Fantalk

stephen · Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 370

I thought that it would be an idea to survey y'all to see what you think the cash value of football in the first division is. Basically, as an adult how much should we be paying to get in on a Saturday. kids prices would be half this amount.

Wolfman Jack · Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 6:05 pm Post subject:

The £19.00 charged by Dundee is verging on theft, as is their catering, but that's a different topic.
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Castle · Joined: 24 Jul 2010 Posts: 4928

Dundee only charge 2 quid more than us so we can't preach too loudly. It would be great if somebody could devise a business model that could drive the price downward but i can't see what that would be.
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Marko · Joined: 25 Apr 2009 Posts: 1148 Location: Kirkcaldy

Ideally something about £12 would be great, but it's probably quite unlikely.

The problem from the club's POV is that every team would have to agree between them to reduce admission and live within their means. However if all clubs bar one do this then that one club would have an advantage and would rise to near the top of the SPL very easily. Therefore clubs have to compete, which means they are all running up huge debts in the fear of getting left behind.

The only clubs that break even are those at the bottom of division 3 (Elgin, Montrose etc) who aren't upwardly aspirational and are quite happy where they are. If we became the only team to live within our means in the first division we would find ourselves much lower down than we are, and then the board would get criticised for lacking the ambition to get us back where we were.

It's a vicious circle, but it's not an easy one to get out of. Clearly though something has to change or it will be 'Save our Club' campaigns every few years until we either go bust or get bought by a Sheikh billionaire (and I'm sure we all know what's more likely.)
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Crazy Englishman · Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 6:27 pm Post subject:

This is a good poll and hits the mark.

Which is more beneficial to the club. 2300 paying fans at £15 or 1700 fans at £17. Its not rocket science is it
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Lasvegas5 · Joined: 27 Mar 2010 Posts: 292

Cutting admission prices by a couple of quid isn't going to bring the fans back in numbers. The whole matchday experience has to change. What other business sector apart from football would treat its customers so poorly and expect them to cough up each week out of blind loyalty.

The football aside the matchday experience at Starks is pretty poor. Pay £17 to get in. Once inside there is no hot water or even paper towels to dry your hands in the toilets. The food is poor and as is the choice on offer. The Pars have got it right by getting a proper bakery in Stephens in to do their catering. The matchday mascot gets consigned to a little patch of grass near the corner flag and doesn't even get to hit a few shots at goal.

And on a minor point the matchday music is rubbish as well. We play the same songs each week. Can't the club play some music by the Bands that play at Rock the Rovers each year to give them some minor promotion for the help they provide each year.

Finally bring in Summer football. I reckon more folk would be tempted to go if there was no English Premier League on the tv to watch. Rant over.

Crazy Englishman · Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 7:44 pm Post subject:

Scary Bear · Joined: 12 Jul 2008 Posts: 2739 Location: Sunny Kirkcaldy

teka · Joined: 15 Jul 2008 Posts: 975 Location: Kirkcaldy

I voted for the £11 - £12 as that is a realistic price for the quality of football in the 1st, however, to run a team maybe £15 is a fairer price to pay. What we have to pay now is just too dear for what is offered.

big b · Joined: 25 Jul 2010 Posts: 59

to pay anymore than a tenner for that rubbish McGlynn is serving up would be a disgrace.

our crowds are on the way down rapid style.

who wants to waste £17 on that half hearted drivel - if they are not committed then why should we be - boycott the tripe!!!!!!!

scotty · Joined: 12 Jul 2008 Posts: 9065 Location: Almost Dysart.

The only way in the current ecconomic climate you'll see clubs (not just Raith) who have or are likely to have crowds of 2500 charging £10-14 will be if we go completely with youth players and do away with paid professionals.

As it stands after VAT is taken off the club get £14 for every £17.
Consider the ratio of full paying adults to concessions 3:1 means the Rovers average gate price is £13 which is actually nearer £11 once vat is deducted.
Now £11 x 2,200 is £23,200 and there are two (usually) home games a month so thats £46,000 (not inc Lotto, adverising and corporate hosp) add the other income and it'll be around £50,000 if you are lucky.
Wages we are told account for 52% of income so somewhere between £23,000 - 25,000 a month goes there. As we only had a crowd of 1,500 on Saturday we will be struggling this month I guess.

So lets take the entry value down to £12 which would be an average of £9.50 and would equate to just under £8 after vat deducted.

Raith would need around 2,800 fans to be at the same place as we were with Saturdays low gate of 1500. To substantiate FT football they reckon on needing a regular home gate of 3,000+.
To generate the income that 3,000 fans would bring (£17 averaged to £14 and thus £11) in £33k. If reduced to £12 for adults we would need to have a crowd of 4,000+ every week.

Now any one see that happening even if prices were £12?

Nope me neither.
It isn't so much that the football is too expensive more that we cannot support a prodfessional team in Kirkcaldy in these times.

The facts are the people don't have the money during this recession.
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Scary Bear · Joined: 12 Jul 2008 Posts: 2739 Location: Sunny Kirkcaldy

I voted £10 as a fair price for the 'quality' of football at Starks. £15 should be the absolute maximum. £17 is going over the score.
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Vinnie · Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 1:01 pm Post subject:

rovers4ever · Joined: 12 Jul 2008 Posts: 5314 Location: Burntisland

Given some of the tripe we've had to endure at home recently, anything more than a tenner is daylight robbery.

stephen · Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 370

£17 is far, far too much. People say that dropping ticket prices won't attract more fans - and I agree. What dropping ticket prices will do is KEEP supporters. I won't be back to Starks for a while because it costs too much for me.

What does get me is the lack of commercial awareness from the club. We have had two back-to-back games at the end of the month (before pay day) and in the run-up to Christmas. How there was surprise at the fall in support for the second game I don't know. It is opportunities like these that the club should be cashing in on - such as charging £30 for a two game ticket

The cost-value of football is poor - paying just under 20p a minute for what we see is not value. The other facilities at Stark's are good compared to some... but that isn't saying much. I use to buy 50/50's, pies, tea, programmes and more - now when I go I pay to get in and that is all. If the entry price was less, perhaps I would spend more at the Snack Bar.

I think that another poster hit the nail on the head when he mentioned about the facilities. When I lived in the States I went to see Richmond Kickers play in the USL. The support (in terms of numbers) would put us to shame! What they did was to make the game an event. They had inflatables for kids to play on and various competitions (such as hitting targets etc.).

I feel that Scottish football is a good product - the problem is that we have over priced it. Honestly, I believe that it is not worth any more than £10.