Flexible ticket option, the type of which Hibs should investigate. Yay or nay?

[lyonhibs]

http://www.oufc.co.uk/news/article/00170113-lucky-7-604306.aspx

I went to an Oxford game once when I was living down there and so get bombarded with pish from them all the time. However, this one caught my eye. I'm no believer in these "just make all the tickets £5/£10" but I do feel that Hibs should be looking at more creative ways of bringing down the per game cost for folk who can go most of the time, but family/work commitments/bonkers KO times mean that they will miss more than a match or 2 a season, at which point a ST/HST becomes uneconomical (cue Uberfans saying "I buy a ST every season come hell or highwater, and never get my money's worth", which is fair enough if we don't want our average attendance to get much above 10-11,000)

Something like the scheme that Oxford are running (smaller club, yes, but I would imagine their average % stadium full figure isn't that much different from our own) or a sort of credit card system where you had to load a minimum of - say - £200 on before the start of the season, but then got a - again, hypothetical - £3/ticket reduction for home games bought with that card.

Limiting it to ST, HST (and yes, I know there are great deals for 65+, families, Hibs kids etc which is laudable, but for all the game has advanced over the years, a large chunk of our support remains "the working (wo)man") and walk-up tickets is - IMO - too rigid and a sign that a lot of clubs in the SPL haven't reacted with the changing economic landscape we find ourselves in.

[LancashireHibby]

I'd definitely have one of those depending on how many games you'd need to buy up front. That said, I'd prefer we had a system where you pay £20-£30 for a membership card and then get every home league game for maybe £20 a game or something along those lines.

[deek]

I would like to see a flexible option, where you pay a fixed amount for the whole season for about 8 - 10 games say. You don't have a regular seat, but this ticket would guarantee entry to any game of your choosing when you could make it. Not consecutive home games, or this would just be like the half season option we already have. All you would need to do is pre-book a ticket to the games you can make. If you don't make your complete allocation of games then it's money in the bank for the club anyway.

Just my thoughts?

[marinello59]

It's an idea with merit but how would you price it to make it attractive enough for people to pay up front without diluting the value of a full price season ticket even further? The average price paid for a season ticket at ER can't be much more than the OP's proposed £200 up front fee given the deals kids, students and OAP's get so they are hardly likely to be tempted either. I guess it would work if there was a very high take up allowing the club to reduce the price of season tickets at the same time.

[IWasThere2016]

It's an idea with merit but how would you price it to make it attractive enough for people to pay up front without diluting the value of a full price season ticket even further? The average price paid for a season ticket at ER can't be much more than the OP's proposed £200 up front fee given the deals kids, students and OAP's get so they are hardly likely to be tempted either. I guess it would work if there was a very high take up allowing the club to reduce the price of season tickets at the same time.

I'm all for it. The ST holder should score with enhanced first rights for cup tickets, and the strip offer like last season etc. Flexi card-holders wouldn't. Simples.

[LancashireHibby]

It's an idea with merit but how would you price it to make it attractive enough for people to pay up front without diluting the value of a full price season ticket even further? The average price paid for a season ticket at ER can't be much more than the OP's proposed £200 up front fee given the deals kids, students and OAP's get so they are hardly likely to be tempted either. I guess it would work if there was a very high take up allowing the club to reduce the price of season tickets at the same time.
I'm sure there can be a happy medium of having a higher price per game than season ticket holders, but still making a saving compared with paying game-by-game.

[Golden Bear]

A smart card system is definitely the way to go as it offers the punter additional flexibility.

The fan would have the ability to load as much money as he or show can afford on to their individual cards and in addition to match tickets, the card could be used to facilitate purchases from the Club shop. Let's say the fan decided to put £200 on to the card then that would entitle him/her to say 8 leagues games x £22 = £176) leaving a balance of £24 to be spent in the Club shop or as they see fit. The facility to "top up" the balance should be available at any time and unspent balances could be carried forward from one season to the next.

Go for it Hibs - you know it makes sense!

[marinello59]

I'm all for it. The ST holder should score with enhanced first rights for cup tickets, and the strip offer like last season etc. Flexi card-holders wouldn't. Simples.

