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View Full Version : Is Scottish football just too overpriced?



DuffyHFC
26-01-2014, 09:48 PM
Well im a former season ticket holder or maybe 10 years and only now go to Easter Road occasionally. Apart from the fact that watching Hibs can be quite painful and downright depressing. I have limited disposable income these days and have to watch the cash. £20 category A games, £15 category B games, Kids between 6-15 no more than £10 and 5 and under for free?

son of haggart
26-01-2014, 09:52 PM
Well im a former season ticket holder or maybe 10 years and only now go to Easter Road occasionally. Apart from the fact that watching Hibs can be quite painful and downright depressing. I have limited disposable income these days and have to watch the cash. £20 category A games, £15 category B games, Kids between 6-15 no more than £10 and 5 and under for free?

I htink that's what SPL football is worth, but unfortunately the clubs would go bust if that's what they charged

Weststandwanab
26-01-2014, 09:56 PM
It is so over priced it is not true.

leggeto
26-01-2014, 09:57 PM
Well im a former season ticket holder or maybe 10 years and only now go to Easter Road occasionally. Apart from the fact that watching Hibs can be quite painful and downright depressing. I have limited disposable income these days and have to watch the cash. £20 category A games, £15 category B games, Kids between 6-15 no more than £10 and 5 and under for free?

sounds ok,especially under 5s for free,hate it when the steward sometimes never let me in with my son from 1 to 5years then and made me pay 12 bucks especially as they don't really watch the game its just to get them into the hibs for when they get older,plus the season ticket price for kids in the east is terrible when it is considerably cheaper in the cowshed

Jonnyboy
26-01-2014, 09:57 PM
I htink that's what SPL football is worth, but unfortunately the clubs would go bust if that's what they charged

Some quicker than others :wink:

GreenCastle
26-01-2014, 09:58 PM
Simple answer YES..it's rarely value for money.

Don't get me started on the food prices.

SMAXXA
26-01-2014, 09:58 PM
Some quicker than others :wink:

:faf::faf:

Steven_Hibs
26-01-2014, 10:06 PM
Unfortunately Scottish football doesn't have a decent structure to it. Look at the German league, they were in a mess about 10-15 years ago, but they sorted themselves out. Now they charge like £50-£60 for a season ticket. Low prices generate high crowds, which generates clubs more money and so forth. We need to do something similar. Our game is dying, and the rebranding has not and will not help us. We need to get rid if your Doncasters/Regans.

Nomeancity
26-01-2014, 10:18 PM
Yes

Hermit Crab
26-01-2014, 10:21 PM
Simple answer YES..it's rarely value for money.

Don't get me started on the food prices.

How they can justify £2.40 for a bottle of coke is beyond me.

c31
26-01-2014, 10:39 PM
If nobody buys it then the price will come down

Ronniekirk
26-01-2014, 10:47 PM
How they can justify £2.40 for a bottle of coke is beyond me.

I have stopped buying food and drink at games recently because it is just that a rip off.The food is often warm at best and often not that appetising

SouthamptonHibs
26-01-2014, 10:50 PM
£20 for Adults and £10 for kids and OAP's.
19 games would mean season ticket £380 and £190 kids. (Maybe offer free entry to a couple of glamour home friendlies as an incentive)
Those prices are within 90% of people budget.

marleyhib
26-01-2014, 10:54 PM
The clubs should pay us to watch it half the time

SouthamptonHibs
26-01-2014, 11:01 PM
The clubs should pay us to watch it half the time

10/10 agreed

NAE NOOKIE
26-01-2014, 11:07 PM
Unfortunately Scottish football doesn't have a decent structure to it. Look at the German league, they were in a mess about 10-15 years ago, but they sorted themselves out. Now they charge like £50-£60 for a season ticket. Low prices generate high crowds, which generates clubs more money and so forth. We need to do something similar. Our game is dying, and the rebranding has not and will not help us. We need to get rid if your Doncasters/Regans.

Germany has done many things which are to be admired and could be copied....... but the truth is that they have a top league of 18 clubs with a population of 80 million to draw support from and more than decent TV money .... we have neither of these and they are big factors in being able to drop prices. If Hibs were to charge £60 for a season ticket they would need to sell 30,000 of the bloomin' things.

I am not saying the prices are not steep, or even value for money a lot of the time, but with the season we have coming up dropping prices would be nuts.

The one thing we could do is find a way to persuade the TV folk to bin these lunch time kick offs ... I dont know about other clubs, but Hibs home crowds for these games are usually poor. Whats the point of TV money when 3 or 4 thousand is shaved off the crowd with the game being televised.

LancashireHibby
26-01-2014, 11:09 PM
£20 for Adults and £10 for kids and OAP's.
19 games would mean season ticket £380 and £190 kids. (Maybe offer free entry to a couple of glamour home friendlies as an incentive)
Those prices are within 90% of people budget.
For what it's worth, I paid £295 for my season ticket at the Reebok, which is the same price as was being charged for EPL games two years ago. I've often considered buying a Hibs season ticket even in the knowledge that I won't make every game, but £410 a pop is mental.

