Attendances

[albie]

Discussion on the BBC about falling interest in football, and what is to be done about it;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21142999

Seems the championship has the biggest problem, which might be to do with the big income divide between clubs, with the parachute payments distorting the economy of the division.

Thats the conundrum about being a small fish in a bigger pond, where costs increase as a result of the status, but you lose more games against wealthier opposition.

Be great to have both the status and reasonable success on the pitch, but its a big ask!
An issue for clubs the size of DRFC....is it better for the fans to be a successful L1 side, or a struggling Championship minnow?

[andyst79]

Good question that, I know a few Barnsley fans who all say there looking forward to L1 next season as they're sick of being In a relegation dog fight year after year. Must say I've really enjoyed it this season and I can understand where they're coming from

[Mr1Croft]

Well having a roller-coaster journey up and down leagues is far too common now, just yesterday I was reading that only Ipswich Town have been in the Championship for ten years, longer than any other team currently in there which goes to show that almost every club go up or come down, no-one remains mid-table forever.

That is why we are doing what we are doing with the "In Rovers We Trust" the only way to improve attendances is by winning, but that is beyond everyone's control so clubs should focus on treating fans as customers and asking "how can we improve your experience off the pitch?". Being a football club that keeps going up and coming down isn't sustainable. Haven't Blackburn recently had their worst attendance in something like 10 years?

[1879Rovers]

I remember Peter Wetzel in the mid 80's asking fans to tell him why people were not coming to Belle Vue.

[Mr1Croft]

The Bundesliga had an average attendance of over 44000 last season, 10k higher than the PL.

[DonnyOsmond]

The Bundesliga had an average attendance of over 44000 last season, 10k higher than the PL.

Probably helps that the Bundesliga is affordable unlike any English league above the Conference.

[1879Rovers]

I was talking to a Reading fan and a Southampton fan the other saturday night. They used to be regulars home and away but since their promiotion to the Premier League they both have hardly done an away game. They were telling me that Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs were all at least £50 for a ticket. With online streaming available for all Premier League teams, no wonder crowds are down.

[FuzzyDuck]

A good article

The point about bars staying open I can confirm works here in Switzerland.  At Winti, the main bar and the kiosks in the Kop stay open after the match every game and many hang around for a pint or two after the match.  The food stalls also keep serving.  They also put bands on which is popular.

You get a football match and an evening out at least until folk go home (often several hours after the match).  At £8 a match, you can't go wrong.

There's no way English football can match that price, but the after-match stuff should be easily achievable

[RobTheRover]

The club are trying that now, Pete.  The Belle Vue Bar is open after matches.  Why not call in for a pint and dissect the match with other fans for an hour whilst the traffic clears?

[Filo]

The club are trying that now, Pete.  The Belle Vue Bar is open after matches.  Why not call in for a pint and dissect the match with other fans for an hour whilst the traffic clears?

The club are trying that now, Pete.  The Belle Vue Bar is open after matches.  Why not call in for a pint and dissect the match with other fans for an hour whilst the traffic clears?

I`m sure he would Rob, but the last bus back to Switzerland leaves 10 minutes after the final whistle

[RedJ]

The club are trying that now, Pete.  The Belle Vue Bar is open after matches.  Why not call in for a pint and dissect the match with other fans for an hour whilst the traffic clears?

The club are trying that now, Pete.  The Belle Vue Bar is open after matches.  Why not call in for a pint and dissect the match with other fans for an hour whilst the traffic clears?

I`m sure he would Rob, but the last bus back to Switzerland leaves 10 minutes after the final whistle

Before it's even full, too

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I've never understood why clubs such as ours think on the lines of promotion = ticket price increase. Keep the prices at the same level and benefit from the higher attendances bringing more revenue in.

You've got to make a success of selling season tickets because if things don't go that well on the pitch then at least the attendances should stay more stable and you've still got the add-on revenue from pies, pints, teas and programmes.

That's why I'm concerned the post early bird prices, if they are the same as last season are simply too high. If we do not gain promotion then those prices won't feel like a good deal to those that we need to convert from occasionals/casuals in to season ticket holders.

