SET Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 A quite brilliant example of what fans can do. http://www.fc-utd.co.uk/story.php?story_id=2249 The Board is excited to announce a radical new campaign in which you can decide how much you pay for your own season ticket this summer. At this stage in our development we need to recognise some important facts: • Due to the costs of hiring playing facilities the club has made an operating loss over the past two years – we have been able to sustain this thanks to donations and original pledges • Further cost-cutting measures will be implemented over the course of the next year, but there is a limit to how far these can go. • We cannot continue to incur losses, especially as we need to demonstrate the club’s financial viability as we work towards our own ground in the near future • We need to raise more revenue but we don’t want to do this by imposing unilateral ticket price increases – particularly in the current economic climate and in keeping with our philosophy of providing affordable football. In light of this, FC United would like to become, to the best of our knowledge, the first club to say to supporters: “you decide how much you can individually afford and the value you place on being able to watch your team”. It should be noted that with the average season ticket price of about £140 last year, we still made a financial loss and therefore supporters may wish to consider this when choosing how much to donate. Some supporters may be able to pay more than £140, some supporters may only be able to afford less than last year’s figure, but together there is no reason why we cannot increase revenue from this source. Supporters will understand that we cannot afford to give season tickets away and like all clubs we need a degree of security so a minimum price for adults of £90 will be asked, though if anyone finds themselves in particular circumstances that they cannot afford that amount, they are free to contact the club to discuss the matter. However we would ask supporters that when you are deciding what you can afford it is important to use last season’s average price of £140 as a barometer of affordability rather than the £90 figure. Accordingly, rather than set a target of numbers of season tickets sold, the board has set a cash target of £125,000 from the season ticket campaign. This is an ambitious target, significantly up on last year’s budget, but not an impossible one. We raised even more than that once before with the pledges. There is no reason why we can’t do it again. Jules Spencer spoke on behalf of the board: “We believe this is unprecedented in football, a club saying to its supporters “pay what you can afford”. Some may question whether we’re being foolhardy, but why shouldn’t we trust supporters? “This is about empowerment, of collective responsibility, of us all pulling together to ensure the club’s future. It’s about recognising some may not be able to afford last season’s prices, but some will be able to afford more.” Season tickets cover 21 league games but not cup or playoff games. In effect concession season tickets for Over 60s/the unwaged have been scrapped as the minimum price for all adults is less than last season’s concession price. Those supporters in this category are invited to make a donation, if affordable, along with all other adults. It is proposed that Under 18 season tickets will remain at £21. An evaluation of the proposal will be made in one month’s time, after which the Board will discuss both the viability of the proposal and next season’s pay on the day gate prices. Full details of how to apply for your season ticket will follow over the next few days, but in the meantime spread the word as wide as you can: FC United are doing things differently again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 So, a loss making organisation such as FC United is 'allowed' to sell season tickets but SFC isn't/can't/won't....I'll find some logic amongst such dichotomy if it kills me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldNick Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 Lol, fans pay what they can afford. Knowing human nature there will be the ones who take advantage of this offer in more ways than 1. They wont last longterm and exactly why fans on the board are a waste of time IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SET Posted 11 May, 2009 Author Share Posted 11 May, 2009 Lol, fans pay what they can afford. Knowing human nature there will be the ones who take advantage of this offer in more ways than 1. They wont last longterm and exactly why fans on the board are a waste of time IMO i personally think they will see an increase on last years average of £140 a ticket. If you go on the FC forum people are all ready indicating they will pay the average or more. some come up with the idea that buy a ticket at £90 then donate £50 saves the club £14 in VAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
londonsaint1604 Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 Lol, fans pay what they can afford. Knowing human nature there will be the ones who take advantage of this offer in more ways than 1. They wont last longterm and exactly why fans on the board are a waste of time IMO I think they considered that hence the £90 minimum price. I think it's a smashing idea myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldNick Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 i personally think they will see an increase on last years average of £140 a ticket. If you go on the FC forum people are all ready indicating they will pay the average or more. some come up with the idea that buy a ticket at £90 then donate £50 saves the club £14 in VAT.Yep some will pay more but like SFC that will be the hardcore who love the club almost too much.You will then get the fairweather fans who think 90 is too much unless they are playing MU every week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldNick Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 I think they considered that hence the £90 minimum price. I think it's a smashing idea myself. Time will tell whether they are right to have taken such a risk in these times.Were the club successful or are they on a downturn like us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SET Posted 11 May, 2009 Author Share Posted 11 May, 2009 last season sold just over 1000 season tickets i believe. 