The Hartlepool Model

[+Northern_jaggie]

Dear all,

I have spoken to an asset manager recently who mentioned a scheme run by Hartlepool FC to maximise season ticket sales. Hartlepool is a team based in a relatively poor area and fans numbers had been dwindling, so to incentify fans to buy a season ticket the club put on the following offer;

1) A season ticket will cost you £200 if the club sells 3000 season tickets.

2) A season ticket will cost you £100 if the club sells 4000 season tickets.

A large counter will be placed outside the club shop to inform fans of the progress.

NOW...a clever boffin clearly looked at the REALISTIC potential number of season ticket holders which the club would attract. Then a cost analysis was carried out to find out the number of fans who actually attend the big and small games over the season thereby making sure that the offer will always make more money than if each game was charged at £25 for an adult. There are so many incredible benefits of this, some being;

1) Guaranteed cash flow budget for the year, meaning a sustainable financial scenario. Transfer budgets can be predicted.

2) Sponsors will know that AT LEAST that number of people will see their brand EVERY game. This can maximise the sponsorship deal value and potentially larger sponsorship corporations.

3) Enhanced merchandise, catering and parking revenue - obviously there is a direct trend between sales and fans attending games.

4) Enhanced club profile, meaning maximum exposure to potential new fans and younger fans alike leading to potentially larger takings.

5) A much better attendance could lead to a better atmosphere, it’s a debatable point but there will surely be a few singers amongst new sweetie rustlers.

Most important of all...the fans get a good deal. I have recently paid £25 for a ticket to the gers game as I can’t afford a season ticket. SOME THING HAS TO CHANGE! The best value day out is still too expensive for many fans so please ICT, please show some initiative. You know it makes sense.

Mike

See the Hartlepool article.

How Its Done

Edited August 15, 2011 by Northern_jaggie

[+CaleyD]

Will be interesting to see if they continue this next season as I'm not convinced they'll "break even" with the way it's set up.

?354 normal price

?200 3000+ sales

?150 3500+ sales

?100 4000+ sales

They achieved the ?150 mark by the deadline and gone on to sell a total of 5700 Season Tickets. From the figures I can find that means they've had to more than half the price to double the sales. If you read more into this, you will also find that a great many of those sales are from people who may not even make any games, and they;ve done it to support the club. OOPS....how wrong they got that one. The club need the additional income they would spend on matchdays to compensate for the discount, so by not contributing on a matchday they've scored an own goal. They think they've contributed ?150, but what they have really done is cost the club money by allowing others to make a saving.

What's more, they've taken all those people who might only attend between 6 and 12 games a season and made a season ticket viable. So, instead of 12 x matchday ticket at ?20 (total ?240) they're only going to get ?150.

It may all come out in the wash and they might just manage to meet the shortfall from additional matchday sales and a bit more to have made it a viable project....who knows, and I guess we'll find out next season.

[+Northern_jaggie]

The best thing would be to look at historical attendances since they are the most reliable, not hypothetical 'we would have filled the stadium charging that price on the day' scenarios.

This is an attenuated-average dependant model which is dependant on supporter uptake. A forecast would always look at the scenario for people who would pay the ?150 and not attend, and the number of season tickets required to cover that discount would be reflected in the price of the season ticket!

The only thing that could cause a RELATIVE loss (i.e. your still making a guaranteed profit...you know your matchday costs!) would be for the team to perform extremely well on the park and lots of glory hunters turn up. But thats a risk the club would have to take.

[SMEE]

I dont think id be happy paying three times the price of someone who waited about before buying their season ticket. Surely the point of being a fan is to put money into the club? That sed....it would be more realistic for someone like me....on a very limited income, to fork out £100 for a season tix, as opposed to £350

Edited August 15, 2011 by SMEE

[+Northern_jaggie]

The price is the same for every supporter, payable once the dealine closes for applications.

[SMEE]

The price is the same for every supporter, payable once the dealine closes for applications.

Ah well.....thats a lot better then :)

[+CaleyD]

The price is the same for every supporter, payable once the dealine closes for applications.

You had to register and pay ?100 before the closing date. After that you have to pay full whack.

http://www.hartlepoolunited.co.uk/page/SeasonTickets

[+CaleyD]

The best thing would be to look at historical attendances since they are the most reliable, not hypothetical 'we would have filled the stadium charging that price on the day' scenarios.

This is an attenuated-average dependant model which is dependant on supporter uptake. A forecast would always look at the scenario for people who would pay the ?150 and not attend, and the number of season tickets required to cover that discount would be reflected in the price of the season ticket!

The only thing that could cause a RELATIVE loss (i.e. your still making a guaranteed profit...you know your matchday costs!) would be for the team to perform extremely well on the park and lots of glory hunters turn up. But thats a risk the club would have to take.

Where's the "Guaranteed Profit"?

2900 Season Tickets at ?354....assuming everyone ST was an adult = ?1,026,600

5700 Season Tickets at ?150....based on same assumption = ?855,000

No other income stream from the scheme is guaranteed....only assumed.

The will already know that, at present, a fan spends an average of ?x per game, but as they're targeting people not willing/able to spend those levels of money at present then it would be dangerous to assume they'll spend anything like the average on a matchday. In fact, knowing that some of the take-up is from people who'll never attend, then the average matchday spend/head is almost certain to drop.

I'm not knocking the scheme, just pointing out that it's risky and could easily back fire. However, if it works then great and I hope other clubs follow.