Monday, November 12, 2007
The Missing Fans
It was perhaps Birmingham's biggest game of the season, they've suffered a season in the Championship, now a chance to lord it over city rivals Aston Villa for a few months. A local derby in the truest meaning of the word where most of the fans share the same postcode.
There has to be something wrong when a local derby fails to sell out and indeed home games with Wigan and Bolton attract larger crowds. Then again even Asia's favourite club Manchester United attracted a smaller gate than their north western siblings.
Is there a message to be taken from this?
Perhaps it could be in the prices of tickets. So many, all (?) clubs now have a two tier pricing stystem in place where by tickets for the 'big' opponents cost more than tickets for 'less attractive' teams.
For Birmingham, they consider Portsmouth, and no doubt Wigan and Bolton, lesser clubs and so have seats available from 20 GBP up to 35 GBP. For yesterday's clash top priced tickets were 45 GBP.
I guess for the clubs to have 26,000 paying top whack is enough for them to spend a few hours licking their lips but again it's just another kick in the teeth for the working class fan. Why fork out 45 notes when you can see it on the TV anyway?
Football never has been just about the ticket price. Rarely do fans have the luxury (!) of living on their club's doorstep so we have to factor in travel costs and England's public transport system...you need precision planning weeks in advance to get the best deals. People eat, people drink, people have kids, kids want stuff from the club shop. That 35, 45 quid soon mounts up so what we are going to be left with is an aging middle class support who clap politely at the right moments and demand the manager gets the sack when a couple of results don't go their way.
In truth the game didn't live up/down to recent encounters and those who stayed didn't miss much, except the Villa fans, but it's still a derby, a must see game and it didn't sell out. Clubs and TV need to think about a few things like prices and times but they won't. Not for a while. Not till the likes of Arsenal, manchester United and Liverpool regularly fail to fill their stadiums.
Till then Bolton fans can rejoice in being the most popular team to visit St Andrew's so far this season!
There has to be something wrong when a local derby fails to sell out and indeed home games with Wigan and Bolton attract larger crowds. Then again even Asia's favourite club Manchester United attracted a smaller gate than their north western siblings.
Is there a message to be taken from this?
Perhaps it could be in the prices of tickets. So many, all (?) clubs now have a two tier pricing stystem in place where by tickets for the 'big' opponents cost more than tickets for 'less attractive' teams.
For Birmingham, they consider Portsmouth, and no doubt Wigan and Bolton, lesser clubs and so have seats available from 20 GBP up to 35 GBP. For yesterday's clash top priced tickets were 45 GBP.
I guess for the clubs to have 26,000 paying top whack is enough for them to spend a few hours licking their lips but again it's just another kick in the teeth for the working class fan. Why fork out 45 notes when you can see it on the TV anyway?
Football never has been just about the ticket price. Rarely do fans have the luxury (!) of living on their club's doorstep so we have to factor in travel costs and England's public transport system...you need precision planning weeks in advance to get the best deals. People eat, people drink, people have kids, kids want stuff from the club shop. That 35, 45 quid soon mounts up so what we are going to be left with is an aging middle class support who clap politely at the right moments and demand the manager gets the sack when a couple of results don't go their way.
In truth the game didn't live up/down to recent encounters and those who stayed didn't miss much, except the Villa fans, but it's still a derby, a must see game and it didn't sell out. Clubs and TV need to think about a few things like prices and times but they won't. Not for a while. Not till the likes of Arsenal, manchester United and Liverpool regularly fail to fill their stadiums.
Till then Bolton fans can rejoice in being the most popular team to visit St Andrew's so far this season!
Labels: Ticket prices TV Timings
# posted by Me @ 5:44 PM 
