Season ticket price increase question

[ellis9]

With Tigers making a loss of almost £1 million, would you be willing to have your season ticket price increased by £20 next season?

This would make Tigers an extra £280,500.

[JackFlashJonny]

With Tigers making a loss of almost £1 million, would you be willing to have your season ticket price increased by £20 next season?

This would make Tigers an extra £280,500.

Sounds like a great idea when Tigers are struggling to get people through the gate...

Attendances surely must be down considerably the past few years and rarely do we see anything near a full house anymore

[strawclearer]

With Tigers making a loss of almost £1 million, would you be willing to have your season ticket price increased by £20 next season?

This would make Tigers an extra £280,500.

Sounds like a great idea when Tigers are struggling to get people through the gate...

Attendances surely must be down considerably the past few years and rarely do we see anything near a full house anymore

The £280,500 rather depends on the price elasticity of demand - the more you charge, the fewer tickets are bought.

[trendylfj]

No problem whatsoever with the increase but we will not get rid of the deficit until we have a winning side and something near to a full house more often. It is very easy not to be a season ticket holder (I am a ST holder) and just come for any game you feel like - one result I forecast when the clubhouse end was developed. You have to ask yourself a simple question - is the ground too big now for the crowds we can attract?? We haven't attracted any high profile or low profile international team to visit us for a long time now, mainly due to pitch dimensions, and how many times were we actually sold out last season? One or two max but that is another thread. Yes increase the ST by a small amount or more people will join the occasional game gang.

[ourla]

I don't think this is a smart question.

I am sure the majority of fans would pay it. But a few that perhaps have a tight budget, are perhaps struggling maintaining the faith after the golden era, have other pressures on their time, may not.

But it's really a commercial decision to be made by Tigers. They should have a good idea of what the optimal price point is to maximise their income.

A 10% increase would not equate to £280,500 because there would almost certainly be a small reduction in renewals. A fag packet calculation suggests to me if about 700 didn't renew their income would remain static.

There may be easier ways to increase income.

[sapajo]

Nice thought! Reality is that season ticket sales are down at current prices. Tigers are a business, rugby is the product and until such times as the product improves, I cannot see any change.

[jgriffin]

Economic realities may overtake all of this.........

[voice of the crumbie]

There's another way of looking at this. The club have been reported as capping players' salaries for 2 years. Might it not be a smart trick to cap season ticket and match day tickets for the same period? It would show ST's and occasional fans that the club values their attendance and might encourage ongoing renewal by those who may be considering not renewing due to increased prices, the quality of rugby, changed kick off times which do not always suit everyone who would like to come etc.

I have been a season ticket holder for many years and have followed Tigers through good times and not so good times but there comes a point when even the most ardent fan has to weigh the cost of attendance against the quality of the rugby on offer and the number of games one is able to attend.

(Note for Ellis9 - I am not attempting to reopen the Saturday 3pm kick off debate with the above comments so please don't bore us all by reacting to it and ruining a thread which is focussed on a different topic).

[ellis9]

This is why I asked the question. If everyone says yes they are fine with the increased price, why would season ticket sales drop?

Of course, more research would need to be done if this was an official thing from the club but based purely on price, it seems people would be happy to pay an extra £20 so based on price alone, we shouldn't see a decrease in sales.

Of course, other factors such as kick off times (even though these have been the same for years) and people being glory hunters may be a reason as to why people don't renew.

[ellis9]

With Tigers making a loss of almost £1 million, would you be willing to have your season ticket price increased by £20 next season?

This would make Tigers an extra £280,500.

Sounds like a great idea when Tigers are struggling to get people through the gate...

Attendances surely must be down considerably the past few years and rarely do we see anything near a full house anymore

What, so do you suggest they drop prices by £20? That still wouldn't see enough new people choose to pay for a season to make us more money.

[chewbacca]

I would have thought that increasing prices for a product that is in decline would hasten it's demise. Utility prices can easily be increased as there is no alternative, commercial enterprises tend to require a premium product to command premium prices. To generate more income the product simply needs to be improved.

[CitizenSmiff]

This is why I asked the question. If everyone says yes they are fine with the increased price, why would season ticket sales drop?

Of course, more research would need to be done if this was an official thing from the club but based purely on price, it seems people would be happy to pay an extra £20 so based on price alone, we shouldn't see a decrease in sales.

Of course, other factors such as kick off times (even though these have been the same for years) and people being glory hunters may be a reason as to why people don't renew.

I don't think it's really fair to equate casual fandom with 'glory hunting'. If somebody wants to show up once or twice a season, have a laugh with the family and spend some money why shouldn't they? Of course that's likely to happen less with the rather grim style of rugby we've been partaking in recently.

[ourla]

If everyone says yes they are fine with the increased price, why would season ticket sales drop?

They wouldn't, if your premise were correct. But you are not asking everyone. And in reality the club will only know when they ask for the money. And honestly, if the club thought they could increase the prices with no loss of sales, don't you think they would have done it by now. Do you think they sit in the board room looking at the £1m loss and have no discussion about how they can increase revenue or decrease costs. Maybe we you can start a thread suggesting Murphy gets some better players for the same wages he's paying the current guys. I am sure he hasn't thought of that either.

Of course, more research would need to be done if this was an official thing from the club but based purely on price, it seems people would be happy to pay an extra £20 so based on price alone, we shouldn't see a decrease in sales.

Err no. What's happened is you've come up with this amazing idea (sic - see above), have come to a forum (with perhaps 100 STH's on it), suggesting it and because there isn't a chorus of dissenters, come to the conclusion there will be no loss of sales.

[ourla]

Out of interest does anybody know the ST prices for the last 5/10 years and the associated prices increases?

I can't believe they haven't been going up.

[chris111]

Increasing prices would be a risk at a point when the team is hardly setting the world on fire and attendance are falling (not sure if this is actually the case, but is certainly my impression).

I’m considering cancelling my ticket for next season - I’m not giving up on Tigers, but the season ticket no longer makes financial sense for me. I usually miss 3-4 games a season because of work commitments, but whereas pre-H&B stand I could generally rely on getting a buyback for these games, nowadays I think it will be more cost effective to just buy tickets by the match.

I suspect I may not be alone. Many people got into the habit of buying a season ticket in the days when most home games were close to a sell-out - and we were regularly getting home playoffs/European QFs. Sadly those days are gone, and this must mean season ticket demand will become more price sensitive.