On match ticket prices the club are again holding back 'to see what our divisional status will be'. I say plan for League One and if we gain promotion then it's a bonus.

If we ever get anywhere near selling 10000 season tickets then the club can think about tinkering with prices, but let's not fall in to the trap of pricing more people away from the game.

Keep prices stable and keep 'The pub team having a laugh' mentality. If we should learn anything from our time in the Championship it all got too serious trying to compete with the big boys on and off the pitch.

[RedJ]

Re ticket pricing next season, is that something you guys can have input with?

[DonnyOsmond]

We should be trying to fill the stadium and not out price our own fans just because the other clubs do it. Do our own thing, not follow the crowd. We could probably decrease the price and still make around the same every game from the increased attendance.

[RobTheRover]

We'd probably make more from increased secondary sales, such as food and drink, programmes, half time draw tickets, etc.

Baz has analysed this very accurately in the past and presented the club with costing models.   Some of our recommendations have been accepted and some havent, which is fair enough, but we are experiencing a much more receptive club to fan led initiatives now, helped in no small part by the IRWT project (and the refreshing approach of Gavin, Shaun, et al)

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Agreed, the club are much more receptive and I think just engaging fans in itself is bearing fruit. Just look at the 'shirt' and the 'bar naming' threads.

These next 5 months are likely to be very exciting. February moving in to March, providing the form continues, should see a gradual rise in attendances and hopefully, those that have not been for a while will like what they see. Thus the atmosphere's will continue to improve and I'm sure we'd all like to see the South Stand filling up and belting out those chants.

If the standard of football matches that of last Saturday, the more positive press and word of mouth can only help to get bums on seats.     

[weststander]

I remember Peter Wetzel in the mid 80's asking fans to tell him why people were not coming to Belle Vue.

My mantra is  "score the goals and they will come"


 

[1879Rovers]

A good article

The point about bars staying open I can confirm works here in Switzerland.  At Winti, the main bar and the kiosks in the Kop stay open after the match every game and many hang around for a pint or two after the match.  The food stalls also keep serving.  They also put bands on which is popular.

You get a football match and an evening out at least until folk go home (often several hours after the match).  At £8 a match, you can't go wrong.

There's no way English football can match that price, but the after-match stuff should be easily achievable

I am sure Ipswich Town are currently fighting the ban on being able to drink whilst in your seats watching the game.

[silent majority]

A good article

The point about bars staying open I can confirm works here in Switzerland.  At Winti, the main bar and the kiosks in the Kop stay open after the match every game and many hang around for a pint or two after the match.  The food stalls also keep serving.  They also put bands on which is popular.

You get a football match and an evening out at least until folk go home (often several hours after the match).  At £8 a match, you can't go wrong.

There's no way English football can match that price, but the after-match stuff should be easily achievable

I am sure Ipswich Town are currently fighting the ban on being able to drink whilst in your seats watching the game.

I wouldn't call issuing a statement fighting the ban! That's all they've done. FC Business magazine were the first to try to get this bit of legislation overthrown a couple of years ago, so far they've got nowhere.

[FuzzyDuck]

A good article

The point about bars staying open I can confirm works here in Switzerland.  At Winti, the main bar and the kiosks in the Kop stay open after the match every game and many hang around for a pint or two after the match.  The food stalls also keep serving.  They also put bands on which is popular.

You get a football match and an evening out at least until folk go home (often several hours after the match).  At £8 a match, you can't go wrong.

There's no way English football can match that price, but the after-match stuff should be easily achievable

I am sure Ipswich Town are currently fighting the ban on being able to drink whilst in your seats watching the game.

Yes, that's another thing.  You can have a beer where you want in Swiss grounds.  At Basel there's even waiter service bringing you a beer at your seat.

I don't see the point of the ban on drinking when watching the game.  If anyone wants to get pissed, that's not going to stop them.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

On the bar after the game. We always go in to the bar afterwards and I'm surprised more people don't take the opportunity given the traffic is normally at a standstill for a good 45 mins after the game.

It's a good chance to debrief, get your first look at the results and league tables. All very civilised. However, after 6pm the stewards start getting twitchy and ask you to drink up.