So flexi-card holders would pay for a fixed number of matches which gives them a discount with no danger of losing out by missing matches as they can pick and choose which ones to attend? And Season tickets holders are compensated for having a worse financial deal by getting the same benefits as before but effectively paying for them? You are certainly making the flexi-option look much better than a season ticket to me.......I'll bin our three for that alright.

[Ringothedog]

So flexi-card holders would pay for a fixed number of matches which gives them a discount with no danger of losing out by missing matches as they can pick and choose which ones to attend? And Season tickets holders are compensated for having a worse financial deal by getting the same benefits as before but effectively paying for them? You are certainly making the flexi-option look much better than a season ticket to me.......I'll bin our three for that alright.


I would suggest something along the lines of the club membership. i.e cost is £100 then each cat b ticket priced at say £18 * 14 games = £252 and cat a games 4 * £20 = £80. This would give a total cost of £432. Of course you dont need to go to all home games you could choose maybe 7 cat b and 4 cat a. It doesn't really matter. The point would be that you have club membership giving you all the benefits it currently has and access to cheaper home tickets. A win win for Hibs and the fan

[Mr White]

I would suggest something along the lines of the club membership. i.e cost is £100 then each cat b ticket priced at say £18 * 14 games = £252 and cat a games 4 * £20 = £80. This would give a total cost of £432. Of course you dont need to go to all home games you could choose maybe 7 cat b and 4 cat a. It doesn't really matter. The point would be that you have club membership giving you all the benefits it currently has and access to cheaper home tickets. A win win for Hibs and the fan
that's a good shout, some golf clubs have schemes like that-Prestonfield for example has a silver membership where you pay a certain amount up front then a reduced rate each time you play until you've paid the same as standard membership. Could be some merit in something like this at Easter rd but I suppose the danger is that it could lead to reduced income from season ticket sales causing cash flow problems and uncertainty for the club.

[Treadstone]

Some tremendous ideas here. Hope Rods looking in . Some people want to get a season ticket but know that they will not be able to manage ALL games that year, midweek,family commitments etc.

Various STs should be available 6, 8, 10 and 12 for example, after all we have the capacity to make something like this work without affecting sales for people just walking up on the day.

[down-the-slope]

downside is someone like me who has a ST but actually attends about 15 games could get all the benefits I do now for less and lose nothing - but Hibs would.

Any take up of such schemes would have to make up losses from many like me...

I do think the way football is 'sold' needs to and will change. I think we need to get away from the idea of what we pay being directly related to number of matches we goto.....while this might instantly seem an odd idea to most...

Think about other things we all pay for regularly - gym membership / mobile phone contracts / Sky / breakdown cover etc etc . ... we pay monthly by Direct Debit for most - and how much we pay rarely is affected by how much we use...we want the service / access etc and stop thinking about the monthly payment..

This works for the service seller as they get regular income that is in advance of goods or service being used mostly...

Hibs could have Gold / Silver / Bronze memberships paid by DD monthly (all 12 months - no interest etc) with no renewal - just revolving permanent membership. £30 per month would be equivalent to my ST - this would allow lower cost membership so all could feel part of the 'family' an get service / access appropriate to cost of membership.

This would involve a big change in cash flow for club as currently they get 4000 + shelling out full year in May which is our working capital (club has no overdraft facility).....But I think it could work and change the relationship we have with OUR club...

[Golden Bear]

A smart card system is definitely the way to go as it offers the punter additional flexibility.

The fan would have the ability to load as much money as he or show can afford on to their individual cards and in addition to match tickets, the card could be used to facilitate purchases from the Club shop. Let's say the fan decided to put £200 on to the card then that would entitle him/her to say 8 leagues games x £22 = £176) leaving a balance of £24 to be spent in the Club shop or as they see fit. The facility to "top up" the balance should be available at any time and unspent balances could be carried forward from one season to the next.

Go for it Hibs - you know it makes sense!

I was thinking that the smart card could also be developed to allow fans to purchase drink in the BTG bar - it might even speed up the service!