Ticket Pricing - How Much is Scottish Football worth?

[Jones28]

So this season we have been back at games, many of us with season tickets and others like myself picking and choosing as time and money dictates.

I've chosen a few different options here, to see how much you feel football and Hibs is actually worth.

There's been a lot of debate about why supporters are staying away and in all honesty pricing for me is the biggest factor. It takes the spontaneity out of things and means I have to be careful about choosing which games I go to. We can argue and quibble about it being only a few quid but thats not really relevant here as all circumstances are different. If I lived closer to ER and didn't have to drive and buy food I would be at games more often. Others will be different.

Whats your perspective, and how can any changes be made - if any?

I will caveat this with I don't want to turn this in to a debate about value for money - as relevant as that is - I just want peoples opinions on the price.

[HH81]

The price of one game is not a factor for me as I'm going on my own mostly. I do feel it is over priced for families or people buying more than one ticket.

I do like that hibs are thinking outside the box a little this season with the 5/8 game package but I do think it needs some work as mentioned on another thread.

In terms of prices I feel like it should be

CAT A 30 quid 15 for concessions.

Cat B 20 quid adults 10 concessions

[ABZHFC]

Category A - £25 adults an absolute maximum (£20 adults in the Famous Five), £10 kids
Category B - £20 adults an absolute maximum (£15 adults in the Famous Five), £5 kids

[Danderhall Hibs]

I'd say £20 and £10 for cat B, £25 and £12.50 for cat A - with some movement for banded pricing (gold, silver, bronze).

[Hibernian Verse]

Those that want the prices reduced - do you accept that there would be a drop in standard of player?

[ABZHFC]

Those that want the prices reduced - do you accept that there would be a drop in standard of player?

If there was any correlation between ticket prices and quality of Hibs player, even then, yes I would accept that.

But considering there is virtually no correlation, and all that has happened since Hibs started hiking prices up is lower attendances and a greater sense of alienation between the club and fans, then I would say there is all the more reason to seriously discuss dropping prices

[HH81]

Those that want the prices reduced - do you accept that there would be a drop in standard of player?

Players would have to accept lower contracts over time. Having a contract is better than unattached which a lot would become.

Only so many clubs in England that they can go to.

[Pretty Boy]

It's a tricky one.

I posted in another thread about the crazy above inflation increase in football tickets in the last 50 years. Arguably the biggest jump happened some time ago though. When Hearts boycotted in the 6-2 season I think it was because tickets went up to circa £29 a pop, in 2004/05 Romanov charge us £33. 15 years later the jump is nowhere near what you might have expected it to be.

That doesn't make it right though and the current pricing is too high across the board. I would say approx £22-26 an adult and £10-13 a child would be fair with a bit of wiggle room for the bigger games. I accept that comes with it's own issues though. Breaching the £40 barrier for a Premiership game is just crazy.

[Antifa Hibs]

Those that want the prices reduced - do you accept that there would be a drop in standard of player?

The current standard blows that question out of the water. The fact no Scottish club outside Glasgow has qualified for a European competition in about 15 years blows that question out the water. Genuine question, do you honestly think the standard is better now than it was 25 years ago? I don't. The standard is worse IMO yet ticket prices and revenue have increased massively.

Biggest issue for me with tickets is the standard doesn't justify the costs. Then fans/boards/the industry try to justify these ticket prices by constantly striving for more revenue and the worry is where does it stop and when do I stop getting taken for a mug? Clubs know the loyalty of football fans but its rapidly starting to feel like i'm having the complete piss ripped out of me. I could choose to not go but they know I/We won't so they can add another few quid here and there.

£22 an adult on Saturday I'd say is acceptable. Strikes the balance between supporting Scottish football due to lack of TV funds and getting semi-decent value for money. When its starting to approach £30 for non OF games or Derbies I feel thats verging on disgraceful. But i guess i'm the mug for constantly paying it.

