The New Raith Rovers Thread

[CALDERON]

Correct, Raith Rovers is a business.  A business serving customers.

If any other business raised prices, for a one off occasion, for what is essentially the same product -  customers would be rightly pissed off.

Why are football clubs any different?  I think what people actually forget, is that football fans are essentially paying customers and things like one off price fluctuations are the difference to some between not going to a game.  Football fans arent loyal drones, they are customers.  Not everyone is as "into" football as people who post on here. That extra 2 quid might not seem much to us, but to the casual fan? Will they think "It's ok, there will be more police and the club get a bit more profit" 

Its not the customers fault there are extra policing costs (which should be covered anyway by the additional crowd)

Anyone who pays the same price each week, apart from when its more popular than usual is entitled to be pissed off.

I would maybe have a bit more sympathy, were the club not regularly in the press moaning and complaining about low crowds. 

The club offer an online shop for other goods, whats so difficult about tickets?  There is over 2 weeks til the game.  Surely put a sensible cut off date and that would allow tickets to be fulfilled in time.  Im sure the club have offered this before in fact.

Your point about people not complaining about reduced prices is absolutely bizarre.  Why would customers complain about a reduced price?

Edited August 2, 2016 by CALDERON

[Scary Bear]

I was at the Michael Woods centre again today, taking the kids swimming. It's great seeing the Rovers squad there. I am always a bit star struck when I see the players milling about. Can't wait for the new season now.

[Raithie]

1 hour ago, CALDERON said:

The club offer an online shop for other goods, whats so difficult about tickets?  There is over 2 weeks til the game.  Surely put a sensible cut off date and that would allow tickets to be fulfilled in time.  Im sure the club have offered this before in fact.

I'm sure you are correct. I think the 3-0 defeat at home to Celtic a few years ago had a system like that in place where you could purchase tickets online.

[Scary Bear]

I'm sure you are correct. I think the 3-0 defeat at home to Celtic a few years ago had a system like that in place where you could purchase tickets online.

I took it that the previous post was regarding electronic ticketing. If not, you're correct in that we have already sold tickets online for a Celtic cup game.

[Rovers_Lad]

1 hour ago, CALDERON said:

Correct, Raith Rovers is a business.  A business serving customers.

If any other business raised prices, for a one off occasion, for what is essentially the same product -  customers would be rightly pissed off.

Why are football clubs any different?  I think what people actually forget, is that football fans are essentially paying customers and things like one off price fluctuations are the difference to some between not going to a game.  Football fans arent loyal drones, they are customers.  Not everyone is as "into" football as people who post on here. That extra 2 quid might not seem much to us, but to the casual fan? Will they think "It's ok, there will be more police and the club get a bit more profit" 

Its not the customers fault there are extra policing costs (which should be covered anyway by the additional crowd)

Anyone who pays the same price each week, apart from when its more popular than usual is entitled to be pissed off.

I would maybe have a bit more sympathy, were the club not regularly in the press moaning and complaining about low crowds. 

The club offer an online shop for other goods, whats so difficult about tickets?  There is over 2 weeks til the game.  Surely put a sensible cut off date and that would allow tickets to be fulfilled in time.  Im sure the club have offered this before in fact.

Your point about people not complaining about reduced prices is absolutely bizarre.  Why would customers complain about a reduced price?

Spot on

[RavyDavy]

Correct, Raith Rovers is a business.  A business serving customers.

If any other business raised prices, for a one off occasion, for what is essentially the same product -  customers would be rightly pissed off.

Why are football clubs any different?  I think what people actually forget, is that football fans are essentially paying customers and things like one off price fluctuations are the difference to some between not going to a game.  Football fans arent loyal drones, they are customers.  Not everyone is as "into" football as people who post on here. That extra 2 quid might not seem much to us, but to the casual fan? Will they think "It's ok, there will be more police and the club get a bit more profit" 

Its not the customers fault there are extra policing costs (which should be covered anyway by the additional crowd)

Anyone who pays the same price each week, apart from when its more popular than usual is entitled to be pissed off.

I would maybe have a bit more sympathy, were the club not regularly in the press moaning and complaining about low crowds. 

The club offer an online shop for other goods, whats so difficult about tickets?  There is over 2 weeks til the game.  Surely put a sensible cut off date and that would allow tickets to be fulfilled in time.  Im sure the club have offered this before in fact.

Your point about people not complaining about reduced prices is absolutely bizarre.  Why would customers complain about a reduced price?

