by Dave » 17 Sep 2010, 11:14
happytorq wrote:
Hey - I'm sure that we're probably in line with a lot of clubs in the division, and we even compare favourably to several. But what I am saying is the demographics of the area mean that prices of this sort are not really sustainable. Torbay is in a depressed financial state, and has been for several years - the salaries are generally pretty crappy, because there is not a huge amount of business that is not tourism-based. You can throw numbers around about our 'catchment area' and all that stuff, but really you should be looking at numbers of viable supporters. You need to factor in the people who have enough of a disposable income to spend on tickets (this percentage would be lower than most places), as well as the people who are active followers of football (again, i'd guess this is also lower than the national average). Saying there are 100,000 potential 'customers' in the Bay area to compare with somewhere like Exeter is misleading. 100,000 people might be about right, but once you consider that a place like Exeter has a lot more going for it financially, such as a large student population (disposable income) and a more active non-tourism based economy, I think we see where the real differences are.
It's the same old story as we've always had. Do we want to risk the financial well being of the club just in the hope of attracting a few more fans? Just say that of the 2500 people we get most weeks, 2000 are paying the full £16. If you make the prices...say a tenner (which would a great price to advertise), you'd need to attract 1200 more people just to break even. really, how likely is that?
Is the supporter's trust still handing out the posters that advertise the games to local business? they did that when I was at the bookies and I thought that was a great idea.
I full understand the current economic state of the bay/south Devon, also understand fully about the segments of the population in the area, who might be children that rely on mum s and dad s to take them, 35-55 who have family s and can not afford to take all of the children so take none, and more importantly for this area the number of over 60 s who can not go for various reasons.
However I am focusing our first conference season, at times zero away support lower level of football, yet and average gate of near 3200 that season, if we had enjoyed league 2 level s of away support, the club would have enjoyed an average not far short of 4000 for that season, and the likes of Nortel had already packed up and left by then.
I am not suggesting that the club could add 1000 to the gate, because of the reasons above that s clearly not the case, however 500 is realistic ,which does not sound a lot, as said before it would bring in £150k plus in extra income, which would give the club scope to move forward .
To me it is about targeting, those fans like the lad I mentioned before ,who spent the Saturday afternoon in the pub because he can not afford the £16 ,getting the message across that the club has improved it is bigger and better than before, which in turn might help some fans to get there passion back.
And target the segment of the local population as mentioned before 18-30 year olds, who currently have no problem going to the pub on Sunday parting with £40-60 who do have disposable income, watching premier league football.
The club has to convince these people that for just £16 ,(which is less than a family sized pork roasting joint)you can come along and watch real live professional football, and shout and scream support a team for real, rather than shouting at the t.v, where no one can hear you.
[quote="happytorq"]
Hey - I'm sure that we're probably in line with a lot of clubs in the division, and we even compare favourably to several. But what I am saying is the demographics of the area mean that prices of this sort are not really sustainable. Torbay is in a depressed financial state, and has been for several years - the salaries are generally pretty crappy, because there is not a huge amount of business that is not tourism-based. You can throw numbers around about our 'catchment area' and all that stuff, but really you should be looking at numbers of viable supporters. You need to factor in the people who have enough of a disposable income to spend on tickets (this percentage would be lower than most places), as well as the people who are active followers of football (again, i'd guess this is also lower than the national average). Saying there are 100,000 potential 'customers' in the Bay area to compare with somewhere like Exeter is misleading. 100,000 people might be about right, but once you consider that a place like Exeter has a lot more going for it financially, such as a large student population (disposable income) and a more active non-tourism based economy, I think we see where the real differences are.
It's the same old story as we've always had. Do we want to risk the financial well being of the club just in the hope of attracting a few more fans? Just say that of the 2500 people we get most weeks, 2000 are paying the full £16. If you make the prices...say a tenner (which would a great price to advertise), you'd need to attract 1200 more people just to break even. really, how likely is that?
Is the supporter's trust still handing out the posters that advertise the games to local business? they did that when I was at the bookies and I thought that was a great idea.[/quote]
I full understand the current economic state of the bay/south Devon, also understand fully about the segments of the population in the area, who might be children that rely on mum s and dad s to take them, 35-55 who have family s and can not afford to take all of the children so take none, and more importantly for this area the number of over 60 s who can not go for various reasons.
However I am focusing our first conference season, at times zero away support lower level of football, yet and average gate of near 3200 that season, if we had enjoyed league 2 level s of away support, the club would have enjoyed an average not far short of 4000 for that season, and the likes of Nortel had already packed up and left by then.
I am not suggesting that the club could add 1000 to the gate, because of the reasons above that s clearly not the case, however 500 is realistic ,which does not sound a lot, as said before it would bring in £150k plus in extra income, which would give the club scope to move forward .
To me it is about targeting, those fans like the lad I mentioned before ,who spent the Saturday afternoon in the pub because he can not afford the £16 ,getting the message across that the club has improved it is bigger and better than before, which in turn might help some fans to get there passion back.
And target the segment of the local population as mentioned before 18-30 year olds, who currently have no problem going to the pub on Sunday parting with £40-60 who do have disposable income, watching premier league football.
The club has to convince these people that for just £16 ,(which is less than a family sized pork roasting joint)you can come along and watch real live professional football, and shout and scream support a team for real, rather than shouting at the t.v, where no one can hear you.
