretty much and the price hikes for new tickets would have to be larger driving away new fans and the club getting in a right fix. This would be like depreciation to them.

I deffo think if the club set a target of 14,000 and the fans had long enough to register and spread the word it could be achievable! On top of this the press coverage it would fetch would bring free advertising. There is the website... there are the remaining matches... there are so many tools availble to club and they dont fully utlise them.

Lets not set little targets - lets aim high and make it worthwhile for everyone! Im sure if 10,000 signed up a few more that didnt bother signing up because they thought it would never happen would think heyup maybe i should get my name down .. They would then get their mates down etc etc - it could happen!

I may be living in a dream land but i always set myself high targets! Its the best way to succeed.