I must admit that in the past season or two, if I've had a choice of a Hibs home game at £22 or a Bolton away game at £22-£25 then I've generally gone for the latter (though I'll be at the Ross County game in a couple of weeks rather than Millwall away, albeit that's as much to do with train prices).

BOB MARLEYS DUG
26-01-2014, 11:10 PM
Yep.

JustSimplyHibs
26-01-2014, 11:16 PM
Well im a former season ticket holder or maybe 10 years and only now go to Easter Road occasionally. Apart from the fact that watching Hibs can be quite painful and downright depressing. I have limited disposable income these days and have to watch the cash. £20 category A games, £15 category B games, Kids between 6-15 no more than £10 and 5 and under for free?

No its not overpriced however, players wages are over priced (esp. the guys that imitate footballers i.e. folk like Vine, Matt Docherty - ken he's left but it's an example) which drives the price the punter pays at the gate.

Makaveli
26-01-2014, 11:23 PM
I think half the trouble is that we have to compete for players (and a viewing audience) with English clubs who have huge TV money. A lot of players aren't worth what they're paid but everything is inflated by the billion-pound rights deals. The German comparison doesn't work because the German market is just that: German. German kids don't support English teams.

When Celtic's best players are going to Norwich and Southampton you can see something is skewed.

Spudster
26-01-2014, 11:30 PM
Unfortunately Scottish football doesn't have a decent structure to it. Look at the German league, they were in a mess about 10-15 years ago, but they sorted themselves out. Now they charge like £50-£60 for a season ticket. Low prices generate high crowds, which generates clubs more money and so forth. We need to do something similar. Our game is dying, and the rebranding has not and will not help us. We need to get rid if your Doncasters/Regans.

Not true. Germany's potential audience is incomparable to Scotland's too

Gerard
26-01-2014, 11:30 PM
It is a matter of opinion if any product of service is too expensive. The EPL teams get 10 of millions of money from media rights and tends to have a much bigger support for the clubs in it, compared to the SPL. If the players were to be paid less wages and if all the salaried staff were to also accept lesser wages, perhaps the ticket price would be reduced. The problem is that we would have only part time players and part time admin staff.
G

cocopops1875
26-01-2014, 11:39 PM
Unfortunately Scottish football doesn't have a decent structure to it. Look at the German league, they were in a mess about 10-15 years ago, but they sorted themselves out. Now they charge like £50-£60 for a season ticket. Low prices generate high crowds, which generates clubs more money and so forth. We need to do something similar. Our game is dying, and the rebranding has not and will not help us. We need to get rid if your Doncasters/Regans.
Who charges £50-60 fora season book in Germany ?

Sir David Gray
26-01-2014, 11:42 PM
Unfortunately Scottish football doesn't have a decent structure to it. Look at the German league, they were in a mess about 10-15 years ago, but they sorted themselves out. Now they charge like £50-£60 for a season ticket. Low prices generate high crowds, which generates clubs more money and so forth. We need to do something similar. Our game is dying, and the rebranding has not and will not help us. We need to get rid if your Doncasters/Regans.

£60 for a season ticket?

Which club charges that and is that for an adult? :confused:

That's about £3 a game!

son of haggart
26-01-2014, 11:53 PM
£60 for a season ticket?

Which club charges that and is that for an adult? :confused:

That's about £3 a game!

Last year - second column is cheapest adult season

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/17/football-ticket-prices-premier-league-europe

Bayern Munich 540 67 58 12
Bayer Leverkusen 450 133 63 10
Borussia Dortrmund 823 303 50 13
Frankfurt 635 267 40 9
Freiburg 590 307 50 8
Mainz 516 155 34 10
Schalke 735 303 43 12
Monchenglad-bach 511 274 37 13
Stuttgart 607 145 60 12
Hamburg 603 230 78 11
Hannover 278 75 43 11
Werder Bremen 498 141 50 6
Fortuna Dusseldorf 574 212 38 10

Hibercelona
27-01-2014, 02:32 AM
The current standard isn't even worth 15 quid for a ticket. 15 quid for the pleasure of scooping your own eyes out with a spoon. (Spoon not included, unless you pay for hospitality!)

The Germans have got it right. I'm not suggesting clubs here should start selling season tickets as low as £60, but theres no reason why we can't have a similar system in place, that will still see prices drop, even if it's not a dramatic drop.

basehibby
27-01-2014, 02:48 AM
Scottish football is caught between a rock and a hard place on pricing - we want to see good teams on the park but are competing in the same markets for players as English clubs who have the luxury of not relying so heavily on the pundits through the turnstiles as they can fall back on silly money received from television deals.

Therefore Scottish clubs have to charge a fair whack on the gate or they will not be able to compete in the transfer market - punters will then get even more sick at the level of football on display and then the problem gets worse!

