Membership scheme

[Mowgli]

The club has needed to get into modern day for a long time.

Been too cheap for too long, which has started to change. The kits are selling much better than they ever have before.

A membership scheme is par for the course these days unfortunately but its the way of the world. It could actually ve decent value for some depending on what's on offer.

 

[Blyth]

How do Bournemouth manage?

The same way others that do well do. Being smarter than others. But that will only last so long. History has shown the teams with the biggest revenue stay in the league and the biggest revenue teams win trophies.

That’s a fact. Throughout the entire history of football. The richest teams stay at the top.

Yes you will have the off upset and purple patch for teams.

The club has needed to get into modern day for a long time.

Been too cheap for too long, which has started to change. The kits are selling much better than they ever have before.

A membership scheme is par for the course these days unfortunately but its the way of the world. It could actually ve decent value for some depending on what's on offer.

It’s a scam mate and we should just stick local…

Its not nonsense though, I don't want us to stay local I want us to have fans around the world. I just don't want us to screw fans over for the sake of £1m which again is less than 0.5% of turnover.

You mentioned the league 1 thing not me, having or not having a membership will have such a low impact on us staying in this league it would be basically 0%, there are double figure things we should be doing before going down the membership route, sadly though football clubs know that fans cant move to another club so they introduce these things and then people go well if they didnt we couldnt compete so we have to accept it, thats nonsense. We could release more tops, we could sell naming rights, we could increase match day ticket prices and not have membership forced upon people (instantly save them £50 there), we could create more hospitality like Liverpool do where you get a meal away from the stadium have an ex pro make people laugh for 20 minutes then bus them in, or just do it at black cat house.

Bottom line if ticketmaster said you had to have a membership to purchase gig tickets people would kick off, but football clubs have introduced it and people have accepted it because poor football clubs need as much money as possible. They are not value for money, its not a scam I accept I called it wrong but its still very wrong.

But all this 1m’s add up. You simply can’t ignore revenue streams, as well get left behind. If we do 15 things that bring in a 1m each that can mean 1-2 signings, investment whatever you want.

I’ve got no idea why you’re so against a membership scheme. It’s bizarre.

 

[FoldingStars]

But all this 1m’s add up. You simply can’t ignore revenue streams, as well get left behind. If we do 15 things that bring in a 1m each that can mean 1-2 signings, investment whatever you want.

I’ve got no idea why you’re so against a membership scheme. It’s bizarre.

I’m so against them as they offer nothing extra for the fans, it’s the club taking the piss out of loyalty. None offer anything worthy of the money but people are forced to pay it to have a chance of getting match tickets. It’s a scummy cash grab, I don’t understand why anyone thinks it’s acceptable, I don’t care if everyone else does we shouldn’t force people to pay a membership fee to then have the chance to buy tickets as that’s the only thing people do it for.

I agree they all add up so do the other things first, just for arguments sake how much do you think it’ll make? £1m would only need us to add £5 to a single match day ticket instead of forcing people to pay £50 then a chance to buy a ticket.

Whilst you can’t understand why I’m so against it I can’t understand why you are happy to see fans be screwed over and pay for something that should be free, all because others do it. That’s bizarre to me.

Man Utd doubled disabled parking passes, should we do that too?

If we squeezed every other revenue stream and were struggling then yes sell memberships that are worth it (none are) but until then I don’t want us screwing fans over, bizarre maybe.

 

[Blyth]

I’m so against them as they offer nothing extra for the fans, it’s the club taking the piss out of loyalty.

That’s absolute horse shite tbf.

We don’t even know what it contains.

Just cos you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s taking the piss.

There’ll be fans who very much want to feel connected to the club, this can be another way to do it, if they wish to. New and old fans, uk based and international.

No one is forcing you to get one. Stop being a fanny

 

[EternallySAFC]

I was hoping to take my daughter to her first game next season. Not sure if I want to pay something like £50 just for the chance to get her a ticket.

 

[FoldingStars]

That’s absolute horse shite tbf.

We don’t even know what it contains.

Just cos you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s taking the piss.

There’ll be fans who very much want to feel connected to the club, this can be another way to do it, if they wish to. New and old fans, uk based and international.

No one is forcing you to get one. Stop being a fanny

I'm going off what every other club do, you need a membership to buy tickets as they sell out before they go on GR, if I cant say they are shite going off what other clubs do then you cant say they arent shite.

What do other clubs offer that makes them worthwhile? You mentioned that others are doing it and we need to follow the lead so I'm sure you can explain whats so good about them, on a whole not just if we do one?

Also no need for the name calling really, I just think screwing fans over for £1m is a piss take, I have a season ticket so I'd not need to get one so I'd not be getting screwed either.

 

[Mackemansj1]

That’s outrageous take on what I said like

Borderline nonsense. Straw man argument.

If SAFC are one of the lowest revenue earners in the PL then history will tell you we’ll probably come unstuck in the end.

Every single revenue stream needs to be used and we need to grow our global appeal. If not we’ll be left behind. A membership scheme is very small part of the overall strategy.

It’s that simple.