Is it the same product though? Is a game against Dunfermline (being our local rivals) or Hibs or Rangers the same as a game against Cowdenbeath, Alloa or Morton? I'd argue that it is not. Categorised matches are the norm these days. I'm not sure why it bothers people so much. To use your comparison to other businesses offering fluctuating pricing structures based on demand... It's like a premium event, these are the events that have the highest demand, but also the highest cost to stage.

So to maintain margins, a higher price is charged. That could be difference between no or 1 or 2 extra signings, or investment in the stadium, etc... The club is there to make money. If the club can take advantage of larger crowds to safeguard finances and growth then that's just good business sense. No one at Starks Park is lining their own pockets. The club has, imo, provided some excellent season ticket pricing structures that represent good value, even introducing a payment instalment scheme and so the only folks this impacts are generally those who don't go most weeks, so in which case £2 here or there over the course of a season really shouldn't make a difference.

What we have in our support is a bunch of rent-a-moaners who latch onto the slightest thing. there are plenty of things to moan about - categorised pricing structures isn't one.

Your point about the club bemoaning low crowds is moot - these are at games where the standard entry price is charged and yet do not attract the support. However a derby game almost guarantees a higher turnout,vregardless of the price increase. Maybe if folks turned out for the usual games against the likes of Alloa/Ayr/etc then maybe a tiered structure wouldn't be necessary as increased costs could be absorbed?

My point about reduced entry cost was that it was £6 less than usual - that's £6 that will cover 3 cat A games... Swings and roundabouts. Seems that some just want the swings.

I was referring to point about eticketing, not online sales. Online sales also costs money as the club needs to pay for a ePayments transactions company to manage. Which will make your ticket more expensive.

Jesus.

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

[fcrover]

Re the Pars tickets - the Hibs playoff game was sold via the online shop; I ordered and received my ticket in very quick time so am hoping that this will be done again. I work til 5.30 35 miles away and am unable to be at the St Mirren game due to long-standing commitments elsewhere so no online sales would leave me an unhappy chappy

[Rovers1992/1993]

Correct, Raith Rovers is a business.  A business serving customers.

If any other business raised prices, for a one off occasion, for what is essentially the same product -  customers would be rightly pissed off.

Thinking a bit on the larger Scale, would you expect to pay the same price for a Scotland v England game as you would for a Scotland v San Marino game?

Man U v Man City and Man U v Coventry?

Real v Barca and Real v Numancia?

Of course you wouldn't even though it is " ..essentially the Same product..", There would be much more of an atmosphere at these games, The Quality on show is expected to be much greater at these games by both teams etc.

It's only 2 quid. Every Business puts up their prices for a product that is expected to sky rocket in sales.

At the Euros, the airlines put their prices for flights to France up. The hotels in France put their prices up. The Bars put their prices up. It will be the same in Rio for the olympics. It happens all the time. Why would it be any different here?

[RavyDavy]

Thinking a bit on the larger Scale, would you expect to pay the same price for a Scotland v England game as you would for a Scotland v San Marino game?

Man U v Man City and Man U v Coventry?

Real v Barca and Real v Numancia?

Of course you wouldn't even though it is " ..essentially the Same product..", There would be much more of an atmosphere at these games, The Quality on show is expected to be much greater at these games by both teams etc.

It's only 2 quid. Every Business puts up their prices for a product that is expected to sky rocket in sales.

At the Euros, the airlines put their prices for flights to France up. The hotels in France put their prices up. The Bars put their prices up. It will be the same in Rio for the olympics. It happens all the time. Why would it be any different here?

This.

Don't understand why people expect football teams to be any different.

Keeping on the airline theme - that's a great example of structured pricing for the same product - the more seats that are sold (and taking into account other variances) the higher the price gets.. All comes down to the same thing; higher demand = higher prices. That's capitalism for you.

[CALDERON]

Difference with football clubs,especially ours, is that they rely on a dwindling customer base.

Airlines, bars, hotels don't rely on a very finite group of customers (who they also publically criticise in the press and their own website from time to time). They can use that pricing strategy as for every customer they piss off, another one will come along to take their place.

 

 

Edited August 2, 2016 by CALDERON

[RavyDavy]

Given that we have consistently had one of the lowest gate prices in the league since coming back up into the championship, I think you would have to have a brass neck to be pissed off.

But each to their own, if this is what pisses you off then you must be very angry with life in general.

I, like most I would guess, would quite happily pay £20 for the odd game if it helps the club in the long run.

End of the day, you have a choice - you can choose to go and pay the extra, or don't go and save the money. No one forces you to go.