So - no I don't think we pay over the odds for the priviledge of watching a game (that said, for games televised at midday on Sunday etc they're pushing it asking for £28!)

Prices for half time food etc are another matter - I feel at Hibs in particular we frighten families and punters in general away with the OTT prices asked for crap food.

cocopops1875
27-01-2014, 06:25 AM
Last year - second column is cheapest adult season

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/17/football-ticket-prices-premier-league-europe

Bayern Munich 540 67 58 12
Bayer Leverkusen 450 133 63 10
Borussia Dortrmund 823 303 50 13
Frankfurt 635 267 40 9
Freiburg 590 307 50 8
Mainz 516 155 34 10
Schalke 735 303 43 12
Monchenglad-bach 511 274 37 13
Stuttgart 607 145 60 12
Hamburg 603 230 78 11
Hannover 278 75 43 11
Werder Bremen 498 141 50 6
Fortuna Dusseldorf 574 212 38 10

So are they Adult season tickets ? The £67 ones ? And if they are how many are available at that price ?, Don't get me wrong the German's do well by the fans (we went to see 1860 Munich 2 years ago)cheap seats were 12euros, programme was 2euro, beer was reasonable and the food was fantastic (maybe the same price as Easter road but for a real pizza that tasted amazing) plus your ticket covered the train travel from town to ground and back again, But it's a myth that it's way cheaper than other leagues

bingo70
27-01-2014, 06:41 AM
Scottish football is caught between a rock and a hard place on pricing - we want to see good teams on the park but are competing in the same markets for players as English clubs who have the luxury of not relying so heavily on the pundits through the turnstiles as they can fall back on silly money received from television deals.

Therefore Scottish clubs have to charge a fair whack on the gate or they will not be able to compete in the transfer market - punters will then get even more sick at the level of football on display and then the problem gets worse!

So - no I don't think we pay over the odds for the priviledge of watching a game (that said, for games televised at midday on Sunday etc they're pushing it asking for £28!)

Prices for half time food etc are another matter - I feel at Hibs in particular we frighten families and punters in general away with the OTT prices asked for crap food.

Don't disagree but if the price of the food is a major factor why not just eat before going into the ground or take small snacks in to the ground? It's only a couple of hours.

Agree with your other point though, I think its not value for money but it costs what it needs to cost in order for us to compete with English clubs for players.
The only thing I would day though is that I don't see why category a games have to be more expensive, I realise there's higher policing costs etc but surely the fact there'll be a bigger crowd anyway should cover that. I've got a season ticket but if I never I certainly wouldn't have been paying £28 for a game that's on the tele.

DuffyHFC
27-01-2014, 07:10 AM
No its not overpriced however, players wages are over priced (esp. the guys that imitate footballers i.e. folk like Vine, Matt Docherty - ken he's left but it's an example) which drives the price the punter pays at the gate.

Good and valid point.

cloudy
27-01-2014, 07:35 AM
If they made it half the price would the crowd double? Bigger crowd means better atmosphere, more sales at the pie stand more sales in the club shop, makes sense to me

cocopops1875
27-01-2014, 08:47 AM
If they made it half the price would the crowd double? Bigger crowd means better atmosphere, more sales at the pie stand more sales in the club shop, makes sense to me

No I don't think the crowd would double, Hibs don't make money from pies

gegs70
27-01-2014, 08:57 AM
It was £28 for a game v celtic which was on telly and at a stupid lunch time kick off.on a sunday. Celtic who are unbeaten and hibs somewhat under strength too.

Why would you want to pay more at this game than any other. YES overpriced. They need to rethink the price structure to get people interested again then they can consider increasing prices.

NOLA
27-01-2014, 09:01 AM
anything more than 20 notes for an adult is overpriced, kids/oaps should be a tenner.

Gatecrasher
27-01-2014, 09:41 AM
It was £28 for a game v celtic which was on telly and at a stupid lunch time kick off.on a sunday. Celtic who are unbeaten and hibs somewhat under strength too.

Why would you want to pay more at this game than any other. YES overpriced. They need to rethink the price structure to get people interested again then they can consider increasing prices.
That IMO is a big problem, £28 to watch that yesterday is crazy considering there were many places to watch the game for free. Add to the fact that the game isn't officiated correctly and you have to sit in the freezing cold and pushing rain makes it a no brainer.

i think the cat B games aren't too bad though, as they usually aren't televised.

Saorsa
27-01-2014, 09:51 AM
Bad enough paying 28 quid, even worse when the game is being officiated by a blatant cheat and any little chance you had of getting anything out of it goes doon the pan with that.

Steve-O
27-01-2014, 09:52 AM
That IMO is a big problem, £28 to watch that yesterday is crazy considering there were many places to watch the game for free. Add to the fact that the game isn't officiated correctly and you have to sit in the freezing cold and pushing rain makes it a no brainer.

i think the cat B games aren't too bad though, as they usually aren't televised.

To put it in some perspective, the New Zealand v Mexico World Cup play off here was the equivalent of 28 quid.

