Re: Barnet Membership : Mon Apr 28, 2014 6:30 am  

meliferra wrote:

We all know Broncos will be a league lower next year, will you be there to cheer them on?

They may not exist at all, especially since the move to The Hive has seen crowds nose dive further.

Re: Barnet Membership : Mon Apr 28, 2014 6:57 am  

meliferra wrote:

So what are you going to do about it?
We all know Broncos will be a league lower next year, will you be there to cheer them on?

Yes but games will be selective as they are at the moment, which makes obtaining a membership pointless. In the past LB have run a number of schemes based on flexible attendance and making them worthwhile to purchase. I have already been to a couple of games, but at the moment as you acknowledge the membership scheme is not favourable to LB. It would be interesting to know why there as been a large drop in the number of season ticket holders compared with last year. The answer this will not be straight forward but I would expect cost and the membership scheme in its current format has not helped.

Re: Barnet Membership : Mon Apr 28, 2014 7:35 am  

I think you are right Daftdad,
The Barnet scheme equates to £11.50per league game, the Bronco scheme £13.50. The £2pm Hive membership which is for those that attend on an irregular basis doesn't really work for Broncos fans if you are only buying tickets for yourself as it saves £2.50 - £3.50 per ticket.

A few of us had to work very hard on the Barnet forum to persuade others that the membership scheme can work and a few still insist on paying the whole year up front and calling it a season ticket. So the change in concept is a turn off for some but 99% of the skeptics 12 months ago have now bought into the idea and prefer it.

For me the key difference is the point you originally mentioned and that I deliberately talked round, but it's on an emotional level rather than a factual one.

When you buy into a membership\ season ticket you feel that you are buying into the club and making a commitment to it on a financial level. As Barnet fans we know that the ticket money raised is the key source of paying for the players on the pitch, there is no sugar daddy pumping in millions or large sponsorship deals to cover those costs. That makes Barnet fans more willing to part with their cash (and even pay for 2 months when there is no football!!).

Broncos player budget is at least 4 times higher than Barnets and because of this I get the impression that money through the turnstile has become almost irrelevant to the viability of the club. Indeed this season proves the point that the Broncos playing budget is covered by sponsorship and DH money and that the money through the turnstile determines how much money the stadium owner receives and whether it's worth his while to allow you to stay.

I don't know all the figures but Barnet games bring in around £500k including memberships and about £300k goes towards players budget so £200k is admin and maintenance of the Hive, if I use the same maths on Broncos games then they will bring in around £200k based on attendances so far so both clubs are paying the same towards admin and upkeep. Yes that means the Hive is better off with both teams present (especially in bar receipts) but I don't think the claim that you are subsidising a football team is fair as to my mind you are paying no more towards the upkeep of the ground you play in than Barnet FC.

[brian2]

Re: Barnet Membership : Mon Apr 28, 2014 10:37 am  

Well if we survive i will be there..........................

Re: Barnet Membership : Mon Apr 28, 2014 12:08 pm  

daftdad wrote:

Poor scheme for those who live a couple of hours away and may miss the odd match due to work commitments, mid week games and last minute changes which may be demanded by Sky.

My sentiments exactly!

Re: Barnet Membership : Mon Apr 28, 2014 12:09 pm  

brian2 wrote:

Well if we survive i will be there..........................

Me too - Broncos will still be my team whatever division it's in - for as long as it exists!

Re: Barnet Membership : Mon Apr 28, 2014 6:05 pm  

daftdad wrote:

It would be interesting to know why there as been a large drop in the number of season ticket holders compared with last year. The answer this will not be straight forward but I would expect cost and the membership scheme in its current format has not helped.

It will be down to a combination of three main factors (i) new location, (ii) increased cost and (iii) poor quality of the team. If the club had stayed at The Stoop with existing prices they would have lost some season ticket holders but nowhere near as many as they have.

Re: Barnet Membership : Mon Apr 28, 2014 8:41 pm  

The infamous data leak, from memory, suggested a lot of season ticket holders lived within relatively easy access to Twickenham. Hardly surprising given the poor quality fare on display in recent years.

For many of those Barnet won't be so easy. Personally it's gone from 35 mins to 80 or so mins by car and 75 mins to 120 mins by train. (Car times a good journey, rush hour for Thursday games add a lot more on. Times one way.)Suddenly it's a larger chunk of my day to justify spending on the club, without even thinking about the money.

Realistically part of the equation in the move must have been they would lose a large chunk of ST's. Nic used to quote us as losing 75% moving from Charlton to Brentford.

My personal situation is different to many on this board. I was a Prescot Panthers fan and just want to enjoy watching the sport. I would probably have watched less this season even if still at The Stoop as I just found I preferred watching the sport at Oxford. A lower quality team but 17 guys busting a gut, something I hadn't seen for too long at Broncos.

A combination of an increasing dis-affection with the way the club was run, extra journey time and the presence of a missus who may not be too happy if I spend Saturday at Barnet and Sunday at Oxford saw me drift into being an irregular attendee after more than a decade as a season ticket holder.

Ironically if Broncos are Championship next season I could well become much more regular. When doing Broncos away games I often stayed up and watched Championship games, it's probably my favourite level of RL to watch.