Some people have no choice to travel on planes or trains and can have claim to be pissed off with higher than usual prices.

[Hercy]

So it says on the website they can post out tickets... But no phone number or email address where you can place the order... 

I can see an email address but it appears to be if for booking a place on the meet the manager event... 

Good way to get people to give you cash is to make it confusing. We can totally afford to have less fans at the game.

"We can post out tickets at a cost of £1 extra for the postage. Phone the office on 01592...."

And why can we not order online for postal delivery? Make tickets available at other outlets and they can charge a quid commission for selling the tickets? 

 

 

[Paco]

5 minutes ago, RavyDavy said:

Given that we have consistently had one of the lowest gate prices in the league since coming back up into the championship, I think you would have to have a brass neck to be pissed off.

But each to their own, if this is what pisses you off then you must be very angry with life in general.

I, like most I would guess, would quite happily pay £20 for the odd game if it helps the club in the long run.

End of the day, you have a choice - you can choose to go and pay the extra, or don't go and save the money. No one forces you to go.

Some people have no choice to travel on planes or trains and can have claim to be pissed off with higher than usual prices.

I think you've accidentally managed to sum up the whole problem. Most of us on here will be at the game. We aren't the issue. It's giving the casual fan the excuse they need to not go. 

"No one forces you to go" in all honesty seems like official club policy at times. 

[RavyDavy]

I think you've accidentally managed to sum up the whole problem. Most of us on here will be at the game. We aren't the issue. It's giving the casual fan the excuse they need to not go. 

"No one forces you to go" in all honesty seems like official club policy at times. 

But for a casual fan, there is no benchmark to compare against. For someone who only goes occasionally, it's irrelevant whether the ticket for the Dunfermline game is £18, £20 or £25. It's not as if they are shelling out every week. At least it's not Easter Rd every week.

The problem is the apathy in support, and there are various reasons for that, that i have previously criticised the club for. And to be fair, they have made some decent strides in repairing the damage, but as long as we have an average support of 1600-1800 folks, then "bigger" games will continue to be priced in the higher bracket to allow the club to maximise the revenue.

Hate to say it, but if we were drawing the crowds that Dunfermline are then maybe we wouldn't need to. We don't and that's the bottom line, although it did take near extinction for their support to reappear. A couple of mediocre championship seasons will see that tail off too...

[Scary Bear]

But for a casual fan, there is no benchmark to compare against. For someone who only goes occasionally, it's irrelevant whether the ticket for the Dunfermline game is £18, £20 or £25. It's not as if they are shelling out every week. At least it's not Easter Rd every week.

The problem is the apathy in support, and there are various reasons for that, that i have previously criticised the club for. And to be fair, they have made some decent strides in repairing the damage, but as long as we have an average support of 1600-1800 folks, then "bigger" games will continue to be priced in the higher bracket to allow the club to maximise the revenue.

Hate to say it, but if we were drawing the crowds that Dunfermline are then maybe we wouldn't need to. We don't and that's the bottom line, although it did take near extinction for their support to reappear. A couple of mediocre championship seasons will see that tail off too...

Regular fans often mention apathy as a reason for our poor crowds. This is a bit of a red herring. Lack of interest affects all clubs to some degree. It's up to the club to put a team on the park to get people interested. Why would people be interested in a club that's just going through the motions with mid-table finish after mid-table finish?

On the financial side, I'd imagine the benchmark the occasional fans use is 'other forms of entertainment'. If they think £20 (or £18 for that matter) for 90 minutes of football is poor value then they won't attend. They possibly won't attend even if the team are playing well and winning, as seen by our crowds last year when we were playing well.

[foreverarover]

Ok folks lets continue this discussion tomorrow, after the meet the board meeting announce a healthy profit again.

[da_no_1]

Hate to say it, but if we were drawing the crowds that Dunfermline are then maybe we wouldn't need to. We don't and that's the bottom line, although it did take near extinction for their support to reappear. A couple of mediocre championship seasons will see that tail off too...

You were actually holding together an argument there until you started talking pish. Check your facts before running down our support.

You bunch of robbing hoors [emoji38]

[RavyDavy]

You were actually holding together an argument there until you started talking pish. Check your facts before running down our support.

You bunch of robbing hoors [emoji38]

Who the f**k asked for your opinion? [emoji39]

[Shooboax]

Who the f**k asked for your opinion? [emoji39]

It's an internet forum so opinions are naturally given to generate discussion. But you already knew that right?