Average A-League game (not much of a gulf in standard, if any) is about £14-15 and my season ticket was £80.

£400+ for a SPL season ticket just seems detached from reality for me nowadays.

green&left
27-01-2014, 10:36 AM
Everything is over priced in the Scottish game.

From tickets and transport (public), to the clubshop tat to the £5 for a pie n bovril. I know clubs have to make money but some off it is just a complete pisstake. Likewise I know we don't the TV and sponsorship money off some of the larger countries however surely some ejjit out there must realise that charging the same for Hibs v Celtic as it is for Juve at home and the same for Dundee Utd away being more expensive than some sections of the Alianz arena isn't value for money.

I'd happily take a lower quality of player as if it means cheaper ticket / increased crowds as lets face it the quality of Scottish football is fairly pish already.

--------
27-01-2014, 11:59 AM
Well im a former season ticket holder or maybe 10 years and only now go to Easter Road occasionally. Apart from the fact that watching Hibs can be quite painful and downright depressing. I have limited disposable income these days and have to watch the cash. £20 category A games, £15 category B games, Kids between 6-15 no more than £10 and 5 and under for free?


Some of the games I see on TV? They should be paying us. :rolleyes:

Ronniekirk
27-01-2014, 12:06 PM
W
If they made it half the price would the crowd double? Bigger crowd means better atmosphere, more sales at the pie stand more sales in the club shop, makes sense to me

That wouldn't automatically happen .the only proven way to get an extra few thousand on the gate is to put an entertaining winning team on the park. that combined with Butchers P R skills would generate interest .

gegs70
27-01-2014, 12:28 PM
I know that German clubs arent too expensive but other countries what do they charge and do thet have Cat A and B games? Pretty soon there will.only be 1 Cat A game anyway?

Scouse Hibee
27-01-2014, 01:54 PM
Football in England and Scotland is overpriced however as long as I can afford it I would much rather be at a game than watch it on the TV.

BroxburnHibee
27-01-2014, 02:21 PM
Football in England and Scotland is overpriced however as long as I can afford it I would much rather be at a game than watch it on the TV.

I think most people would say the same.

Unfortunately in this day and age people have a lot less disposable income and are forced to make choices around that.

Football clubs need to get a lot more creative on how to entice people along. I've said this before but it seems like the only plan they have is to rely on the blind loyalty/stupidity :greengrin of an ever shrinking loyal fanbase.

I've only made about 3 games this season and its purely for financial reasons and there must be plenty more people in my position.

Mikey09
27-01-2014, 02:59 PM
I get to Easter road very rarely sadly. As a Family we just can't afford to go so we head to murrayfield to watch the Ice hockey. It's less than half the price (which is just in our budget), great entertainment and the food is very cheap. I love watching Hibs but just can't afford it. Shame.......

jacomo
27-01-2014, 03:10 PM
Looking at attendance across Scotland and the acres of empty seats on view every week, you'd have to say football is over priced.

frazeHFC
27-01-2014, 05:23 PM
Football in England and Scotland is overpriced however as long as I can afford it I would much rather be at a game than watch it on the TV.


Seeing that tickets for Liverpool fans at the Emirates goes from £62 to £93, absolutely ridiculous prices!!

Hibercelona
27-01-2014, 06:32 PM
Looking at attendance across Scotland and the acres of empty seats on view every week, you'd have to say football is over priced.

Exactly.

There' plenty of demand for football in this country, but so many just can't afford to go on a consistant basis.

There has to be a better system available than the current one. But the englishmen that run the scottish game aren't bothered.

Inch Hibs
27-01-2014, 06:33 PM
Of course it is.

The problem we have is we will always have England to compare with and compete with for players.

jacomo
27-01-2014, 06:41 PM
Of course it is.

The problem we have is we will always have England to compare with and compete with for players.

This is both a problem and an opportunity, IMO.

Yes, of course we can't compete with the top divisions in England, but on the other hand we have the World's Greatest League (TM) on our doorstep and there are 1000s of players who will do anything to get a piece of that action.

Scottish football is a proven route into the big time - Bob Martinez at Everton knows it, and countless players inc. Fletcher, Whittaker etc have earned a contract in the EPL after getting noticed in Scotland.

Keith_M
27-01-2014, 06:53 PM
Just to clarify some of the figures quoted for German Season Tickets...


NO German top league club sells Full Price Adult STs for €60

Bayern Munich's ST prices range from €140 for a terracing ticket up to €750. That doesn't include Executive seats, as they are priced in the thousands.

They do have an adult ST for €80, but that's only for Wheelchair Users.

The Terracing Tickets are specifically subsidised by the clubs on the back of the 100s of million of TV money so that the watching viewers will experience a great atmosphere.

You can't get a terracing ticket for Bayern for love nor money, as they are supplied to their Ultras and other such supporters clubs.



