County paying for away fans buses

[Libero]

Just found out about this:

Ahead of the SPL opener at the weekend, Ross County have very kindly offered to meet the costs of Supporters Coaches heading to Dingwall.

In what is a fantastic gesture from the newly promoted side, any ‘Well fan going will now be able to travel free of charge via any Supporters Association coaches heading to the match.

Either this is an ingenious way of getting more paying away fans through the gates or they are really worried about having a small crowd for their SPL opener

For those involved in organising supporters buses, is this a feasible way to get more away fans through the gates?

[NormaStitz]

An excellent idea. If it resulted in just 100 extra paying supporters (say an average of £15 a head taking in to account concessions) that would pay for 3 of the buses. I'd have thought there's be spin-off benefits for County fans as hopefully other SPL clubs will reciprocate.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Now that is a PR stunt that is going to rebound on them.

[CaleyD]

Given the cost of running a bus they'd be lucky to recoup the cost via ticket sales, let alone make anything worthwhile from it.

If you work on an average ticket of £15 (based on mix of full price and concessions) then they might make £3 per head (assuming full buses)....about £150 per bus.

Say it goes well and 10 buses turn up, that's £1500.

Even a poor travelling Well support is going to bring 150/200 people, given that it's against new boys in the league and the novelty factor you might expect that to be 300+ without any incentive. At average ticket price of £15, that's £4500.

On the above scenario they're doing themselves out of £3000....or they need 30 buses full of Well Fans to get to the same position they would have been in by doing nothing.

Conclusion....it's a vanity thing and they're willing to blow some cash to ensure the stadium doesn't look half empty for the league opener.

If I was a C*unty Fan, not sure I would be happy at them donating money to the opposition. Surely if they wanted to be so generous then it would be better spent subsidising travel for their own fans to away games!!!

[Scotty]

Its a risk .... but I disagree with one part of CaleyD's logic .... I know you will have figures to back up what your typing and recent experience of organising buses, but lets just assume for a minute they make £150 per bus profit as you noted .... in the end, it doesnt matter how much it is, if its profit, its profit whether its 1 bus @ £150 or 10 buses @ £1500 .... and then you add program sales, food sales, and any other commercial revenue they can generate and it could be a nice little earner for them .... of course it could backfire spectacularly too, but thats the risk ....

In my opinion, the flaw is in thinking that the 150/200 or even 300 will turn up without incentive ... They may do and in that case your logic is sound ... but times are tough and they may struggle to get that level... I would think Couny might know how many tickets have been sold so far and are obviously targeting the "additionals" that might be swayed by a free trip for this one in the hope that the 300 becomes 500 or 700, and every "additional" is money coming in that would not have come in before.

[CaleyD]

Having thought about it a bit more, it may also take money away from the wider community. Plenty of fans coming up this way for games make a weekend of it, by forcing/encouraging these people on to buses that come straight up the road and the straight back down again then you are dissuading them from doing that.

My position stands....the only thing this does is put money into the pockets of the bus companies, and not even local bus companies.

[+Gringo]

I'll side with IHE on this one and call it a PR stunt. Interesting take also on taking money out of the local economy by 'forcing' away fans to go straight home. Personally, I wouldn't like to see my team do this kind of thing and would much prefer them to spend cash on our supporters.

[ferben1994]

the car park will be a pretty picture that day!!

1 half full ov caravans an the other filled up wiv rickety old coaches from motherhell

[bauhaus]

No county are providing the coaches, What they havent said is they will be horse drawn and set of on Wednesday morning. Alternatively, it because some of their own fans have broken down, and they are going to latch the caravans onto the back of the bus to get home

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I have just e-mailed Roy McGregor and ordered a return taxi fare from Chorley in the New Year.