Louis Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 It’s Wednesday evening before our second biggest home fixture of the season and we’ve still got good tickets on sale. In the three seasons I’ve been here, that’s something I’ve not experienced. And that’s telling me yes, our start’s not been the best; yes, the ‘credit crunch’ is biting, and, maybe our sales and marketing effort is not what it should be? I’d like your views. Only two weeks ago, I was saying almost the first line we ‘ink’ into our budget every season is 3,000 travelling Geordies. In the end, there were just over 1,400. Near to being the second line we ‘ink in’ would be a full house for United. That’s now in doubt. And that hits our budgets badly. Ticket income is by far and away the biggest revenue stream we control. It represents over 50% of our total income after broadcast revenues. 1,000 missing fans over 19 games hits us hard; hits us to the tune of £0.5m. That’s money we’d be able to invest in the first team or Finch Farm. In very simple terms, that’s why we dedicate so much time to developing activities and initiatives that will fill the stadium. * We’re well advanced on changing the culture of the Box Office. Turning it on its head and making it proactive and sales-focused rather than just taking bookings. Hopefully, some of you will have ‘had a call’ offering match tickets. I know also some fans react badly to the Club calling but our view is we need all fans to support and we shouldn’t be shy to ask. * Linked to this we’re investing in technology that will allow us to make those calls on a more informed basis – e.g. to fans who came the week before, and using an up-to-date mobile phone number. Not rocket science, I know, but something not well-practiced, to date, at Everton or I suggest across football. * We’re looking at how and where we sell tickets. Box Office opening hours are longer than they were; more and more fans are buying from the web; and, recently, we’ve launched a text-to-buy service. We’re also looking at remote kiosks and other ways to make it easier to buy. * We want to ‘put back’ too and we’re making tickets accessible in the local community – rewarding well-performing children, supporting needy community groups and offering junior clubs and schools the chance to fund raise by purchasing Everton tickets. Can we do more? Should we be offering low price trials to fans that’ve never been or haven’t been for a while? Should we be offering bigger blocks of perhaps heavily discounted tickets into schools? I’d like your ideas. It’s not a straightforward decision. Clearly, we have to maximise revenue. ‘Nineteen shopping days a year’ is a bit of a cliché but has some truth. In the face of ever-wealthier competition, we have to get the most from every seat at Goodison, every time we open the gates and once the game’s gone, that revenue has gone for ever. Advisers have suggested all sorts of ways to maximise seat yields - selling tickets on the same basis as Easyjet sell plane seats - buy early at £20, later at £25, later still at £30 and on matchday at £35. Some have said reverse this on the basis that securing a fiver at ten to three is better than nothing. Even if we had the systems to make this work, I’m not sure this is how our fans would like to buy? There’s no evidence that discounting does work, although one of the problems is it’s very hard to prove or measure. And it’s also worth remembering that our tickets remain amongst the cheapest in the Premier League. When we’ve reduced prices for the Carling Cup, it’s hard to know if it’s worked; hard to compare on a like-for-like basis one fixture with another; hard to know whether 30,000 paying £10 would have been 20,000 paying £20. We absolutely need to get a better understanding of price sensitivity. The toughest thing for me is the impact it will have on our most loyal fans, our season ticket holders. Fans who’ve committed their loyalty and their cash up front, who’ve scrimped and saved to find £500 for a seat they’ve had for years, or, Mums and Dads who’ve worked hard to find the £190 to take their child in the Family Enclosure. How do they feel about hefty discounts? How do they feel about a classmate coming home with a free ticket? We don’t really know the answer fully enough and we’d welcome feedback. Repeating myself, I do know that one of the most important things we can do as a Club is fill Goodison Park every week, not least for the simple reason that 1,000 more fans per game can add £500,000 into the business. For me it’s our ‘barometer of success’. After checking results on a Sunday morning, the next thing I look at is gates. Clubs doing well fill their stadia. Clubs doing really well fill their stadia when they’re not winning. Last year, we filled Goodison – every last seat (including the bad ones) – six or seven times. Our challenge is to make that nine or ten, then fourteen or fifteen, then every game. That’s the challenge for our Box Office, Marketing and Communications teams. And we welcome your feedback, your views on discounting, your views on how easy it is to buy a ticket, your views on us getting the message out that tickets are available, your views, as a season ticket holder about the Club offering deals to non-season ticket holders. Drop the Club a line, below. http://www.evertonfc.com/news/packed-to-the-rafters.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romey 1878 Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 Not investing adequately in the first team this summer will have pissed a fair few fans off I'm sure... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheedysheedysheedy Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 Not investing adequately in the first team this summer will have pissed a fair few fans off I'm sure... Exactly, if we'd have made some signings early in the summer it would have increased the anticipation of the fans and probably generated more season ticket sales. Once those fans stop going it so difficult to encourage them back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Posted October 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 My response was never published, I don't know why - I wasn't rude and I didn't swear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scouse Posted October 24, 2008 Report Share Posted October 24, 2008 You not going to publish it on here louis????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Posted October 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2008 I believe that the form of the first team and the stadium issues are at the forefront of the decline in attendance levels. Fans are not willing to pay prices that start at £34 for an adult for an hour and a half's entertainment and incur further travel and supplementary costs (food, merchandise etc.). As popular as football is, I do not believe that it is not worth that kind of money. Those who earn the minimum wage would need to work 7 hours to be able to afford a ticket. There are cheaper tickets available to see a production in London’s West End! The attendance levels averaged over 38,000 when we had a certain Wayne Rooney in our team and since he left they have lowered by 2,000. Using your assumptions above, he single handily brought in near £1million to the club during the 2003/2004 season. It is somewhat ironic that it is the predicted attendance of his new team that has left Everton officials scratching their heads. There are many fans concerned by the long-term impact of relocating to Knowsley and ticket prices usually rise when a club move to a new stadium so it becomes a worry for the club also if the fan base can’t or won’t pay the asking price. There is not much that the club can do about dwindling attendances without upsetting season ticket holders. Why should those like me who pick and choose their games have access to lower priced tickets than those who purchased season tickets? There are certain groups of people in society who in my opinion should have access to a lower priced ticket. I would like to see the club introduce: Goodison Park Area Residents' Newsletter - Offer incentives to those who live in the immediate vicinity of the stadium. Ireland's national stadium Croke Park offers financial incentives to the local residents when they have an event such as reduced ticket prices and competitions for free tickets. Discount for former servicemen - The Poppy appeal has recently been launched so why not consider introducing a further discount to those who have been involved in the armed forces in the past on the back of it? Perhaps consider the pre-pay system that Ajax Amsterdam and Schalke 04 use at Goodison Park. That would bring in money but would cost money to implement although in the long-run it would benefit the club. It’s a system where fans ‘top up’ money on their season card to pay for goods inside the stadium, they can do this from home on the internet, over the phone or at designated agents. My understanding is that JJB pay the club in advance a fixed fee on future shirt sales meaning that the club have already received money for last season's shirts that are now being sold in the club shops. Why not consider donating them to those in Africa where they will be revered - I understand that Joseph Yobo has a foundation and football school in Nigeria, it would tie in well with that. I understand that you could argue that it would be like money being thrown away but the money incoming from television rights would cover the cost due to the increase in the club's profile in the country where the shirts are. In addition when the contract with Umbro expires at the end of the season, please do not renew it - attempt to entice one of the 'big two' Nike and Adidas. I am certain that a more popular branded manufacturer would help sell the club's non-kit products such as tracksuit and jackets. I hope that the above is useful. There you go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scouse Posted October 25, 2008 Report Share Posted October 25, 2008 As always Louis an excellent response..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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