[Brightside]

Wages would have to be reduced to allow a drop in ticket prices. Or income for other areas.

[Pagan Hibernia]

Twenty’s plenty.

maybe 25 for derbys and old firm games.

[Pagan Hibernia]

Wages would have to be reduced to allow a drop in ticket prices. Or income for other areas.

if you end up pricing thousands out then wages and other expenses will have to be reduced anyway.

[ABZHFC]

if you end up pricing thousands out then wages and other expenses will have to be reduced anyway.

Yep, think our board will be in for a nasty surprise when season ticket renewal time comes round

[Jones28]

Wages would have to be reduced to allow a drop in ticket prices. Or income for other areas.

Like big screens for example.

[loanheadhibby]

Those that want the prices reduced - do you accept that there would be a drop in standard of player?

Based on current form of said players, you'll have a difficult time justifying their current salary surely?

In any case, is it really to do with playing staff? Clubs have grown exponentially over the last 20 years in terms of staff, fitness coaches, multiple physios, media staff, support staff etc but ultimately, they are still relying on supporters paying these salaries as main stream of income.

Twenty is plenty in Scotland. £25 tops for a Cat A game.

However, I do appreciate the club have to charge what they think necessary to pay the bills. The knock on effect, you won't get many walking up for £35 or £44 for match day tickets. Especially when games are live on tv.

[A Hi-Bee]

Just no worth any more than £25 for any game in Scotland.

[loanheadhibby]

Players would have to accept lower contracts over time. Having a contract is better than unattached which a lot would become.

Only so many clubs in England that they can go to.

I don't think it would be society any harm either for players to accept lower wages. Why should a footballer earn a far higher salary that joe public.

I appreciate this would open the door to all players going to England. It really is a difficult one for the club. Charge higher prices and crowds are falling big time. Charge lower prices and lose all your talented players to England.

[JimBHibees]

Like big screens for example.

Which will pay for themselves over time.

[ABZHFC]

I don't think it would be society any harm either for players to accept lower wages. Why should a footballer earn a far higher salary that joe public.

I appreciate this would open the door to all players going to England. It really is a difficult one for the club. Charge higher prices and crowds are falling big time. Charge lower prices and lose all your talented players to England.

The truth is though, the way modern football is, this applies to almost every league outwith the top 3 or 4 (and even then, the majority of clubs within those leagues are further down the food chain too)

Hibs, and all Scottish clubs, have to realise that we will lose our best prospects to English clubs regardless of how much we try to fleece our own supporters, even you set the prices to £60 a game and somehow 20,000 of us paid that week in, week out, it would still dwarf compared to the TV money England get

Therefore, the focus has to be on marketing Scottish football as a complete alternative to the grim world of modern football and its billions. One way clubs could do this (and they could all easily afford to, by the way) would be by agreeing a £25 cap on match tickets across the entire country, and help get more and more folk living in Scotland through the gates and away from watching EPL games in the pub

[LunasBoots]

25 and 15, 30 for Cat A games, people in society are struggling with money as it is, prices are going up and wages aren't, football cubs charging excess prices isnt going to get bums on seat especially for the lack of quality on the field.

[loanheadhibby]

The truth is though, the way modern football is, this applies to almost every league outwith the top 3 or 4 (and even then, the majority of clubs within those leagues are further down the food chain too)

Hibs, and all Scottish clubs, have to realise that we will lose our best prospects to English clubs regardless of how much we try to fleece our own supporters, even you set the prices to £60 a game and somehow 20,000 of us paid that week in, week out, it would still dwarf compared to the TV money England get

Therefore, the focus has to be on marketing Scottish football as a complete alternative to the grim world of modern football and its billions. One way clubs could do this (and they could all easily afford to, by the way) would be by agreeing a £25 cap on match tickets across the entire country, and help get more and more folk living in Scotland through the gates and away from watching EPL games in the pub

Totally agree. There is an element of trying to keep up with the Jones's down south. Scottish Football need to get away from that.

