Re: SL average attendance : Fri Apr 08, 2022 10:58 am
vastman wrote:
Doesn't work like that in real life.
There is absolutely no certainty that if you turned our standard 5k into 7.5k that extra 2.5k would spend anything once in the ground let alone enough to make up the difference. I'm no accountant but you are expecting 7k fans (-.5k kids) to spend approx £10 pp whilst in the ground. That is further compounded by the fact that if we say make a 100% mark up on everything we sell then to turn that into profit they would need to spend £20 per person. Just not going to happen.
Gate receipts are pure profit once past the break-even point which I'd guess is around 4-5k. After that, any further costs are marginal so for every £25 you'd probably keep £20. At £15 we would get £10 profit but that would be diluted as everyone would only be paying £15 so our break-even would probably go up to 7.5k and the only profit would be food and beer. That might be enough but it's not how you want it to work, you want money on the gate.
So although I get your point and my figures are crude I do think the figure does matter and especially when you've cut the game price.
I'm certain the club's main aims are - To accept a lower profit per unit in the hope more attend than otherwise would so as to even it up. To use the match as a promotional game both for paying fans and TV fans who like to see a fuller ground. Otherwise, promo prices rob you of money and devalue the game, it was this more than anything that destroyed the Bulls. The moment the Bulls needed money and started to charge full price nobody wanted to pay, it the road to disaster if you do it to often.
There is absolutely no certainty that if you turned our standard 5k into 7.5k that extra 2.5k would spend anything once in the ground let alone enough to make up the difference. I'm no accountant but you are expecting 7k fans (-.5k kids) to spend approx £10 pp whilst in the ground. That is further compounded by the fact that if we say make a 100% mark up on everything we sell then to turn that into profit they would need to spend £20 per person. Just not going to happen.
Gate receipts are pure profit once past the break-even point which I'd guess is around 4-5k. After that, any further costs are marginal so for every £25 you'd probably keep £20. At £15 we would get £10 profit but that would be diluted as everyone would only be paying £15 so our break-even would probably go up to 7.5k and the only profit would be food and beer. That might be enough but it's not how you want it to work, you want money on the gate.
So although I get your point and my figures are crude I do think the figure does matter and especially when you've cut the game price.
I'm certain the club's main aims are - To accept a lower profit per unit in the hope more attend than otherwise would so as to even it up. To use the match as a promotional game both for paying fans and TV fans who like to see a fuller ground. Otherwise, promo prices rob you of money and devalue the game, it was this more than anything that destroyed the Bulls. The moment the Bulls needed money and started to charge full price nobody wanted to pay, it the road to disaster if you do it to often.
I do recall Carter saying a few years ago that the secondary spend inside the ground didn’t necessarily increase compared to the crowds when ticket deals were on.
I’ve got a few thoughts on crowds/prices etc. I think £25 is about right for an adult ticket, but our facilities do make it feel expensive compared to other clubs. I go for the rugby and nothing else, but I can see why families but be put off if they’d to use the mens toilets in the East Stand. The new stand should partially solve that problem. And as for families, I don’t have an issue paying £25 a ticket, but that then becomes £70 for a family of four who decide to pay on the day. That’s a lot money, certainly in the current climate. However, the kids season ticket is great value but you’d need to plan in advance.
I don’t really know what the club do to activity sell more tickets other than social media, so if I don’t see it I’m sure there will be others that don’t too. So I do think more could be done, but I also realise we may not have the budget for it as well. What should help again is the new stand. If we’re starting demolition in July than we’re going to be running on a reduced capacity for near on 12 months, I would expect us to be close to a sell out for most games without needing too much effort/advertising. This should hopefully allow the club to focus purely on a relaunch of sorts for completion where they can have a more long term plan and target specific games well in advance. We’ll hopefully see an increase in off field revenue over 2023 to support this.
Until then we’re probably going to be relying on decent results to get as many floating fans in as possible.