Bayern Munich's CEO is a Tax Cheat (this has nothing to do with the topic but I hate the weasel :wink:)

Billy Whizz
27-01-2014, 06:57 PM
Just to clarify some of the figures quoted for German Season Tickets...


NO German top league club sells Full Price Adult STs for €60

Bayern Munich's ST prices range from €140 for a terracing ticket up to €750. That doesn't include Executive seats, as they are priced in the thousands.

They do have an adult ST for €80, but that's only for Wheelchair Users.

The Terracing Tickets are specifically subsidised by the clubs on the back of the 100s of million of TV money so that the watching viewers will experience a great atmosphere.

You can't get a terracing ticket for Bayern for love nor money, as they are supplied to their Ultras and other such supporters clubs.



Bayern Munich's CEO is a Tax Cheat (this has nothing to do with the topic but I hate the weasel :wink:)

We have to give 20% VAT back to our government on every ticket sold, what is the tax in Germany?

judas
27-01-2014, 08:11 PM
Unfortunately Scottish football doesn't have a decent structure to it. Look at the German league, they were in a mess about 10-15 years ago, but they sorted themselves out. Now they charge like £50-£60 for a season ticket. Low prices generate high crowds, which generates clubs more money and so forth. We need to do something similar. Our game is dying, and the rebranding has not and will not help us. We need to get rid if your Doncasters/Regans.

I agree, but the only way to make that work is to put full emphasis on youth development.

This in conjunction with wage caps, would lower the largest overhead a club carries and enable lower prices. It would also improve Scotland's young players benefiting the national team.

Sorry to say, the OF need to leave the league too. Lack of competition is killing the game.

Kaff
27-01-2014, 08:41 PM
I agree, but the only way to make that work is to put full emphasis on youth development.

This in conjunction with wage caps, would lower the largest overhead a club carries and enable lower prices. It would also improve Scotland's young players benefiting the national team.

Sorry to say, the OF need to leave the league too. Lack of competition is killing the game.

I read on another thread that someone was paying £36 per month in the FF on the finance scheme for season ticket for him and 2 kids (how long are the payments for? I don't know) but to me that sounds good value, roughly two games per month. However living a distance away from ER I can't look at a season and though our two kids are in Hibs Kids we can't always time our trips to coincide with their free fixtures so at the last Celtic game we paid £56 and will pay similar for the Ross County game. Close to the price of 3 months and potentially 6 games for the FF example, what I'm trying to say I suppose is that there are good deals there but probably only for families I'm sure.

SouthamptonHibs
27-01-2014, 10:32 PM
For what it's worth, I paid £295 for my season ticket at the Reebok, which is the same price as was being charged for EPL games two years ago. I've often considered buying a Hibs season ticket even in the knowledge that I won't make every game, but £410 a pop is mental.

I must admit that in the past season or two, if I've had a choice of a Hibs home game at £22 or a Bolton away game at £22-£25 then I've generally gone for the latter (though I'll be at the Ross County game in a couple of weeks rather than Millwall away, albeit that's as much to do with train prices).


Championship is a good league some great games. I watch Pompey and Saints down here. Pompey now in fourth tier. The standard is brutal. Even most of the games in third tier where bad.
The Thing with English teams in Championship and Prem league they can afford to have reduced tickets due to the amount of revenue they get from tv.
Scottish teams need to charge a certain amount of money as this is a main part of our income.

£20 a game is not to much to pay. The standard of game in Scotland is decent, not as bad as people think. Problem is all our fans watch the premier league. In there minds most fans can't separate what they see on tv in England to what they expect to see in the SPL.

Most English teams charge over £35 a ticket per game. A Hibs season ticket works out half to me it's fair and worth the money.

green&left
28-01-2014, 03:25 PM
I know that German clubs arent too expensive but other countries what do they charge and do thet have Cat A and B games? Pretty soon there will.only be 1 Cat A game anyway?

Non SPL games i've been too:

-AC Milan v Roma (2006) around £25 it worked out.
-Bratislava v Someone (2010) was 5,eur.
-Cracovia v Polonia Bytom (2010) worked out at £7 (most expensive seats in the main stand, cheaper seats available. The away team had about 2500 fans there and average about 3000 at home!)
-Eintracht Frankfurt v Schalke (2010?) was 28,eur (Cheaper terracing tickets available - sold out)
-Ujpest v Someone (2011) was £6 (Fantastic scran and pint that cost pennies!)
-Eintracht v Wolfsburg (2013) 32,eur (Cheaper terracing tickets available - sold out)
-Crystal Palace v Cardiff (2013) £32 (Cheaper available but sold out)

Kaff
29-01-2014, 01:31 AM
Looking at attendance across Scotland and the acres of empty seats on view every week, you'd have to say football is over priced.

