Bradford style season tickets

[DanInHucknall]

Hi, i'm new and this is my first post.

My question is this:

How come Notts Co don't have a similar strategy to Bradford City in order to fill their stadium and not have vast numbers of empty seats. I've lived in Nottingham for over 10 years and always looked out for Notts but have always genuinely never understood how come they don't take advantage of having a huge stadium and do season tickets for £149-£199 provided say at least 11-12k sign up to it. I would love to hear peoples views.

[Alex]

When I lived in Kiev I was sure that ticket's price in English football is unreasonable high.
Now I live in Canada and I can say that price isn't so awful. Even more, I would say many clubs could increase it.

I understand that nobody wants to pay   But real world to enforce us to help our clubs by our money. Of course if we want more than "just play"

[Piethagoram]

Commercially, the only way is to say if we reach "x" number of season ticket sales, we will refund you "y" amount

[DangerousSausage]

Welcome! 

If I remember rightly, we had a half-hearted attempt at this in the Trew era - the prices started out normal, but would have fallen when we sold certain quantities of season tickets. It didn't work. For the scheme to work, the club would have to take the risk and reduce ST prices significantly from the start, otherwise we'll just sell our usual 3000.

Another issue is that Notts probably couldn't sell as many. When they launched the scheme, Bradford had recently been on the Premier League and were by far the city's biggest club. Neither is the case for us, and the National League is a really hard sell for casual fans. 

One issue we have generally is the big gap between ST and single ticket prices. High match tickets might push people towards season tickets to save money, but they also have the effect of putting off people who would come on a more casual basis. Ultimately, very few people actually pay full whack for match tickets when you take away the ST holders and concessions. Is it worth it? 

[allardyces tash]

I would imagine most Notts supporters are over the age of 40, with OAP's being the clubs biggest takers of season tickets.

The issue with Notts lowering their pricing is that it will have a bigger impact on their playing budget I feel, there aren't a great amount of interested fans outside of those who own season tickets and retaining those fans is an even harder task.

I do think the club could make some movement with tickets prices, but offering cheaper tickets won't bring in more fans or more money alone.

Notts should return to offering younger fans free or cheaper tickets, along with group and family season tickets.

[Chris]

Just to point out, Hartlepool once offered much lower season ticket prices, and they never imagined how many fans would take them up.

The price was that low, it backfired, and they lost revenue.

Bradford City are a team that has the supporters out there, they're a club that's bounced through all the divisions and in fairness to them - they could be a Championship side. Notts County, on the other hand, are a League One club at best. The comparison between the two teams is quite different, with them not exactly competing with a rival like Nottingham Forest for local fans. Yes, there's Bradford Park Avenue - they're no threat to Bradford City though.

I know the clubs are looking at plans to attract younger supporters, which I feel have started to come through more within the last 5 years.

It's an interesting discussion, but realistically I just don't see the room for much change.

Personally, I feel that maximising the clubs' match day revenue is the area worth focusing on. Improving the catering and, giving fans quality products would bring in more revenue than season tickets, along with the match day hospitality. Allowing fans to be fans in hospitality is something that Notts needs to identify, as corporate businesses and wealthy fans aren't exactly the area they should be targetting IMO.

In addition, I have always tried to push the idea that Notts should get into communities a lot more.

The Caribbean, Polish, African, Asian etc - parts of Nottingham aren't associated with local football. Whilst Forest might have more of an attraction with some of these communities, it's nowhere near what other football clubs have.

Wolves have a strong Asian following, as does Leicester City.

The number of Asian taxi drivers that have asked me about the Notts score, or have show general interest because Notts are the 'underdogs' of Nottingham is outstanding. I have also spoken to communities in the past and asked them about if they've attended football in Nottingham.

Most that have spoken to me have said they either work weekends or don't feel comfortable watching live football in Nottingham.

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

You're talking about pretty much halving the cost of a season ticket, which means you need to double the amount of STs we sell. That means we need to go from around 3500 to 7000. 7k is well above our normal attendance and in that 7k you will have a lot of people that normally attend a handful, or half the games, that will see it better to get a reduced price season ticket. That makes it even LESS viable, so really you'd need to sell 8k season tickets. That's not happening, unfortunately. 

The reality is that 3500 STs at current price is better than 5000 STs at half price.

[DanInHucknall]

Some interesting points from everybody., thanks!
 

It’s interesting Chris that you say Notts are a league 1 club at best. If that’s the case then why do they have a 20k stadium. Did they ever used to fill it? (Not including tickets for £2)

If it’s assumed that they’re a league 1 club tops then surely they need to reduce the capacity to half? Demolish the Jimmy Sirrel and Haydn Green and use part of the Derik Pavis to house away fans. 
 

That’s if you’re going to accept that they’re merely a small club. Or else the only option is to do what you suggested and focus on kids, families, and ethinic communities etc to get new generations interested. 
 

Meadow Lane is a lovely stadium. Just needs filling up more.