Not really how are the likes of Bournemouth doing it on 11k fanbase while West Ham have went down with the second highest average match attendance and in London with all that brings. We could make all the money in the world and it won’t matter if we fuck it up on the pitch, again see West Ham. We need to be careful we’re in a region that always gets hit harder than elsewhere, we’re one season up we need to be careful and grow the revenue wisely and without f***ing over the core fanbase. This is why we need the extension doing, it will give us more boxes and premium to help bring the incomes up while trying to keep normal tickets affordable. Our Mach day revenue isn’t helped with concourses built for a bygone era, the likes of spurs pull in more Match day revenue because they can get fans in, keep them in spending money. I’ve had a season ticket pretty much every season since the Sol was built and can probably count the amount of pints and food I’ve bought on my hands. I’d be happy to spend money in the ground if it wasn’t an absolute ball ache and carry on.

 

[Zen Den]

The club has needed to get into modern day for a long time.

Been too cheap for too long, which has started to change. The kits are selling much better than they ever have before.

A membership scheme is par for the course these days unfortunately but its the way of the world. It could actually ve decent value for some depending on what's on offer.

It should be proportional to the area we’re in and no more.

 

[Blyth]

Not really how are the likes of Bournemouth doing it on 11k fanbase while West Ham have went down with the second highest average match attendance and in London with all that brings. We could make all the money in the world and it won’t matter if we fuck it up on the pitch, again see West Ham. We need to be careful we’re in a region that always gets hit harder than elsewhere, we’re one season up we need to be careful and grow the revenue wisely and without f***ing over the core fanbase. This is why we need the extension doing, it will give us more boxes and premium to help bring the incomes up while trying to keep normal tickets affordable. Our Mach day revenue isn’t helped with concourses built for a bygone era, the likes of spurs pull in more Match day revenue because they can get fans in, keep them in spending money. I’ve had a season ticket pretty much every season since the Sol was built and can probably count the amount of pints and food I’ve bought on my hands. I’d be happy to spend money in the ground if it wasn’t an absolute ball ache and carry on.

A badly run club is a badly run club. No matter the coin. The point is clubs with most revenue in the main do better than clubs with a lower income. It’s that simple.

Who’s talking about f***ing over fans like? It’s a membership. Plenty of clubs have them. We’ve even had them.

 

[LambethMackem]

Simple fact is, tickets to matches (at the moment at least) are highly sought after and any serious business would seek to capitalise on that enthusiasm. It’s supply and demand, and you would look at these methods to extract revenue first before committing hundreds of millions to stadium expansion.

 

[FoldingStars]

Simple fact is, tickets to matches (at the moment at least) are highly sought after and any serious business would seek to capitalise on that enthusiasm. It’s supply and demand, and you would look at these methods to extract revenue first before committing hundreds of millions to stadium expansion.

So increase a match day ticket price, charging people £50 and hoping you get 20k people to pay for SAFCtv, 10% of merch and the chance to buy tickets shouldn’t be a route we go down after a single season. We are one of the poorest areas in the Premier League we shouldn’t expect fans to pay for a chance to buy tickets, just charge more for a ticket instead.

Or even easier sell the stadium naming rights for £1m a year and don’t squeeze more from fans.

We should be doing everything to get more fans from all over, charging them would surely turn more away than help them get that bug we all got from that very first game. Villa for example, a parent and their kid would need to pay £80 in memberships to then have a chance to buy tickets.

 

[NorthCountryBoy]

If the difference between milking our fanbase and not is, say, a 2% delta in our turnover (most of it is media rights which isn’t impacted by fan prices) I’d rather we didn’t bother.

Make a statement and say that we’re Sunderland, we don’t fuck our fans over. The impact it’d make on our chances on the pitch would exist, but it’d be negligible.

 

[DC88]

Hopefully it’s more than just a racket to charge people for a chance to get match tickets. Which 99% of people on here have rightfully slagged the mags off for. Be interesting to see what the crack is.

 

[tunstallhill]

It could actually ve decent value for some depending on what's on offer.

you are entitled to your opinion but i just can't agree with that like

at the moment, when home tickets go on sale, people have the chance to buy them at face value

under the new scheme it appears that people will have to pay just to have the chance to buy them

not sure how in any possible scenario that represents 'decent value'

the club need to be very careful what they are doing here, we are sunderland, and a bad season with a return to the championship is never too far away as a possibility, going off our history of the previous 60 years

Simple fact is, tickets to matches (at the moment at least) are highly sought after and any serious business would seek to capitalise on that enthusiasm.

in other words, we should extract every last penny out of fans and price many out of going all together, just because we've had a good 12 months on the pitch.

i can see the logic from a business perspective but i just can't agree with it.

 

[RedandWhiteRebel]

If there is going to be a free membership & paid membership there is no reason they couldn't have the NWU corner tickets available with the free membership,

And the better more expensive tickets In the Monty stand restricted to those on paid membership.

But I suspect all tickets will be restricted to paid membership. It will be undoubtedly putting the pinch on people who are already low on finances expecting them to make a pre payment for the chance of tickets. I cannot say I'm in favour of that in principle but let's see what the memberships offer.

