How do you fill 60k?

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The Gibbins
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How do you fill 60k?

Post by The Gibbins »

I keep seeing this Olympic Stadium when i go past it for work on the DLR, and it really is a big stadium. But are we really kidding ourselves?

I say this after seeing Man City tonight. We are told the extra money in revenue will make us a bigger club that will eventually challenge for honours. But Man City are supposedly a big club, big fan base...yet they have spent **** loads, won an FA Cup last year, look likely to win the league, which will be their most successful season in years. Why cant they sell out a LC semi against Liverpool? Their ground is not even 60k either, its more like 48k isnt it?

It just seems a myth, all these footballing structures and champions league plans....its all absolute bull **** to me. How much have city actually grown in terms of fan base? I know they aint won much yet but i would like to think we would be selling more tickets then they are if we were challenging for honours. But i dont actually think we would.
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by prophet:marginal »

Your basic point is spot on; we can't suddenly grow our support to fill a 60,000 stadium. Its pie in the sky to even hope that we would.

Man City puzzle me. They didn't sell out the Charity Shield (or whatever they call it this year) and, since moving to COMS (or whatever....etc), they've been in Europa fairly regularly and failed to come close to selling it out. So, copying us from last year and failing to sell out a LC semi, didn't actually surprise me. Must have stuck in a few throats to be outsung by the Scouse, nonetheless.

It must be a combination of things, especially the continuously high levels of unemployment, but I just can't see the Man City of the mid-80's (or earlier) failing to sell out Maine Road when they're a match away from a Wembley final.

Football's changing. Quite a lot of people now look at the TV schedules at the same time as their fixture list...and the sofa just seems more comfortable than a wet plastic seat.
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by sussexhammer74 »

It is quite easy to fill a 60k stadium with our fanbase, the same with the blue mancs and their fan base.

Question is, how much disposable income does the average fan have to spend on attending football.

Cost. How much does a fan now spend on attending a game? Travel to the game? ticket? something to eat and drink. Really how much does this add up to nowadays?

Then you got to factor in how well the team is doing? Mancs were (are) in the Champions league, europa league, FA cup, league cup, challenging the top of their domestic league. If income is tight, you have to pick and choose what games you can (want) to attend.

Olympic stadium. Sight lines are still in dispute (retractable seating or not). Cost of a ticket on where you sit? How many would be happy to pay five english pounds for a seat but be stuck up in the heavens.

Both the blue mancs and us have a hard core of tradational support no matter what league we are in. Its what you charge the average punter to get there, get in and make sure they are happy.

so in answer in to your question, easy to fill a 60k stadium, its how you do it? Too many variables to get a definative answer.
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by Pop Robson »

Success ?
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The Gibbins
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by The Gibbins »

But i think the cheaper the ticket, you will just attract people that want to see a game of football, or a tourist. You will also get your London Mancs who will turn up to see some football as their team is the end of the country. Will we actually attract West Ham fans and have a bigger core of fans?

I think the core will stay the same personally and we will just get people in making up the numbers without a genuine love or passion for the club.
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by carnage »

What is the obsession with filling the ground?
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m-h
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by m-h »

TG,
Good question. OS aside and seating configuration etc etc, most businesses aim to be the biggest small company before becoming the smallest big company, in fact the longer you can maintain the small company, the better. As in you want to be bursting at the seams before making the progression. I know this doesn't necessarily correlate to the Football business, but the principles should apply. So if all things equal, WHU FC should be sold out currently every match and with ST sales at over 80% before considering whether to move into a larger stadium (presently not configured for Football). Would WHU FC sell out every match if ST tickets were currently cheaper ?. Its a massive jump from 30,000 a match to 50,000 match, even with improved infrastructure. Think about it, finding 20,000 more consumers on weekly basis. Branding will be a large part, not just domestically but internationally, but it all starts on the pitch and winning, and winning trophies. MCFC going to buy COMS and develop the surrounding area, how much spent ?.

Are there 20,000-30,000 a week additional supporters the club could count on that they currently can't because of the Boleyn Ground ?.

If there are, then other London clubs better watch out, because for good or bad, West Ham United FC would be massive.

Like i said, good question.
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by the pink palermo »

Edit .
Last edited by the pink palermo on Tue Mar 27, 2012 1:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by frankiemac »

Tickets for the man city game last night were £42

I appreciate it was a semi final, and I don't want to sound like I'm taking the piss....but people up here cannot afford £42 games every week...it's as simple as that

Manchester currently has the highest rate of houses being repossessed in the country...times are hard

£25 and they would have banged it out last night..end of...and that's the key to us getting anywhere near filling that monstrosity....lower ticket prices...or ticket bundles...buy for 2 games, get the dodgy one against Doncaster or Wigan for free
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by jimcollins65 »

Isnt the whole point of moving to increase capacity/revenue ? If as many people think we will only sell out for the big games with the the remaining games having similar attendances as we have now what is the point in moving? If we were to sell out all our home games or nearly all then financially i can see the reason to move.
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by Mr_Andersonn »

jimcollins65 wrote:Isnt the whole point of moving to increase capacity/revenue ? If as many people think we will only sell out for the big games with the the remaining games having similar attendances as we have now what is the point in moving? If we were to sell out all our home games or nearly all then financially i can see the reason to move.
All of the top teams will ensure sellout crowds. Even 6 or 7 sellout games will leave us quids in.

