Flex Ticket..

I think we are already in a pizza express situation by having a category system designed specifically to punish people for the actions of others, that creates a pizza express situation because the prices change every week. And if you are willing to accept that prices for the same product should be different prices each week and that is fine then you have to also accept that a set 'buy in bulk and pay this price's is no worse than 'if the opposition are based in Rotherham then the price is xxx'. It isn't an offer as such, it's a set price for a ticket admitting you to x amount of games.

I am not being critical of the club because as I said I've seen nothing to suggest that they will **** this up but with regards to them not rushing it out earlier this season I'm not sure I can really agree. It isn't like the idea of this ticket has suddenly appeared out of nowhere and caught them off guard so they've decided to do some research over the last 4 weeks and are now set to launch. It has been requested and suggested many many times over the last god knows how many years. I don't think that launching it in July 2016 after it was requested in September 2013 is rushing in to things.

But as I said I won't be too critical because dong something a couple of months too late is better than not doing anything at all. Better late than never as they say.

 

The only reason they have been given a rough ride is because their ticketing systems have for the last few years (on and off) been extremely complicated and advertised poorly with headline prices being extortionate. For anyone willing to take time to properly read and digest their website articles and willing to put in the time and effort of purchasing tickets in advance/sign up for membership schemes etc the prices have been reasonable but the way they have advertised them and the steps required to get those reasonable prices have been overly complicated. That's in the past though, they're learning from their mistakes and hopefully if they have categories next season they will come up with a better way to advertise it so that it doesn't sound so bad.

 

A few hundred would be around 2% of the sales.

 

Using your new-found skill, could you take an imaginary 30 years off mine?

 

They've priced me out of going to home games. If it's more than £25 I'm not going, simple as that. Can't be a much clearer example of pricing someone out of going.

 

I think what you're saying is reasonable. Given our whirlwind promotion it was reasonable to take a breath before trying something new and reasonable to squeeze as much season ticket revenue as possible out before launching other initiatives.

My only hope is that the flexi tickets are well advertised and reasonably priced.

 

I think that the biggest mistake really is that the delay has caused a bit of bad feeling from people who feel they've been ignored. Had they given more concrete information earlier then people !ay have been prepared to wait, by not doing so and just saying 'we might do some kind of an offer at some point' and then starting the season without giving any updates they caused bad feeling from people who thought their needs had been ignored, that they had been lied to etc. As usual it's all down to communication but they've certainly got better at that in recent weeks.

I'm not sure how they can do this but if there was some way to convert a flexible ticket into a season ticket for the rest of the season that could help to mitigate any potential losses. Another way to discourage existing season ticket holders from downgrading is to enhance the additional benefits to season ticket holders and not pass those on to the flexi ticket holders.

Maybe something like this?
Exclusive to season ticket holders
Priority tickets for big games/cup games etc
Free supporters trust memberships
Free entry to fan engagement meetings or 'an evening with' (the ones where you don't have to be invited)
Option to have minutes of those meetings emailed to them or even better ability to view the meetings on an online stream (a real benefit to those long distance fans who are more likely to be the ones who would downgrade)
Free entry to U23 games

Give all those to season ticket holders (no additional cost to the club I don't think) but tell flexi to let holders that they don't get priority for any of the above and have to pay to watch under 23s and you may start to dissuade some from jumping ship.

Just a couple of ideas really

 

'Like'
I think it's excellent news that the club are hoping to bring in this flexi ticket for all the fans who are unable to purchase a season ticket, for whatever reason. The more fans we can get into Oakwell to watch our talented, young team, the better.

 

Sounds about right to me, I'd get the wife one

 

Our own supporters weren't the intended target of the category system and consequent increase of price for certain games. The club said so and therefore made themselves duty bound to bring something in to mitigate those increases. The fact they didn't put something in place straightaway and created uncertainty about whether anything was actually going to happen, has made some of our support feel excluded. The full price will continue to be charged to away supporters (who will be descending on us in their numbers this season) and those of our own who either can't be arsed to sort out, don't know about or don't fit the new flexi tickets.

 

Its time to stop bitching and start buying, maybe Patrick can use that for the flexi ticket strapline.

 

Isn't he suggesting the opposite? That they lower their prices for those who DO use them frequently?

 

The whole ticketing system has become a mess because of the huge disparity between season ticket prices and match day prices. Many of the season ticket holders you talk about must be sharing with god knows how many people. If they exist in the numbers you believe, it's illustrating how the whole thing is in need of a revamp. Allow them to be on a more appropriate ticket for their circumstances (if they so wish) and you may also create paying customers out of those who have thus far been sharing with them. The season ticket pool goes down but the flexi ticket or match day ticket pool goes up. At the same time the more ticketing options there are, the greater the number of active supporters we have.

 

It does. I'd say attending 50% of possible functions is quite frequently. To compare that to another business if you go to a specific nightclub once a month would you say you are a frequent visitor to the club? I'd say so and they open far more days than Barnsley have games

 

On the second point they could perhaps only sell the flex tickets during the same window that they sell the season tickets so that the money is in in advance just the same?

On the first one there needs to be more incentive to keep a season ticket instead of opting for a flex ticket.

 

That's what everyone else seems to do. There's a lot more clubs doing this than when I first looked at the subject a couple of years ago. It must be working for them.