Re: 2016 Membership : Tue Feb 09, 2016 12:03 pm  

DrFeelgood wrote:

There were a lot of Featherstone fans there yesterday who naturally were noisier than us - combination of rowdy away support and us generally being quiet at home. I thought their fans were a disgrace at times to be truthful, but I wouldn't blame that on Featherstone. Anyway my point is that if you took away that generous away support, we're looking a bit light this year in terms of fan numbers. I think the weather will have had a big bearing on that.

Absolutely. If you don't count everyone, then the total would be smaller than if you did.

I'm not even going down the "Fev brought 2000... no there can't have been more than 100" route. But obviously our game was sufficiently attractive to non-Bulls fans (i.e. Fev fans) to boost our coffers by paying their hard-earned at the gate.

So, the less Bulls fans there were, the better it is, because members who didn't show nevertheless already paid, and so the greater the numbers paying on the gate in cash, the bigger our Brucie Bonus.

Re: 2016 Membership : Tue Feb 09, 2016 12:26 pm  

I think it's important to obtain and maintain the c3,500 interested people while we are in the championship

Longer term hopefully that will grow as the club grows (if we manage to get promoted and stay up)

Re: 2016 Membership : Tue Feb 09, 2016 1:16 pm  

I think there's a solid core of Bradford fans that is around the 3500/4k mark. The club does need to work hard to keep them on side, however and I feel a 2nd failed promotion bid coupled with continued high price tickets might start to chip away at that remaining loyal foundation

Re: 2016 Membership : Tue Feb 09, 2016 1:27 pm  

roofaldo2 wrote:

I think there's a solid core of Bradford fans that is around the 3500/4k mark. The club does need to work hard to keep them on side, however and I feel a 2nd failed promotion bid coupled with continued high price tickets might start to chip away at that remaining loyal foundation

The ticket prices are going to be the problem I think. The hardcore support will pay it, but only for so long. The longer the club are in the championship, the less people will be willing to pay Super League prices, regardless of their loyalty. The prices will have to drop eventually, and as soon as they do, it becomes even harder to get that promotion.

Not a nice situation to be in, but it's an inevitable one. Which is another reason (as well as losing your better players) that every year you fail to get promotion, the less likely you are to get it next year.

[Bulliac]

Re: 2016 Membership : Tue Feb 09, 2016 3:24 pm  

If the prices drop then we can say goodbye to being a fully pro club and, on the back of that, descending into the general mix of second tier clubs. I think it's called a "spiral", and it's definitely something we don't want to see.

Re: 2016 Membership : Tue Feb 09, 2016 4:11 pm  

I think the whole system of the cheap tickets that we had previously could work under the current management system at Odsal as I've a little more faith in their ability to properly work it in the club's favour.

If the club dropped the price of a terrace season ticket to £160 but only if they had a minimum of 5000 sign ups then we'd still get round the same money from the season tickets as we've got this year, but we'd have a base line of 5k before we even get away supporters coming in. Which means an increase in income from the concession stands. Especially if we kept the on gate prices the same, then it's an even better deal as the average terrace fan would save around £120 buying a season ticket than just paying on the gate

Re: 2016 Membership : Tue Feb 09, 2016 9:16 pm  

It's a bit early to start this debate - don't we usually do this just after the end of the season?

I'll be honest, I seriously debated not getting a season ticket this year - in the end, I did. But it was last minute, and without a whole bundle of enthusiasm. Hopefully that will grow as the season goes on and I'm not freezing my nuts off like I was on Sunday!

The point being, I hope Marc Green isn't assuming that I (and many others I think) will continue to pay top dollar for Championship Rugby forever. And, yes, I know all the arguments about downward spirals. But I can't keep on forking out money just on the basis that I'm helping to stop the club going into a downward spiral. I need more of a reason - hopefully this season will give me one!

Re: 2016 Membership : Wed Feb 10, 2016 2:35 am  

paulwalker71 wrote:

It's a bit early to start this debate - don't we usually do this just after the end of the season?

I'll be honest, I seriously debated not getting a season ticket this year - in the end, I did. But it was last minute, and without a whole bundle of enthusiasm. Hopefully that will grow as the season goes on and I'm not freezing my nuts off like I was on Sunday!

The point being, I hope Marc Green isn't assuming that I (and many others I think) will continue to pay top dollar for Championship Rugby forever. And, yes, I know all the arguments about downward spirals. But I can't keep on forking out money just on the basis that I'm helping to stop the club going into a downward spiral. I need more of a reason - hopefully this season will give me one!

Exactly right. This is the second year we are paying top of the top dollar, because it is funding a major promotion bid. If it doesn't work then inevitably there will be a rate of attrition, and when even stalwarts who post on here are having wobbles, you can see how precarious the situation actually is.

But then, I've said many times that I don't believe there is a realistic chance of promotion, barring some other SL club's major misfortune (and even then, of course it's not bound to be us that replaces them) and I don't see the club surviving in any recognizable form if the spiral continues, the shortfall from income will always be at a rate greater than the savings made on wages etc. and so I sadly do fear we are very near the last chance saloon. With the proverbial two chances.

[Bulliac]

Re: 2016 Membership : Wed Feb 10, 2016 9:59 am  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Exactly right. This is the second year we are paying top of the top dollar, because it is funding a major promotion bid. If it doesn't work then inevitably there will be a rate of attrition, and when even stalwarts who post on here are having wobbles, you can see how precarious the situation actually is.

But then, I've said many times that I don't believe there is a realistic chance of promotion, barring some other SL club's major misfortune (and even then, of course it's not bound to be us that replaces them) and I don't see the club surviving in any recognizable form if the spiral continues, the shortfall from income will always be at a rate greater than the savings made on wages etc. and so I sadly do fear we are very near the last chance saloon. With the proverbial two chances.

That's a very reasonable assessment, FA.

Without a proper full-time pro league, with a reasonable set of competitive matches to look forward to, along with genuine chances of going back up, for teams which fall out of SL, the spiral is inevitable, imo. When Marc decides, 'enough is enough', and pulls the plug then the downward spin begins.

Re: 2016 Membership : Wed Feb 10, 2016 10:29 am  

A minor point, but for those of us who took out 5yr memberships (£500 for 5yrs) , this is the final year. It is amazing that all incarnations of the club since then have honoured them. I don't know numbers, but there should be an increase in income due to that as well.