Then should our manager at the time value any of the cup competitions we may go as far as a semi final again and draw decent crowds!

Lets now forget the additional numbers of casual supporters this place will draw in. It has to be worth having the capacity for this.
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by prophet:marginal »

Mr_Andersonn wrote:Then should our manager at the time value any of the cup competitions we may go as far as a semi final again and draw decent crowds!
Like the last semi we reached last year?
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by Francoisvander or else »

All of the top teams will ensure sellout crowds. Even 6 or 7 sellout games will leave us quids in.

Then should our manager at the time value any of the cup competitions we may go as far as a semi final again and draw decent crowds!

Lets now forget the additional numbers of casual supporters this place will draw in. It has to be worth having the capacity for this.[/quote]

Cant see it myself, a large proportion of the tickets will have to be sold cheaply, even at £40 each for adults and £20 quid for concessions (which I think will still be over the odds considering the view) your looking at an extra £750,000 per game, the extra match day costs for stewarding could possibly be covered by merchandise sales and your left with an extra £5,000,000 over the course of a season, hardly enough to make us a footballing super power
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by Mr_Andersonn »

So you estimate a possible 5,000,000 per season additional revenue in the top flight, and over 10 years thats 50,000,000 additional revenue?

Sounds like a good investment to me and almost one that would suggest we should plough some it it into a propper refurb of this stadium.

We aren't looking to be a super power. But we should be looking for stability and sustainability.
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by Francoisvander or else »

Mr_Andersonn wrote:So you estimate a possible 5,000,000 per season additional revenue in the top flight, and over 10 years thats 50,000,000 additional revenue?

Sounds like a good investment to me and almost one that would suggest we should plough some it it into a propper refurb of this stadium.

We aren't looking to be a super power. But we should be looking for stability and sustainability.
£5,000,000 a season doesn't guarantee stability is equals 1 Keiron Dyer, or roughly a years Sky TV money. Remind me what happened last time G&S had to make a decision concerning the Sky TV money, that's right they ****ed up big time, tried to save a few quid in compensation by not getting rid of a doomed manager and sent us down, just look at Birmingham a perennial yo yo club Gold and Sullivans definition of stabillity is not one that many of us wouldn't recognise but I am prepaired to give them a chance for now
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by Mr_Andersonn »

One Kiern Dyer perhaps, or maybe even a Scott Parker for that kind of money You can hardly blame the current owners for Dyer.
Glass half empty springs to mind.
Just think, we could have had Tony Fernandes running our club..
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by Pop Robson »

G&S will spend as little as possible on the OS, if anything
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by BeastieBoy »

Simple:

1) Cheaper prices than any other London-based Premier League team (here's tempting fate we're there at the time).

2) Set the maximum number of away tickets to whatever the FA will allow us to do.

3) Set season ticket numbers to 40k out of 60k, with the ability to buy a season ticket for the remainder of the season at any time on a game-by-game sliding scale if we don't initially sell out the lot. Season tickets to be printed "valid from xx/xx/2014" or "xx/xx/2015" etc. Stick a daily counter on the official website with the number of season tickets remaining.

4) More incentives for Academy members to come along (most don't even use their ticket allowances today). Maybe an "Academy Plus" membership scheme set at £50, with a free Category B game to boot alongside the standard benefits.

5) Open up a tiny store in central London (maybe Oxford Street) which advertises and sells tickets (and maybe some merchandise if there's room). Issue one of our own "how to get there" leaflets with the tickets (based on upcoming TFL closures). Maybe the tourists won't get lost then.

6) Advertise our games in the Metro, Evening Standard, and other places like local radio in our supposed fan base area. Give a phone number and a website to book on, with details of how to bring the credit/debit card they used to any of our stores (including the new central London one above) where you get your tickets printed out there and then.

7) Target the financial institutions in The City and Canary Wharf, selling corporate hospitality packages for midweek games. Visiting businessmen from abroad will love that. I know Arsenal make a killing on it.

8) Better food and beer for an all round better day out would help a little.

9) Winning on the pitch would help a lot.

In all reality we should have no problem selling out the Premier League Category A games (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man United, Tottenham, last game of the season). Just have to worry about the other 13 or 14 games then (supposing the last game of the season could be against Category A opposition).
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by frankiemac »

Why would we sell out all of the category A games???

We struggled to sell any of them out last season
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Re: How do you fill 60k?

Post by Denbighammer »

Beastie Boy, your post is probably not far off the mark which makes it even more depressing. Particularly sad that 'on the pitch success' is the 9th thing on the list.

A ground full of tourists and people in London on business who are just bored and want something to do to kill the time fills me with dread. The games changing and I don't like it.
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