 

[DangerousSausage]

Don't really see the sense in talking about a smaller ground. We're way lower in the leagues than we could be, so it's not surprising that we're not going to get close to filling it. The loyal fans are still around, but most others simply aren't interested in NL football. Or League Two for that matter.

That could change if we start moving up the leagues. I'm less pessimistic than @Chris here and absolutely think we could play in the Championship again, although it's a long way away now. There's no reason we can't aspire to being where Peterborough and Luton are - Luton themselves were in the National League in 2014, but reached the Championship five years later and have stayed there. It takes good planning and a bit of luck. You couldn't say it's our natural level after a 25-year absence, but I refuse to believe we can't reach the division Wycombe were playing in last season.

By the way, Luton's ground holds around 10,000 and they've been looking for a new ground for decades as Kenilworth Road's capacity has seriously stunted their growth. We could one day come to appreciate Meadow Lane's capacity. When the ground was rebuilt, we were in what's now the Championship and had only been out of the top flight for a couple of years. I don't think even the bleakest pessimist would have foreseen what would happen from 1995 onwards.

Going back to tickets, the club definitely needs to draw in more casual fans and, as Chris says, ethnic minorities. If people don't think they'll be welcome at the Lane, it's down to the club to go out there and make them feel wanted. All schemes work best when the team is delivering on the pitch though - don't expect a lot of interest from anyone if we're knocking around the middle of the NL!

[DanInHucknall]

44 minutes ago, DangerousSausage said:

Don't really see the sense in talking about a smaller ground. We're way lower in the leagues than we could be, so it's not surprising that we're not going to get close to filling it. The loyal fans are still around, but most others simply aren't interested in NL football. Or League Two for that matter.

That could change if we start moving up the leagues. I'm less pessimistic than @Chris here and absolutely think we could play in the Championship again, although it's a long way away now. There's no reason we can't aspire to being where Peterborough and Luton are - Luton themselves were in the National League in 2014, but reached the Championship five years later and have stayed there. It takes good planning and a bit of luck. You couldn't say it's our natural level after a 25-year absence, but I refuse to believe we can't reach the division Wycombe were playing in last season.

By the way, Luton's ground holds around 10,000 and they've been looking for a new ground for decades as Kenilworth Road's capacity has seriously stunted their growth. We could one day come to appreciate Meadow Lane's capacity. When the ground was rebuilt, we were in what's now the Championship and had only been out of the top flight for a couple of years. I don't think even the bleakest pessimist would have foreseen what would happen from 1995 onwards.

Going back to tickets, the club definitely needs to draw in more casual fans and, as Chris says, ethnic minorities. If people don't think they'll be welcome at the Lane, it's down to the club to go out there and make them feel wanted. All schemes work best when the team is delivering on the pitch though - don't expect a lot of interest from anyone if we're knocking around the middle of the NL!

Yes good point. There are plenty to choose from. Yeovil, Southend arguably even Grimsby have been in the 2nd tier since Notts were last there. 
 

If Notts can get some momentum and a feel good factor then who knows. I sincerely hope you’re right. Would love to see Notts rival Forest one day. Would be great for the city.

 

If these owners believe in Notts and believe they can get there and stay there. Then why not. One thing that needs to stop is the managerial Merry go round that’s happened at Notts in recent years. It never worked anywhere. Need some stability.

[Feral Fox]

I see this close season as testament as to what could happen. First real radar close season IMO. Brexit stunting the pool so to speak, but as a club, the structures and framework in the background are now all in place. Hopefully the players can make good on all the resources the club has at its disposal.

I see us as a long term bigger project. Not rose tinted glasses etc…just believe that the stepping stones put in place now will enable us long term to move through the leagues as soon as we get out of this one! I’d say Championship level as well tbf.

 

Regards ticket prices, season ticket prices and stadium capacity… These are shrewd owners with faith in Turner as CEO. I’m sure every option has been discussed and I think we trust in their decision. Notts have always suffered in the shadow of Florest community wise. As a teacher from the Meadows, it was sickening to see the 7 year olds being given free Florest shirts each year. Notts FITC does great work, but really should be in-house now imo. Education is the starting point. Get a setup where schools are bussed into the Lane for days out. Get classrooms setup and full time staff to run an educational program. (And yes I’ve voiced this before to Ray Trew, who agreed in principle, but wasn’t prepared to put money into it) get coaches in to all schools in Nottinghamshire regularly. So regularly, they’re seen as first choice above Florest. Communities normally follow where the children are welcomed. Start there and whole swathes of communities will follow.

[Chris]

@DangerousSausage Don't get me wrong, I think we could play at Championship level - I just don't see our stature as being there. We don't own a training ground, our stadium is small in consideration. We aren't some of these underdogs that have things in place, for some reason Notts will always have their struggles.

I'd like us to end up like Peterborough United, bouncing between the Championship and League One.

However, I still believe our realistic level at this stage - at it's very highest is League One. Last time we was there, it never seemed likely that we would go up.