Stadium Admission Prices

[Teromaafan]

There is a lot of talk about admission prices and the correlation with attendance figures. If prices were a couple of quid lower, would a few more of hundred spectators show up? Trying to apply simple business economics in this sport in its current state is pointless. If prices went up or down by around £3 to £5 next season I do not think it would make much difference to attendances, due to the fans age demograph. The sport relies on die hards in the 60 plus age group who will always moan about prices but will still pay to watch the sport because ‘we always have done’. Being brutally honest, even when some clubs have offered serious discounts on certain meetings, the number of additional attendees is usually underwhelming. Getting people through the turnstile is one thing, but then delivering a product to want the casual supporter to return is another. Club’s are not naive enough to think that there are queues of people waiting for admission price tweaks to visit their tracks. Fact of the matter is, the people that could make an impact financially aren’t aware of the sport and worse still, are not aware of a track that might be local to them. Promotion of the sport in the UK on the whole sums up all of the above.

 

[The White Knight]

17 hours ago, Teromaafan said:

There is a lot of talk about admission prices and the correlation with attendance figures. If prices were a couple of quid lower, would a few more of hundred spectators show up? Trying to apply simple business economics in this sport in its current state is pointless. If prices went up or down by around £3 to £5 next season I do not think it would make much difference to attendances, due to the fans age demograph. The sport relies on die hards in the 60 plus age group who will always moan about prices but will still pay to watch the sport because ‘we always have done’. Being brutally honest, even when some clubs have offered serious discounts on certain meetings, the number of additional attendees is usually underwhelming. Getting people through the turnstile is one thing, but then delivering a product to want the casual supporter to return is another. Club’s are not naive enough to think that there are queues of people waiting for admission price tweaks to visit their tracks. Fact of the matter is, the people that could make an impact financially aren’t aware of the sport and worse still, are not aware of a track that might be local to them. Promotion of the sport in the UK on the whole sums up all of the above.

 

Great Post.

[DaveWayne]

On 10/16/2024 at 8:43 AM, heathen52 said:

I am one of your pensioners living only on state pension, I paid my NI and Taxes from when i left school until I was about 70 actually i paid Tax as Ni stopped at retirement but has changed again recently, lets get this straight most of my generation expected the state pension would be enough to live off, other gold plated pensions were/are for civil servants, council workers, NHS etc etc they are the ones that have a decent standard of living, neither am i one of the pensioners of which there are more and more that has had a property or such like left in a will, so yes some pensioners have never had it so good but others have to rely solely on state pension, and then you have those on pension credit who for various reasons did not pay enough into the system yet end up better off (housing benefit, council tax paid, free dental care, optical care, winter fuel payments) than those that did, don't say i didn't plan ahead it's the people that abused the system (Mental Health is the new lazy ) then and now that need sorting out but none of our politicians will grasp the nettle.

Well if you thought the state pension would be enough to live on then you weren't paying much attention to all the advice being given.

Always good to see someone quoting the good old 'gold plated pensions' for civil servants and the like - that great myth bandied around by the right wing media. You do know that those people had to make contributions from their salary don't you ? Just like you could have done into a private pension.

[steve roberts]

6 hours ago, DaveWayne said:

Well if you thought the state pension would be enough to live on then you weren't paying much attention to all the advice being given.

Always good to see someone quoting the good old 'gold plated pensions' for civil servants and the like - that great myth bandied around by the right wing media. You do know that those people had to make contributions from their salary don't you ? Just like you could have done into a private pension.

Unfortunately not everyone was/is able to pay into a private pension. Those that were/are on low salaries had/have difficulties enough paying bills never mind finding that bit extra to have paid into a private scheme. 

[DaveWayne]

3 hours ago, steve roberts said:

Unfortunately not everyone was/is able to pay into a private pension. Those that were/are on low salaries had/have difficulties enough paying bills never mind finding that bit extra to have paid into a private scheme. 

It's all about choices. How many of those who claim to have those difficulties drink or smoke ? I'm not saying everybody does, but literally one less pint a week could have made a big difference to retirement income if invested into a private pension for the last 30+ years.

[steve roberts]

1 hour ago, DaveWayne said:

It's all about choices. How many of those who claim to have those difficulties drink or smoke ? I'm not saying everybody does, but literally one less pint a week could have made a big difference to retirement income if invested into a private pension for the last 30+ years.

I'm fortunate in that I have a small private pension and was able to pay into a savings plan.

Having moved to York some years ago I worked within the tourism industry where generally salaries are barely above minimum wage. How my younger ex-colleagues will cope in years to come is questionable and I don't envy them. York is a tourist centre and prides itself on same but that isn't reflected in salaries unfortunately. 

[SandyLaner]

With well over 30 meetings this year at Oxford, my initial concerns about costs and so on were disproved. We had an incredibly solid core. We're talking 700-900 every Sunday for the Chargers, 1200-1500 for the Cheetahs, and 1800-2200 for the Spires.

 

The only real changer in the crowds this year was, without a shadow of a doubt, the weather. You'd lose hundreds off the gate if the weather looked dodgy, which lets be honest, it was throughout the whole year. 

 

What does it show? People will find a way. There is of course a saturation point, but my genuine view is that sport tickets in general haven't tracked inflation costs over the years, and indeed probably *should* cost more - not that I want to pay more of course!

 

I can't see a £2 increase making a lot of difference at Oxford, though the question of course always has to be asked - is the extra money being brought in going to inflate riders wages, or is it going to help stabilise the clubs?