No idea on ticket prices but watching the France Ligue 1 round up on BT Sport and noticing half full stadiums I looked up their attendances, L1 was approx 20k per game and L2 7k. Given their population and lack of 'overpowering' neighbour then you have to say that is poor.
Edit. Serie A 22k average and Serie B 6k
Both these countries have more than 10 times our population yet their attendances do not reflect that especially allied to what would be classed as a better quality of football

Craig_in_Prague
29-01-2014, 06:23 AM
Slightly less pricing, summer football, safe standing areas, beers, Friday nights over Sunday lunch kick off times (when televised)..
Crowds would be bigger.

Crowds in Scotland are good, but we don't usually have other sports which we are as keen on (ice hockey, rugby etc) which other countries often have these as the main sport, or at least the same popularity as football.

heretoday
29-01-2014, 09:11 AM
It's affordable but I am glad I'm not having to take a couple of hungry kids along these days.

The main trouble is that Scottish football is complete s***.

Matty_Jack04
29-01-2014, 09:17 AM
Looking at attendance across Scotland and the acres of empty seats on view every week, you'd have to say football is over priced.

You could also say clubs have been forced to build grounds too big for there support base, the old rule of a 10k seater stadium before promotion forced clubs to spend money they didn't have on facilities that they never needed, the people we have had running the game in this country have contributed just as much to killing it as the OF have.

I do agree football is over priced £22 to watch hibs vs Ross county and the like is money that can be best spent somewhere else I'm afraid and personally speaking hibs would need to be playing some good stuff for me to pay it these days which leads to me and a few thousand others it seems picking and choosing which games to attend, the issue with reducing ticket prices is that you can't charge people £410 for a season ticket and then reduce prices even for a couple of selected games during the season it's just not fair also all clubs have to agree on ticket pricing at the beginning of each season I think which if true sort of ties the clubs hands, each club outside Celtic has the same problem though I don't see any reason why they all can't sit down close season and think something up, my only idea would be too scrap the split so we play each team 4 times and each side in the league has a 'cheap' home game against the other and discount 11 games off the cost of a season ticket, we could then compare gates from normal pricing to the cheaper option and maybe meet somewhere in the middle for the folowing season?

weonlywon6-2
29-01-2014, 09:22 AM
the football is far to expensive for what you get in return .
28 for the derby and celtic games is crazy.
been to several away games and 20 and 10 for the kids is a lot better,still a lot though.
they should have a 20 family ticket

Finbar
29-01-2014, 09:44 AM
When the Hibs board set their ticket prices they have two options, they can try to take in as much money as possible or they can try to attract as many supporters as possible. It seems to me that they usually go for the first option.

There must be hundreds, perhaps thousands who have to pick and choose their games because they can't afford to go every week, would it be better to have a bigger crowd but less money to spend on players?

Saorsa
29-01-2014, 10:07 AM
When the Hibs board set their ticket prices they have two options, they can try to take in as much money as possible or they can try to attract as many supporters as possible. It seems to me that they usually go for the first option.

There must be hundreds, perhaps thousands who have to pick and choose their games because they can't afford to go every week, would it be better to have a bigger crowd but less money to spend on players?Yes for some cost is an issue, for the majority though it is the product on the park that determines whether they go. When prices have been reduced the crowds have never gone up proportionally, so we wouldnae have much bigger crowds just a lot less money. If it's worth watching a lot of people seem tae find the money from somewhere tae come along. Prices went up when Mowbray was the manager, that never stopped the crowds going up with them. The product on the park is the key, less money winnae help that.

IWasThere2016
29-01-2014, 10:13 AM
Well im a former season ticket holder or maybe 10 years and only now go to Easter Road occasionally. Apart from the fact that watching Hibs can be quite painful and downright depressing. I have limited disposable income these days and have to watch the cash. £20 category A games, £15 category B games, Kids between 6-15 no more than £10 and 5 and under for free?

Yes - but the biggest issue for fans of SPL (or whatever it is called now) is the lack of competitiveness..

Hibbyradge
29-01-2014, 10:17 AM
When the Hibs board set their ticket prices they have two options, they can try to take in as much money as possible or they can try to attract as many supporters as possible. It seems to me that they usually go for the first option.

There must be hundreds, perhaps thousands who have to pick and choose their games because they can't afford to go every week, would it be better to have a bigger crowd but less money to spend on players?

How much of a reduction in price do you think would significantly increase attendances?

Would a 10% reduction (£19 instead of £21) result in an increase of 1100 people (10% of our current average)? We'd need that to break even.

What about halving ticket prices? If it only cost £10.50 for an adult to get in, would we sell out every week (we'd have to)?

Nah.

Mikey
29-01-2014, 10:35 AM
We couldn't afford Adam Rooney at the current pricing level. What happens if we reduce our income?!!

The Modfather
29-01-2014, 11:17 AM
We couldn't afford Adam Rooney at the current pricing level. What happens if we reduce our income?!!

We finally start to punch our weight, heaven forbid we even over achieve in relation to our budget. How much more do we as fans have to pay each week for the top 6? How much more do we have to spend as aclub to finish above the likes Inverness and Motherwell etc.

It's not what we spend, it's how we spend it.

