Price of Football

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

After yesterday it simply brought home to me that referees have simply ruined some of the games this season. If I see Gollum listed for our future games I will definitely consider missing out.

[CaleyD]

I don't think people are becoming disinterested in football....you just have to look at how much of it is on TV to appreciate that the interest is there.

 

In Scotland, I think that people have become bored with the way the product is delivered....i.e. League and Cup structures which mean clubs can easily end up playing each other 4/5/6 times a season.  Missing a game against Celtic is no big deal because you know another will be along in a few weeks, or having already seen your team play against Motherwell means you may not be that bothered about missing one later in the season.

 

The biggest argument against increasing the size of the league in the past was having to divide the pot up further.  As the SPFL is a single organisation now, then that is no longer a factor.  You can keep the financial structure and move the league cut off points to adjust the size quite easily.  Get rid of the Challenge Cup and League Cup in their current form and replace it with a single cup that has regional qualifiers that then splits into two separate cup tournaments....one cup for those who finish top half of qualifiers and one for those who finish in the bottom half.  By doing that you counter any reduction in games from having larger leagues AND you get a lot more "Derby" type matches where fan travel is reduced and you get a larger variety of opposition.

 

Yes, there's other factors...and you need to look at them all.  When dealing with situations like this I believe the way to tackle them is to (where practical/possible) seek to remove the obstacles....and where you can't remove them, try and take best advantage of them.

 

TV....it's probably the one "obstacle" we're not going to get rid of, so let's fully embrace it make it work as much as possible in our favour.  Look at what sports like Super League Rugby and Darts are doing in this country where they are getting more TV coverage than ever before and still packing out arenas.  Study it, learn from it and emulate it.

 

While we're at it....tell the broadcasters they need to pay fair compensation for the rights to move games, especially to the more ridiculous times.....then use that additional income to reduce ticket prices to encourage people to still come along to these matches.

 

Weather?  I'm not fussed one way or the other by Summer or Winter football....but I see nothing wrong in giving it a go, so why not?  If nothing else it removes this ridiculous scenario we have at present where clubs have most games in the worst month for weather (we have 7 games in January)....and lets not forget, this is the month of the year when people are also likely to have the least amount of disposable income.  In World Cup/Euro seasons you simply add a week or two to each end of the season and take a summer break.....we already have to adjust things with a winter timetable, so I don't see the difference.

 

Ticket pricing?  As I've said already, I don't believe this is the main contributing factor and ICTFC's situation would certainly back that up.  What I do know is that the only way clubs will ever be able to reduce prices is if they reduce spending or increase income.  If you need to increase income to allow you to reduce prices then the only thing you can do is increase numbers attending.

 

We all know that ticket discounting doesn't result in enough of an increase in crowds to cover the cost of doing it.  That means you have to do other stuff to make the whole product more appealing and accessible.  IMO, the clubs (individually) are all doing what they can.  The product on the park is pretty decent, IMO, there's just a lot of repetition and stuff that pisses people off...like late moving of games to illogical times and unnecessary crowd regulations which stifle atmosphere. It therefore falls to the SPFL to stop fannying around with short term, self serving, self preservation ideals and actually start doing the things that the customer (present and future) have some interest in.

 

In addition to the above, I also agree with Davie's point about the main stream media constantly pitching the game in a negative light. Speaking to journalists after our match v Aberdeen they were raving about how great a game it had been.  When I asked why they would make the couple of mistakes made in the game the main talking point when they held that view (and that's exactly what they did do) instead of concentrating on it being a great game, the answer was "that's not what sells papers". The BBC "Price of Football" survey is the best (worst?) example of that and serves no useful purpose.  Two reasons why I say that....firstly, it provides no context to the information it provides....secondly, it puts emphasis on an issue which is (certainly, IMO) is a minor factor whilst pointing the finger of blame at individual clubs who ARE actually trying hard and fighting not only to encourage people to games, but for their mere existence as costs increase and income decreases due to factors that are beyond their control.

[TopSix]

It was interesting to chat with Motherwell fans on Twitter last night. They were of the opinion that the fan-based route their club has gone down isn't working, I wouldn't be surprised to see most clubs in Scotland operating on a part time basis in the long term.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I have missed a couple of games this season trying to finish off reading posts by Caley D

[12th Man]

A lot of good points raised, I feel that less games in December and January would be beneficial, Decembers a very expensive month and January is a quiet month mainly due to the Xmas overspend, the pitch gets a break, summer football sounds good but there is so much competition out there and if you move into the School holiday zone you compete with holidays, the beach, barbies, days out, even diy, for others its weekends away, if you have the free time for other hobbies and interests then it would probably be more enjoyable in the summer, personally I preferred summer scrambling to wading through snow in the freezing cold when its getting dark so early. We even had an earlier start a few seasons back and the attendance figures were way down for the 1st game of the season.

