Livi season ticket pricing

[Yngwie]

Interesting approach. The price of a season ticket could be as much as £250 but drops the more people buy them, to as little as £125 if they get 1,600 season ticket holders.

http://www.livingstonfc.co.uk/commercial/commercial_season_ticket_prices_2012_13.php

They say that this is based on the Hartlepool model which they claim trebled the number of season tickets.

[Alex MacLeod]

When you remove the OAP's kids and students is it possible for Livi to muster up 1600 fans.

[dougiedanger]

Good to see some imagination and creativity being applied to the issue of ticket pricing.

[caley100]

Might increase season ticket sales at TCS if we could see a goal scored now and then...

[tm4tj]

Yer asking too much now.

[Libero]

Great idea, embarassing to see SFL1 clubs implementing such an innovative ticket system. I wish ICT was as pro-active in trying to entice fans to watch us

[Yngwie]

OK, how about ICT offer a scheme whereby the team are "allowed" just 3 garbage home performances a season. For each dismal showing over and above that, there is a £10 rebate to season ticket holders, to be funded from the players and manager's bonus pots, and if that runs out then it's straight off their basic pay. Caley100 would be the garbageness judge, with his verdict being announced over the tannoy at full time and the shamed players having to run over to the exit gates to dish out the tenners in person.

[ictchris]

Bradford City did this and have more season ticket holders than most teams in the league above them. We should give it a go.

[+CaleyD]

Knowing the SPL, there's probably some rule or other that prevents it.

[Scotty]

I think its clever PR but a bit of smoke and mirrors !

Livi know how their current season ticket holder list breaks down, and have set the pricing and levels accordingly. Do they have 1600 full priced ticket holders? whats the current percentage of concessions?

If it works, then good on them .. they will increase their season ticket holder base and likely keep at least some of them when they jack the prices back up to full level next year ... if it doesnt, then they just have to say they didnt reach the quota .......

[+CaleyD]

I believe Livi average home crowds (excluding away fans) were between 1500 & 1600 this season.

[lukemackay]

Could this not backfire?

Say people decide to hold out for the prices to go down and they only sell 1000 of them. Then your left with people who would of bought a season ticket but never got round to it because they were waiting for prices to come down which never happened.

In any case it's good to see them trying new initiatives to increase ticket sales, and if it does work then FairPlay to them

[+old caley girl]

Nott too sure about this idea but at least they are thinking out of the box. I believe hearts are trying something similar.

[Alex MacLeod]

So lets assume Livi have 800 full paying ST holders. They make this offer and double that level to 1600. They've now got 800 more fans to police at matches which means added security and added costs so, in effect, they make a loss.

[Tug]

does everyone end up paying the lowest price? that would be a decent deal but would need very careful management

[+CaleyD]

You effectively pay a deposit which amounts to the minimum cost.

The number of Season Tickets sold is taken as at 1st July. If they reach the lowest discount level then nobody pays any more, if they fall short of that then everyone pays the balance between the deposit and whatever level they reach...so yeah, everyone pays the cheapest price.

Those who don't pay the balance are issued with a ticket that covers the first 9 home (league) games.

For a team like Livi who will have lost a few fans after all the mess they went through and who are growing that again as they progress and climb back then it's a fairly safe bet and a good way to get those bums back on seats.

The problem is that you actually need to be confident of fairly sizeable increases in sales to make it work, so it's not such a clear cut no-brainer for clubs with more established support. e.g. If you have 3000 Season Ticket holders then to give them a £1 discount without losing revenue then you need to sell an additional £3000 worth of tickets...let's say 10 tickets at £300 for simple maths sake. So to discount a tenner then you need 100 extra ST sales. But you also have to factor in additional costs that come with more ST holders, so maybe you actually need to increase sales by 120 to offer £10 discount....and that's just to reach financial par with previous season. The obvious aim of increasing bums on seats is to increase revenue, so maybe you have to start looking at 150 extra sales so it's worthwhile venture to give a £10 discount. That's only about 50p a game saving. You are going to want to be able to offer £50+ discounts to get people interested...so you need 750 additional ticket sales to make it worthwhile for both club and fans....that's 25% increase (based on 3000 base level), fairly ambitious as we already know that discounts generally don't support themselves with the increased numbers.

So yeah, in principle a sound idea...in practice, not so straight forward and far from a certainty that it would be a success.

[Tug]

nicely explained mr D

[marks]

Knowing the SPL, there's probably some rule or other that prevents it.

Hearts brought in dynamic pricing for next season.

http://www.heartsfc.co.uk/articles/20120320/bseason-tickets-qab_2257176_2685496

[+CaleyD]

Dynamic pricing is totally different and is geared towards getting sales in sooner and does not (as a matter of course) offer "discounts for all" as is being promoted by Livingston.

I would say that Dynamic Pricing in the football situation is actually very risky. Those who would benefit from the cheaper prices are generally those who won't be able to stump up the money needed at short notice...so they will miss out and end up paying more, or worse, not being able to afford/justify the cost so a fan is lost.

Will be interesting to see how it pans out for Hearts, but I think it could turn out to be an own goal.

[Sorted]

Agree with CD.

It's like this nonsense with electricity supply where those who can (often) least afford it pay up front at a higher rate than those who take credit.

Unlike electricity, people have a choice to buy a season ticket or not. If you incentivise those most able to be pay you risk alienating those least able. Traditionally who buys more tickets for football?