Finbar
29-01-2014, 01:09 PM
[QUOTE=Hibbyradge;3888301]How much of a reduction in price do you think would significantly increase attendances?

Would a 10% reduction (£19 instead of £21) result in an increase of 1100 people (10% of our current average)? We'd need that to break even.

What about halving ticket prices? If it only cost £10.50 for an adult to get in, would we sell out every week (we'd have to)?

I'm not an expert, all I'm saying is there are different business models. We could take the Ryan air angle and try to fill every seat even if it means giving tickets away. I'm not saying I think we should do that but it would be a different approach.

CropleyWasGod
29-01-2014, 01:12 PM
When the Hibs board set their ticket prices they have two options, they can try to take in as much money as possible or they can try to attract as many supporters as possible. It seems to me that they usually go for the first option.

There must be hundreds, perhaps thousands who have to pick and choose their games because they can't afford to go every week, would it be better to have a bigger crowd but less money to spend on players?

As they should, no?

Hibbyradge
29-01-2014, 01:17 PM
[QUOTE=Hibbyradge;3888301]How much of a reduction in price do you think would significantly increase attendances?

Would a 10% reduction (£19 instead of £21) result in an increase of 1100 people (10% of our current average)? We'd need that to break even.

What about halving ticket prices? If it only cost £10.50 for an adult to get in, would we sell out every week (we'd have to)?

I'm not an expert, all I'm saying is there are different business models. We could take the Ryan air angle and try to fill every seat even if it means giving tickets away. I'm not saying I think we should do that but it would be a different approach.

I'm 100% certain that the people who run football clubs would reduce prices if they thought it would increase income, or even keep it at the status quo. However, despite experimenting, not one of the UK's 135 odd senior clubs, has come up with a better business model than the one we've got.

On your last point, remember that Ryanair know they will eventually fill their flights, and make a profit, regardless of their final price, because people need to travel. They might give a few away for next to nothing, but there are few real bargains to be had.

No-one needs to go to a match so there is no way to compensate for selling cheap tickets.

hibsmad
29-01-2014, 02:00 PM
Iv'e always wondered what would happen if prices were drastically reduced right across the board with a maximum ticket price cap across all top flight clubs. I'm talking a high percentage of tickets being available for £10-£12 per adult.

Where would the clubs make up the shortfall?

First of all, more fans through the turnstiles. Ok this would not make up the total shortfall from reduced prices, but attendances would go up considerably.

The most important part of my masterplan is...

A reduction in wages paid to players. But the quality is already terrible, we can't compete as it is with English clubs, how can we pay less?? Well this is just it, we can't compete with English clubs so we need to stop trying and just focus on creating an environment in Scotland where football fans can go to games with their family and enjoy the day - without feeling they are being ripped off! The important thing to note here is that the quality we are currently subjected to is utter mince and it really can't get too much worse. I would therefore rather see more youngsters given a chance while attending matches played in front of much larger crowds. Ok the quality would still be, in the main, utter mince, but the larger crowds and better atmosphere would make the experience for the fans so much better. The higher attendances would also make it more appealing to TV companies, as right now, the poor quality of the entertainment they are screening is multiplied dramatically by the fact that half the time you can hear guys in the crowd blethering to each other.

I really feel that Scottish Football just needs to forget about how well other countries are doing and just concentrate on making things better for fans in this country first. I am fed up hearing when listening to football chat shows or sports news coverage, them discussing how we can do better in Europe, or how clubs can attract players from England, or even how great it is that we have a TV deal in China. Bloody China!! Fewer people can be bothered getting off their arse in this country to go and watch football (and I don't blame them considering the price of tickets) and we are trying to sell TV contracts in China!

To me this is trying to run before we can walk.

I can guarantee one thing and that is that the Chinese won't stay interested for long if they continue to see such dire football played in front of more empty seats than fans.

weonlywon6-2
29-01-2014, 05:43 PM
I get to Easter road very rarely sadly. As a Family we just can't afford to go so we head to murrayfield to watch the Ice hockey. It's less than half the price (which is just in our budget), great entertainment and the food is very cheap. I love watching Hibs but just can't afford it. Shame.......

you are not alone there.I before marriage,kids and shifts went home and away for years but now as life gets more expensive and no pay rises its hard to justify me and the kids all going.

Wighty76
29-01-2014, 06:45 PM
It's definitely put me off going to the fitba with my son. I have just left the Army so finally getting season tickets will be the way forward for the two of us. I have been walking up to gates whenever I have been able to in the past but lately I have been giving it a miss. Really looking forward to next season.

Brizo
29-01-2014, 08:04 PM
Id like to see Hibs experimenting by doing away with the Cat A pricing structure to see if for those 4 home games vs Hertz and Celtc it would produce better crowds than the likes of the 12,000 last weekend vs Celtc.

