Coventry City Community Day

[Midland Red]

Reduced ticket prices

Free tickets for schools

Attendance:  over 28,000 v Accrington Stanley

Lesson to be learned for speedway promoters?

[Midland Red]

Wish I knew how to post to the new forum!!!!!

[jrs]

You must have worked as "an everything in triplicate" civil servant lol 

[Midland Red]

I didnt

I didn't 

I didn't 

[Midland Red]

Any road up - back on track

 

Anything for speedway promoters to learn from this initiative?

[OGT]

Accrington Stanley, who are they?

[Gemini]

I think he's on the waiting list to ride for Poole.

[Gordon Pairman]

9 hours ago, Midland Red said:

Reduced ticket prices

Free tickets for schools

Attendance:  over 28,000 v Accrington Stanley

Lesson to be learned for speedway promoters?

When I was involved with Belle Vue, we did a huge push one summer with publicity on local radio and the MEN newspaper for much reduced adult admission and children free. The results were overwhelming with double the normal crowd (though the same turnstile income as usual). We were so pleased with the out-turn that we ran it for the next week. The crowd returned to pre-offer levels meaning we lost a fortune. 

I concluded that reduced entry pricing was unlikely to increase crowd levels on a long term basis - but were likely to bankrupt the business

[Stoke Potter]

1 hour ago, Gordon Pairman said:

When I was involved with Belle Vue, we did a huge push one summer with publicity on local radio and the MEN newspaper for much reduced adult admission and children free. The results were overwhelming with double the normal crowd (though the same turnstile income as usual). We were so pleased with the out-turn that we ran it for the next week. The crowd returned to pre-offer levels meaning we lost a fortune. 

I concluded that reduced entry pricing was unlikely to increase crowd levels on a long term basis - but were likely to bankrupt the business

So people were interested enough in the prospect of Speedway to double your crowd?  That sounds like an excellent result.

Did you attempt to attain any feedback from those new customers as to why they wouldn't/didn't come back?

I would suggest that the reasons were:  1.  The racing spectacle was virtually none existent, how many heats any had passing beyond the back straight of lap 1?  Quite possibly none.

2.  And very much a secondary reason would be that the presentation would be rather low-key.

The conclusion to come is that people are not interested in watching boring, processional "races" with little to no passing, or anything resembling any drama.

Of course at Belle Vue, you now have an excellent advantage over every other club in the country, i.e. the best Speedway track.

[Aces51]

I think Belle Vue had the right approach last year by effectively using the Colts to try to get people to attend and then hopefully, to want to see the Aces. Entrance fees for the Colts were £10 for adults, £8 for concessions and under 18's free. Most families could afford that, it gave those new to the sport an opportunity to see what it was all about and the risk to the promoters was minimised.

Edited February 11, 2018 by Aces51

[Gordon Pairman]

43 minutes ago, Stoke Potter said:

So people were interested enough in the prospect of Speedway to double your crowd?  That sounds like an excellent result.

Did you attempt to attain any feedback from those new customers as to why they wouldn't/didn't come back?

I would suggest that the reasons were:  1.  The racing spectacle was virtually none existent, how many heats any had passing beyond the back straight of lap 1?  Quite possibly none.

2.  And very much a secondary reason would be that the presentation would be rather low-key.

The conclusion to come is that people are not interested in watching boring, processional "races" with little to no passing, or anything resembling any drama.

Of course at Belle Vue, you now have an excellent advantage over every other club in the country, i.e. the best Speedway track.

You draw some rather unnecessarily offensive conclusions based on what can only be surmise, ignorance  and prejudice. Why did you do that when I was trying to be open?

And, pray tell me, how would you expect us to find those that turned up the first week but not the second?

I was simply stating facts. We picked the fixture and worked flat out promoting the night. My recollection, bearing in mind that this was some time ago, was that the atmosphere was superb and the crowd reaction gave us the impetus to repeat it. I also remember how deflated we were the following week.

[ch958]

12 hours ago, Gordon Pairman said:

You draw some rather unnecessarily offensive conclusions based on what can only be surmise, ignorance  and prejudice. Why did you do that when I was trying to be open?

And, pray tell me, how would you expect us to find those that turned up the first week but not the second?