 

[stewart10]

you are entitled to your opinion but i just can't agree with that like

at the moment, when home tickets go on sale, people have the chance to buy them at face value

under the new scheme it appears that people will have to pay just to have the chance to buy them

not sure how in any possible scenario that represents 'decent value'

the club need to be very careful what they are doing here, we are sunderland, and a bad season with a return to the championship is never too far away as a possibility, going off our history of the previous 60 years

in other words, we should extract every last penny out of fans and price many out of going all together, just because we've had a good 12 months on the pitch.

i can see the logic from a business perspective but i just can't agree with it.

This is the thing, a football club isn't a business. When it's attempted to be run like a business, like Chelsea, where they made business decisions, without factoring in the community aspect or any other aspect, it failed miserably.

A football club is a community, it's the fanbase, it's the connections that exist between the club, the players, the fans everyone. Those connections can easily be broken through abuse, through one side of that community taking advantage.

I can't say I agree with the membership scheme, but I can't say I disagree without seeing it in detail, but they need to be very careful, we've been down this road before, and it won't take much for the feel-good factor to disappear.

 

[FoldingStars]

If there is going to be a free membership & paid membership there is no reason they couldn't have the NWU corner tickets available with the free membership,

And the better more expensive tickets In the Monty stand restricted to those on paid membership.

But I suspect all tickets will be restricted to paid membership. It will be undoubtedly putting the pinch on people who are already low on finances expecting them to make a pre payment for the chance of tickets. I cannot say I'm in favour of that in principle but let's see what the memberships offer.

My guess is they will sell it as a 3 day exclusive time frame for paid membership, looking at Villa that’s what they do so you can still be a member and have the chance to get tickets without paying but o sorry they sold out in the exclusivity phase.

Don’t worry though for your free membership you get an email once a month telling you what’s happening and we send you a free gift.

If they said it’s £10 and you get 10% off club merch for the first month the shirts are out and the month do December I’d probably accept it, also kids should be free (Villa charge £30). Anything where the discount on a shirt doesn’t really cover the cost of membership is just screwing the fans over because they know we are loyal and can’t just change clubs.

 

[Mowgli]

you are entitled to your opinion but i just can't agree with that like

at the moment, when home tickets go on sale, people have the chance to buy them at face value

under the new scheme it appears that people will have to pay just to have the chance to buy them

not sure how in any possible scenario that represents 'decent value'

the club need to be very careful what they are doing here, we are sunderland, and a bad season with a return to the championship is never too far away as a possibility, going off our history of the previous 60 years

in other words, we should extract every last penny out of fans and price many out of going all together, just because we've had a good 12 months on the pitch.

i can see the logic from a business perspective but i just can't agree with it.

You're putting words in my mouth a bit there. I've said that we need to see the detail... if we need a membership scheme to even buy a ticket then I agree that is greed and purely about ripping people off.

I was saying that it could be value for some, if they offer packages for exiles or overseas fans etc that could include things they would want. Maybe programmes, one matchday ticket per season.

Very much need to see the detail but and I'm generally against membership schemes but it seems to be the norm. It just needs ti be done properly, but can't see RAWA having any input or listened to.

Definitely potential for something kids would enjoy being a part of. It doesn't HAVE to rip people off.

 

[RedandWhiteRebel]

My guess is they will sell it as a 3 day exclusive time frame for paid membership, looking at Villa that’s what they do so you can still be a member and have the chance to get tickets without paying but o sorry they sold out in the exclusivity phase.

Don’t worry though for your free membership you get an email once a month telling you what’s happening and we send you a free gift.

If they said it’s £10 and you get 10% off club merch for the first month the shirts are out and the month do December I’d probably accept it, also kids should be free (Villa charge £30). Anything where the discount on a shirt doesn’t really cover the cost of membership is just screwing the fans over because they know we are loyal and can’t just change clubs.

I just don't like the idea of a closed shop unless we are paid up members.

I'm fortunate enough at the moment I can afford the more expensive seats in the Monty Stand and would have no issue myself paying a £50 membership to continue having access to those seats.

But other people are already struggling to make ends meet and some time in future that could be any of us.

So I would much prefer they kept some seats available for people on free memberships like the NWU corner. But I doubt that has even been considered.

 

[tunstallhill]

You're putting words in my mouth a bit there. I've said that we need to see the detail... if we need a membership scheme to even buy a ticket then I agree that is greed and purely about ripping people off.

I was saying that it could be value for some, if they offer packages for exiles or overseas fans etc that could include things they would want. Maybe programmes, one matchday ticket per season.

Very much need to see the detail but and I'm generally against membership schemes but it seems to be the norm. It just needs ti be done properly, but can't see RAWA having any input or listened to.

Definitely potential for something kids would enjoy being a part of. It doesn't HAVE to rip people off.

Aye it'll be interesting to see the details

I just can't see how it would be value for money any further than the current set up -i.e buy a ticket , matchday programme,. merchandise as you please

The entire thing will be solely based on the club making more money from the fans, otherwise what's the point