Ive always felt that the whole Cat A things a scam. If the extra £6 walk up costs to covers extra policing / stewarding then we should be paying less than the standard £22 walk up for games vs the likes of St J and ICT who bring less than average fans and have no problem or potential problem elements. And who require less policing / stewarding than the likes of Aberdeen. Over the season policing / stewarding costs should even out. And if memory serves me right this two tier pricing structure has only come in during the last twenty odd years.

Of course games like the NY derby will generally sell out at £28 but for games like last Sundays the £28 walk up is just a further disincentive in addition to it being televised at an awkward time.

Jonnyboy
29-01-2014, 08:08 PM
A few references to Germany here. They have around 80m more folk living there than we do in Scotland! Does anyone know how these clubs are financed as it can't only be because they get such good crowds?

McLeod1875
29-01-2014, 10:14 PM
Of course it is!!!

Anyone that thinks otherwise needs their head checked :crazy:

Matty_Jack04
29-01-2014, 10:41 PM
A few references to Germany here. They have around 80m more folk living there than we do in Scotland! Does anyone know how these clubs are financed as it can't only be because they get such good crowds?

Aren't they part financed by German company's e.g Volkswagen,Audi

Hibbyradge
30-01-2014, 09:31 AM
Of course it is!!!

Anyone that thinks otherwise needs their head checked :crazy:

Excellent argument. Great points, well put and very persuasive. :crazy:

green&left
30-01-2014, 10:31 AM
Quite like Palaces incentive to buy early. 10% discount on this seasons if you buy before March 31st, if relegated prices stay the same as this season, if still in EPL prices go up 10% on this seasons price. 1 under 10 ticket free with 1 full priced adult in family sections and for school night games the free kids ticket can be used by an adult free of charge.

£420 for the Holmesdale. Not bad considering the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Man City & Man Utd will be visiting you. (And yes I know they get £40m a season from sky blah blah blah)

Hibby Bairn
30-01-2014, 10:45 AM
This is very specific to me but will probably also affect a few others.

Hibs now have a split pricing policy for children. You are now a child up to and including aged 11. Once you reach 12 you become a student. There is a marked difference in pricing.

This not only affects me taking my 12 year old to games but also him thinking about going with his own friends next year.

I don't know why Hibs and many other "businesses" make this differentiation at aged 12. Do they think that once they get to 12 year old they start working or earning cash from somewhere? Or their dad suddenly gets a football allowance?

sh00byd00
30-01-2014, 10:53 AM
A few references to Germany here. They have around 80m more folk living there than we do in Scotland! Does anyone know how these clubs are financed as it can't only be because they get such good crowds?

that maybe so, however, it's not difficult to see how **** our clubs are when faced with clubs from smaller nations or nations that 15 - 20 years ago we would expect to beat. Some of the quality I've seen over recent years wouldn't look out of place on a junior football park, yet we're expected to pay premium prices. Look at it another way, would you pay a premium for a bog standard BHS suit when you could get a Hugo Boss suit for the same price?

Peevemor
30-01-2014, 10:55 AM
When I started paying myself into ER (1980ish) I think it cost £1.80 (I remember it then going up to £2.10 - shocking!). This was about half of what I earned from my paper round.

I doubt this would be the case nowadays.

edit - the figures may be wrong (it may only have been £1.10), but the proportions are correct

Keith_M
30-01-2014, 11:13 AM
We have to give 20% VAT back to our government on every ticket sold, what is the tax in Germany?

Sorry bud, I'm not sure. Why d'you ask?

Billy Whizz
30-01-2014, 11:36 AM
Sorry bud, I'm not sure. Why d'you ask?

Was just asking if German ticket prices were lower due to no VAT/additional tax on them

Mathias Jack
30-01-2014, 03:47 PM
No its not overpriced however, players wages are over priced (esp. the guys that imitate footballers i.e. folk like Vine, Matt Docherty - ken he's left but it's an example) which drives the price the punter pays at the gate.

And who pays the players wages? The club does, so blame them.

Keith_M
30-01-2014, 05:07 PM
Was just asking if German ticket prices were lower due to no VAT/additional tax on them


AFAIK, there's VAT paid on the tickets as well. Although, I just found this online..

"Standard VAT rate: 19%.
Reduced VAT rates: 7%... foodstuffs, books, medical, passenger transport, newspapers, admission to cultural and entertainment events, hotels"


So I suppose they might get something off... if they consider Football as 'Culture' :wink:

Scouse Hibee
30-01-2014, 07:52 PM
This is very specific to me but will probably also affect a few others.

Hibs now have a split pricing policy for children. You are now a child up to and including aged 11. Once you reach 12 you become a student. There is a marked difference in pricing.

This not only affects me taking my 12 year old to games but also him thinking about going with his own friends next year.

I don't know why Hibs and many other "businesses" make this differentiation at aged 12. Do they think that once they get to 12 year old they start working or earning cash from somewhere? Or their dad suddenly gets a football allowance?

This doesn't affect me any more but you raise a valid point, the way different business's categorise children is crazy, a child should be a child until at least 16.

judas
30-01-2014, 07:53 PM
You can't reduce prices until you reduce overheads.