25% Price increase - Austerity is over? : Thu Nov 01, 2018 10:04 am  

What a move.

Years after year with no increase in wages, rising cost of living all round for us mugs at the sharp end.

We bring back loads of fans for the play offs at £20 entry then bang another £5 on the following season at 22.5% over the rate of inflation.

Ho Ho - very funny - bog off.

Its cheaper to watch a higher standard.

There are many fans who pay on the day due to work commitments, will they accept this?

Its cheaper for me and many others to watch at Batley, Dewsbury, Halifax etc. so I'll be going there and maybe 4 home games.

Stupid, short sighted move - assume its designed to "push" us towards buying a season ticket.

Add to that away fans will think the same and not turn up - cue moaning about the attendance figures.

Did "someone" up there actually believe the Bat when she said "Austerity is over" - my reaction at the time was "******* off" and I have the same reaction to a 25% rise in gate price.

Re: 25% Price increase - Austerity is over? : Thu Nov 01, 2018 10:09 am  

Why are people only just realising the pricing structure for 2019? They were announced ages ago?

My season ticket for next year cost me £249. A few years ago, when we were in the same division, it cost me £280.

It might sound harsh but if you can't afford it then don't go. The board have set the prices and they are what they are. If they've got it wrong then we'll soon find out because we'll probably end up in administration again. Time will tell I suppose.

Re: 25% Price increase - Austerity is over? : Thu Nov 01, 2018 10:53 am  

Errol Stock wrote:

Its cheaper for me and many others to watch at Batley, Dewsbury, Halifax etc. so I'll be going there and maybe 4 home games.

Good for you. Sure you won't be missed at Odsal.

[Bullseye]

Re: 25% Price increase - Austerity is over? : Thu Nov 01, 2018 11:11 am  

I expect the £25 will be for those that pay on the day. If you buy a week before then it'll be cheaper I reckon. As per this year. If not then hey ho. It's a fact that prices are going up and earnings but there's little the club can do about it.

Given that we had to strengthen the side in order to compete in the championship it was always going to cost a bit more. As Nothus explained it cost more the last time we were in this division.

No complaints from me.

Can season tickets be bought on direct debit? That might be helpful. Or maybe a they could do tickets that sell chunks of games at a slight discount for those that can't commit for a full season but would like to go to more than the odd game.

Re: 25% Price increase - Austerity is over? : Thu Nov 01, 2018 11:29 am  

Errol Stock wrote:

Its cheaper for me and many others to watch at Batley, Dewsbury, Halifax etc. so I'll be going there and maybe 4 home games.

Never understand this argument. Those clubs will still be in the championship, or lower in 20 years time. I'd rather pay more and actually challenge at getting back in SL. We have a lot more outgoings than those clubs (scholarship, academy, reserves, womens team)

£25 is steep, but i'd rather pay that, have no winding up peitions, unpaid wages etc and see that we're progressing as a club.

Re: 25% Price increase - Austerity is over? : Thu Nov 01, 2018 11:39 am  

We desperately need other options than Season Tickets - or pay on the gate.

I won't be buying a ST next year as I know already that I will need to miss at least three or four games (possibly more) due to work commitments. So buying a ST is a total non-starter.

But it then feels a bit steep to have to pay £25 to pay on the day, if I suddenly find that I can go on the day (sometimes I might not know until the day)

The club really needs to look at having some sort of Flex Ticket, say for 6 games. If I could pay £130 for a 6 game Flex Ticket, then I'd definitely buy one. I wouldn't have to buy a ST, but I'd still get a bit of a saving over paying each time. It seems a pretty obvious 'win' to me! If they sold, say, 1000 Flex Tickets (and I think they likely would because lots of people are in the same position), then it injects £130,000 into the club, and if some of those Flex Tickets end up not being fully redeemed, then the club has the money already. #win

Re: 25% Price increase - Austerity is over? : Thu Nov 01, 2018 11:59 am  

"The club really needs to look at having some sort of Flex Ticket, say for 6 games. If I could pay £130 for a 6 game Flex Ticket"

An excellent suggestion by PW but why don't you email AC with it? Could be a good option for the Club and would appeal to a fair few more who find it difficult to justify a Full Season Ticket either financially or work related

[Bullseye]

Re: 25% Price increase - Austerity is over? : Thu Nov 01, 2018 12:05 pm  

With all tickets being done electronically now any flex ticket would need to have some sort of inbuilt way of becoming invalid after it's been used a certain number of times. I'm not sure if the current software is up to that task. If not then it may cost more to implement and that might make the flex ticket unaffordable. It's certainly worth exploring though.

Re: 25% Price increase - Austerity is over? : Thu Nov 01, 2018 12:07 pm  

Slightly lazy because I haven’t looked too hard but can anyone confirm the number of home games this year? Assuming the playoffs won’t come under the season ticket.

Season ticket prices are fair. Pay on the gate is steep but I suppose that’s the club attempting to sell season tickets instead.

On top of that, the amount between seating season tickets and standing is not much compared to previous seasons. Maybe the club want to get as many as they can in the stand given likely attendance figures

Re: 25% Price increase - Austerity is over? : Thu Nov 01, 2018 12:21 pm  

I suspect that most of you on here are season ticket holders who go to every game, in which case the value for money is pretty fair. However for those of us who don't or can't attend every home game, £25 to pay at the gate is simply extortionate, and will put off a large number of "floating fans". Personally like much of last season I'll spend my money on going to away games, and watch most home games for free on Facebook. I realise this hardly helps the club but I fell very strongly that £25 is just too much to pay for championship level rugby, and will put off away fans from all the nearby clubs attending.
I don't like to criticise AC, who otherwise has done a brilliant job, but I do think we're overpriced - and the ticket office was a shambles last season at times!