We have to find a way to tempt people along but I am not sure charging £30-£45 per game is going to do that. Imagine being in boozer with your mate on a Saturday afternoon at 2.30 and they suggest you pop up to see Hibs v Ross County, £28 per ticket or Hibs V Rangers on a cold Wednesday night at £33 a pop!

[wookie70]

St Johnstone and Motherwell have done pretty well on far lower wage bills than we have had and they have done it for consistent periods of time. Our overheads must me massive with a training centre and all the associated staff. Perhaps the question should revolve more around what value we get for our spend. I also think that some work should be done on different models for supporting the club. Membership schemes could change the way we support the club. They could be inclusive of all tickets, inclusive of Cat Bs, only cover being a member but some advantages in ticketing or club shop etc etc. We have chosen a very expensive way to run a club with HTC etc so there also needs to be a review on the benefits of that as it isn't always necessarily apparent on the park albeit we have got a few youngsters in the team now.

I presume Ron will be doing full reviews on all things Hibernian but the early signs are it will be more expensive to support Hibs and that the hope would be that the value would come from higher finishes and more Cup success. The problem with that is that out with actually winning a cup, there are many fans like me who would settle for 6th in the league playing open expansive football rather than a pragmatic 4th. They aren't mutually exclusive but we do seem to lack the identity we had under Stubbs and Lennon where we tried to play really decent football albeit it never always worked out that way.

The other factor is how much money we have to raise to pay for the issues Covid has caused. Are we aware of how our accounts look and to what extent the pandemic has effected ticket prices.

I feel 20 and 10 for Cat Bs and £25 and 10 for Cat As is the right price point.

[Jones28]

St Johnstone and Motherwell have done pretty well on far lower wage bills than we have had and they have done it for consistent periods of time. Our overheads must me massive with a training centre and all the associated staff. Perhaps the question should revolve more around what value we get for our spend. I also think that some work should be done on different models for supporting the club. Membership schemes could change the way we support the club. They could be inclusive of all tickets, inclusive of Cat Bs, only cover being a member but some advantages in ticketing or club shop etc etc. We have chosen a very expensive way to run a club with HTC etc so there also needs to be a review on the benefits of that as it isn't always necessarily apparent on the park albeit we have got a few youngsters in the team now.

I presume Ron will be doing full reviews on all things Hibernian but the early signs are it will be more expensive to support Hibs and that the hope would be that the value would come from higher finishes and more Cup success. The problem with that is that out with actually winning a cup, there are many fans like me who would settle for 6th in the league playing open expansive football rather than a pragmatic 4th. They aren't mutually exclusive but we do seem to lack the identity we had under Stubbs and Lennon where we tried to play really decent football albeit it never always worked out that way.

The other factor is how much money we have to raise to pay for the issues Covid has caused. Are we aware of how our accounts look and to what extent the pandemic has effected ticket prices.

I feel 20 and 10 for Cat Bs and £25 and 10 for Cat As is the right price point.

Quoted on here as costing £500,000 per year to run.

[ABZHFC]

Totally agree. There is an element of trying to keep up with the Jones's down south. Scottish Football need to get away from that.

We have to find a way to tempt people along but I am not sure charging £30-£45 per game is going to do that. Imagine being in boozer with your mate on a Saturday afternoon at 2.30 and they suggest you pop up to see Hibs v Ross County, £28 per ticket or Hibs V Rangers on a cold Wednesday night at £33 a pop!

Yep, I have felt genuinely embarrassed at times when mates have asked me about coming along to take in a game at Easter Road, they cannot believe how steep the prices are for Scottish football

[wookie70]

Quoted on here as costing £500,000 per year to run. You would need more context eg how much do teams around us spend and what are we like for bringing players through compared to other clubs. On the face of it the HTC doesn't seem to offer much return and some of our ticket money is going towards that. It would be good if there is any reviews that fans can find out the results.