I was simply stating facts. We picked the fixture and worked flat out promoting the night. My recollection, bearing in mind that this was some time ago, was that the atmosphere was superb and the crowd reaction gave us the impetus to repeat it. I also remember how deflated we were the following week.

said this before and i expect i'll say it  again - free or reduced price tickets in return for email addresses (mail the tix to that address) and bombard with info  and adverts, ask questions and act on the answers.

Its the first day of GCSE Marketing. It costs at first but once you have contact its free

[Steve Shovlar]

I went to the Lakeside v Poole meeting when it was free entry several years ago. Over 7,000 and a very good match as well. The roads around Lakeside were completely gridlocked. Remember hearing the following week it was back to normal service.

[MattK]

1 hour ago, Richard Weston said:

All this, of course, begs the question what can speedway do to retain people in such circumstances? 

Presumably, the key is loyalty to the team. I've been to the greyhounds at Swindon and enjoyed myself, but I wouldn't go every week. Similarly, people without team affiliation may well have the same experience of speedway. 

[Mr Snackette]

It has been said before, but it is well worth repeating....the cost of admission is only part of the reason why people choose (or choose not to) attend an event. Wasps Rugby use the Ricoh, and average 18,000...with their highest attendance this season just short of 27,000. They charge up to £56 a seat, and don't have to give tickets away to get a decent crowd. 

The lesson to learn is to produce a package of entertainment that fires the public's imagination and makes it a "must see event" each and every time. Then the price of admission is not so important!!

[blueherb777]

5 hours ago, Richard Weston said:

I think there is quite a bit of evidence around that shows free (reduced) admission doesn't lead to an overall upswing in attendances in the medium or even long term. Mr Pairman's experience just backs that up.

My memory says Lakeside was packed one week when it was free – the next, when it was normal admission prices, the attendance was also 'normal'

In the early days of Sky, Eastbourne dished out loads of free tickets – lots of people attended; never to be seen again.

All this, of course, begs the question what can speedway do to retain people in such circumstances? 

 

Indeed Lakeside was packed when free.

I arrived in Car Park and could not believe the amount of Cars,it was unreal.

Thought I had arrived at wrong event,this cant be Speedway ! 

[Grand Central]

Mr Pairman speaks from genuine experience; and that could be repeated by many other promoters going back decades.
And still people here are not prepared to listen.

I have lost count of the number of times I have personally taken up a one-off offer to sample something new or different at reduced price.
Cinema Tickets, Rugby, Cricket, Football, Local and London Theatre, Restaurants and many more things over many many years
And yet I count up very few where I have ever returned to the same venue or event when it is full price on the back of that offer-visit..
Even when I really enjoyed the experience immensely.

In fact, the knowledge that a cheaper offer may one day appear in my inbox is reason enough to wait until it does
Or take up a totally different offer from somewhere else.

I cannot really expect other people to do differently to what I have done myself, often.
So why are so many people here convinced otherwise just because it is Speedway

Edited February 12, 2018 by Grand Central

[E I Addio]

4 hours ago, Steve Shovlar said:

I went to the Lakeside v Poole meeting when it was free entry several years ago. Over 7,000 and a very good match as well. The roads around Lakeside were completely gridlocked. Remember hearing the following week it was back to normal service.

When it was free, which from memory was around 2006/7 people were coming from all over the country, not just Poole , but from places like Wolverhampton, who linked it in with a shopping trip. No way fans like that would ordinarily come down for a match that didn’t involve their home team. And, it has to be said Poole, even in 2006 were more of a draw than most

[Hot Shoe]

On 2/11/2018 at 9:05 AM, Midland Red said:

Reduced ticket prices

Free tickets for schools

Attendance:  over 28,000 v Accrington Stanley

Lesson to be learned for speedway promoters?

Any lessons learned will be judged by how many of the 20,000 over the average attendance this season turn up again when they have to pay.

[beesboybert]

On 2/12/2018 at 8:41 AM, ch958 said:

said this before and i expect i'll say it  again - free or reduced price tickets in return for email addresses (mail the tix to that address) and bombard with info  and adverts, ask questions and act on the answers.

Its the first day of GCSE Marketing. It costs at first but once you have contact its free

This is what CCFC did. They gave out vouchers to the schools, which had to be filled in with contact details to claim the free ticket.

 

This ends up with more records in the "supporter database" so more promotion/marketing can be directed at a bigger audience. 

 

Simply having a free for all in terms of attendance will only work for one week (and that's only if you get the additional benefit of extra spending e.g food/merchandise)