For repetition of opposition, most fans want their moneys worth and a bit of variety thrown in too. Do people actually want to watch a run of games against Raith, Falkirk, Livvy, Partick Pars etc just because we don't play them often, when Rangers and the Edinburgh clubs attract more interest but play them more frequently. I would say things will improve when the bigger clubs return and so will the away support.

Perhaps the summer fans have a point 2011 hibs at home 30th July 3600 attended.

Although starting football a month earlier does nothing to influence going to a match at any other time during the season.

If you are looking for drastic measures then yes a complete winter shut down does make fans appreciate football when its not there but with that you are forcing people to fine alternative things to do, lets hope that their projects are all done and dusted for the 2nd half of the season.

 

Looking at the pictures of fans on caleyjags.com, tells a story of the mode age of fans, do you assume this is your target audience or instead strengthen  the age ranges which are poorly attended and what do you do to attract them, if you take a concert for example does every one sit and watch and listen?  the most memoral ones are where everyones up dancing and singing with the bands,  if the atmosphere is improved it certainly encourages people to keep coming back, If things are improved on a budget then nothing bad will come from it.

Edited October 20, 2014 by 12th Man

[Scarlet Pimple]

A really thoughtful post by Caley D. Think he should send it on to what used to be the SFA. Smile.

Set the cat amongst the slumbering pigeons, eh?

 

Summer football is a must--at least for  a try out. What with T V, and all, nowadays the average fan would probably love to stay at home to watch the matches rather than freezing  at a match. Why allow obstacles that may be deleterious to the crowds showing up to still be 9in place. It's not working so----CHANGE IT.  At least, I suggest we give it a try.

[+DoofersDad]

Saw this on the BBC website  http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29683379.

 

Taarabt of QPR getting paid between £60k and £70k a week and can't be bothered to train properly and keep himself fit enough to play.  His annual salary is not far off ICT's total annual turnover.  Whilst not wanting to get into a debate about just how much the very top players are worth, there is clearly a huge amount of money in the game squandered on wages which are not justifiable.  Put into perspective, if Taarabt's wages were instead given to ICT, the club could offer free admission to all games and double the players wages - if that didn't bring in the crowds, I don't know what would!

 

We can tinker around at the edges to try and improve things but the root problem is the current pattern of distribution of money in the game.  I know some will argue that what we have is what market forces dictate, but as with the economy of society in general, there is a need to redistribute some of the wealth for the wider common good.  It may be that the big audience for football world wide is a TV audience who want to watch Barcelona, Bayern, Man Utd etc, but the fact remains that these clubs are dependent on the grass roots to develop the players who the big clubs buy.  The distribution of money within the game gives absurd amounts of money to a very significant number of players in the big leagues (and not just the elite teams) and this seriously threatens the viability of the game at lower levels.  This can't be good for the long term future of the game at any level, but the trouble is that the power is in the hands of those making mega bucks in the short term.  Things need to change but sadly, I can't see it happening.

[Sneckboy]

Blimey, if he's 3 stone overweight, I'd hate Redknapp to assess my weight!!

Joking aside, I entirely agree with your point, DD. The inequality in wealth distribution isn't healthy for the game, as a whole. I know UEFA have tried to implement some ruling, but it's hard to enforce. Clubs find ways around regulations. Rangers tried it with 'loans' rather than payments, and bankers still get their ridiculously inflated bonuses, almost as a right, through shares or other crafty means!

The Champions League could lose some lustre with the same clubs competing in the latter stages each season, nowadays.It doesn't take a football genius to name 6 of the 8 quarter-finalists who'll be contesting this year's trophy. And the rich get richer!

[+DoofersDad]

The one that really annoys me is the teams that fail in the earlier rounds of the Champions League getting a place in the Europa league.  What easier way is there to distrubute the pot a bit more widely than filling these slots with teams which currently just miss out?  Presumably the rationalle here is that teams dropping out of the champions league will be "big fish" in the Europa league and attract bigger TV audiences.  I can understand that - but it still stinks!

[Sir C the 3rd]

People are just bored with football.  Ultimately it doesn't mean anything anymore because long gone are the days where any team could win anything.  Big clubs stockpiling good  and young players, the absolute total greed of the likes of Chelsea, Man City, Celtic, PSG etc, Arab billionaires paying any amount of money for players, players earning near half a million a week, managers constantly sacked, and the ludicrous price of going to a game. I could go on and on.

 

Its just not the game it used to be, its now a business for the top clubs and shareholders to make money and feck everybody (the vast majority of people who love football) else.