[Jones28]

Totally agree. There is an element of trying to keep up with the Jones's down south. Scottish Football need to get away from that.

We have to find a way to tempt people along but I am not sure charging £30-£45 per game is going to do that. Imagine being in boozer with your mate on a Saturday afternoon at 2.30 and they suggest you pop up to see Hibs v Ross County, £28 per ticket or Hibs V Rangers on a cold Wednesday night at £33 a pop!


:agree:

[Brightside]

I see Edin City have just launched a half season player sponsorship deal for £175. So yeh I'd agree that scottish football has lost the plot.

[RossScott1991]

All adult prices £20
All concession £10

Category A matches
All adult £25
All concession £15

[berwickhibee]

Cat A 20 and 10
Cat B 15 and 5

Is plenty for me🇳🇬

[SHODAN]

All adult prices £20
All concession £10

Category A matches
All adult £25
All concession £15

This.

I'd be tempted to say cap it in line with inflation but in real terms wages have gone down so nah.

[Dmas]

I think £20 is more than enough

not every fan can commit to season tickets for various reasons, and not every fan can commit to 5/8 game packages again for various reasons, because of that they 'walk up' but now the walk up fans are being hit pretty hard IMO I know you have to respect the value of a ST and the same with the multi game package but as has been said in previous posts its totally wiping out the walk up fan who for example works 3/4 Saturday's or lives too far away for Wednesday night games etc.

I booked Jan 3rd off work for the derby, looking forward to it, I'm not paying £30+ for a ticket I'll sit in the house warm with a few cold ones and watch it and if that's the way pricing is going then I'll be making less trips than I am now

[JohnM1875]

All adult prices £20
All concession £10

Category A matches
All adult £25
All concession £15

Would agree witn this as well.

[gbhibby]

Club needs to be more dynamic in their pricing. The Derby match in on TV so there is already TV money in the pot. Prices should be lower than the club are charging,as we have the cup final to pay for. Therefore a lower price should be charged. What would you rather have, an empty seat at £30+ or a full seat at £25.

[JimBHibees]

Wages would have to be reduced to allow a drop in ticket prices. Or income for other areas.

Yep our prices are in line with other teams are they not? Trying to remember what I paid for the pink bus shelter few months back think it was 35 for the upper tier :greengrin

[gbhibby]

Wages would have to be reduced to allow a drop in ticket prices. Or income for other areas.
A ticket not sold at a higher price is no income, a ticket sold at a lower price is income. You have to look at the market conditions and price accordingly. Tit for tat pricing does nobody any good.

[Blaster]

Club needs to be more dynamic in their pricing. The Derby match in on TV so there is already TV money in the pot. Prices should be lower than the club are charging,as we have the cup final to pay for. Therefore a lower price should be charged. What would you rather have, an empty seat at £30+ or a full seat at £25.

You don’t get extra TV money for a league game. It just goes into the overall pot

[Juniper Greens]

Live entertainment has gone up quite a bit in the last few years.
Seeing a decent show or musical will set you back 100 quid now, not far off that for most concerts too.
It's a difficult balance, but any reduction in prices would need to come with an increase in attendances to make it worthwhile. I have a ST, but miss some games due to just not fancying it at the moment, I don't think the ticket prices are the reason for our poor attendances

[cabbageandribs1875]

i think £25 is fine


i also think this Bronze/Silver/Gold for the east is a total utter nonsense, copied from Tynecastle, £26 in sect 38 an increase of £3, sect 39= £28


ticket purchased in person at ticket office= £1.50 what a damn con that is, seriously

[Steven79]

i think £25 is fine


i also think this Bronze/Silver/Gold for the east is a total utter nonsense, copied from Tynecastle, £26 in sect 38 an increase of £3, sect 39= £28


ticket purchased in person at ticket office= £1.50 what a damn con that is, seriouslyYep to everything you have said.



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[Hibernian Verse]

Just catching up now, thanks for the responses to my question - I think it was a question worth posing.