21 home games at POTG = £157.50 to get the £125k they've targeted they need 1339 tickets to get sold at £90 £90 = £4.30 a match Personally i think they'll smash that 125k target and last seasons season ticket sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 It's been proven that 'honesty' payment systems can make more money that fixed price systems. I recall a newspaper doing this once (London Evening Standard rings a bell). Face value was something like 20p at the time but average takings per paper were somewhere around the 30p mark because people didn't have the right change but were happy to pay a bit more to get a copy of the paper. Similarly, when restaurants have tried a 'pay what you want' scheme their takings typically go up. This is what SFC needs right now....some ingenuity and lateral thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNT Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 Lol, fans pay what they can afford. Knowing human nature there will be the ones who take advantage of this offer in more ways than 1. They wont last longterm and exactly why fans on the board are a waste of time IMO Fans on boards in every major clubs in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Stimp Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 Lol, fans pay what they can afford. Knowing human nature there will be the ones who take advantage of this offer in more ways than 1. They wont last longterm and exactly why fans on the board are a waste of time IMO You'd be surprised. Take the album 'In Rainbows' by Radiohead as an example - people were allowed to download the album at whatever cost they wanted. In week one it sold 1.2 million copies (vs 300,000 of Hail to the Thief), and people paid an average of £4, meaning they ended up getting way more than they would have gotten from a normal record deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldNick Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 You'd be surprised. Take the album 'In Rainbows' by Radiohead as an example - people were allowed to download the album at whatever cost they wanted. In week one it sold 1.2 million copies (vs 300,000 of Hail to the Thief), and people paid an average of £4, meaning they ended up getting way more than they would have gotten from a normal record deal.Well if it works it is a masterstroke. Perhaps I have lost faith in the good in people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldNick Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 It's been proven that 'honesty' payment systems can make more money that fixed price systems. I recall a newspaper doing this once (London Evening Standard rings a bell). Face value was something like 20p at the time but average takings per paper were somewhere around the 30p mark because people didn't have the right change but were happy to pay a bit more to get a copy of the paper. Similarly, when restaurants have tried a 'pay what you want' scheme their takings typically go up. This is what SFC needs right now....some ingenuity and lateral thinking.Did the newspaper and restaurants keep to that system? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldNick Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 last season sold just over 1000 season tickets i believe. 21 home games at POTG = £157.50 to get the £125k they've targeted they need 1339 tickets to get sold at £90 £90 = £4.30 a match Personally i think they'll smash that 125k target and last seasons season ticket sales.so they expect to increase 30% in sales.It will be interesting how they get on, please keep us informed.I will remain to be sceptical especially on a higher value product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 Did the newspaper and restaurants keep to that system? Good point. I guess it perhaps only works as a one off exercise, before the novelty wears off. But, there again, who's to say we don't need a one off novelty to inject some financial momentum into the club (in the event of no Sir Lancelot taking us over - pun on a new name on here intended... ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicko Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 It's sounds great in principle, but is destined to fail The Ebbsfleet story looked great on paper, but this year their subscriptions fell drastically Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SET Posted 11 May, 2009 Author Share Posted 11 May, 2009 It's sounds great in principle, but is destined to fail The Ebbsfleet story looked great on paper, but this year their subscriptions fell drastically huge difference between ebsfleet and FC, FC are a true fan owned football club, running for 4 years, achieving 3 promotions, and a few cup wins. Ebsfleet are a club stolen from its fans by a **** of person and his internet geeks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldNick Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 huge difference between ebsfleet and FC, FC are a true fan owned football club, running for 4 years, achieving 3 promotions, and a few cup wins. Ebsfleet are a club stolen from its fans by a **** of person and his internet geeks Successful on the pitch that was set up I assume on the bakc of injustice and so perhaps their fans are a different mindset. We at present (including myself) are not wishing to pay £20 more to a fundraiser to help the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SET Posted 11 May, 2009 Author Share Posted 11 May, 2009 well its their club, they own it, so they will want to do what's best for it. Saints fans don;t want to throw southampton football club £20 because they don;t feel they'll get a return from it. FC Fans get a return everytime the players take to the pitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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