Wet Spam

[lake district canary 4,539]

There has been a lot of discussion recently on ticketing prices in the championship. Interesting to note that WH are reducing season ticket prices when new TV deal kicks in.  Cheapest season ticket to be £289, around  £15.20 a 19 match season.  Would seem to be the way forward in looking after the fans that are the mainstay of their club, because it can only be a good thing to get your fans on side.  After all, no-one would want fans to think their club is exploiting their fans by charging too much....

I know the championship is different, but whether we are in this division or the prem next season, it is maybe going to be something of a trend to see ticket prices being lowered.   There are ways that bridges that can be built between clubs and their fans - lowering ticket prices is one of those ways.

[nutty nigel 7,550]

The next round of pricing will be for the 16/17 season. I do agree with your principle though and reductions should start with the first ST issue and continued through to the match day prices.

[Alex Moss 2,165]

Nothing to do with the fact West Ham are about to move into a larger capacity stadium and need to make sure they fill the seats, Lakey old bean?

[TCCANARY 263]

[quote user="lake district canary"]There has been a lot of discussion recently on ticketing prices in the championship. Interesting to note that WH are reducing season ticket prices when new TV deal kicks in.  Cheapest season ticket to be £289, around  £15.20 a 19 match season.  Would seem to be the way forward in looking after the fans that are the mainstay of their club, because it can only be a good thing to get your fans on side.  After all, no-one would want fans to think their club is exploiting their fans by charging too much....


I know the championship is different, but whether we are in this division or the prem next season, it is maybe going to be something of a trend to see ticket prices being lowered.   There are ways that bridges that can be built between clubs and their fans - lowering ticket prices is one of those ways.


[/quote]

 

It''s got more to do with their move to the Olympic stadium than any philanthropic motive, anything a club that''s owned by the two pornographers and run by a Tory peer who used Daddy''s contacts to get where she is should be treated with scepticism.

 

 

[......and Smith must score. 1,347]

All very fine and noble of them LDC but it wouldn''t have anything to do with the fact that they''ll be moving into a bigger shiny new stadium in 16 months time ? A cynic might say that they''ll be desperate to fill the acres of extra seats as they won''t want to be playing live on worldwide TV against a backdrop of a half-empty ground.As football club owners Messrs Sullivan and Gold aren''t renowned for splashing the cash so I''m not too surprised that their benevolence only kicks in when - co-incidentally of course - the £100m a year starts flowing in from season 2016/17.Hopefully this will spur others to do something similar but only when a club with no ulterior motive follows suit will any real progress have been made.

[......and Smith must score. 1,347]

Looks like my argument''s been well covered on here already.Never take anything Sullivan and Gold do at face value......there''s always something in it for them

[Yur Gonnaget 0]

What an odd post from someone who has previously maintained that season ticket holders are the spawn of satan and responsible for creating a morgue-like atmosphere with the club only being saved by those brave casual supporters who go to one or two games per season (usually big games, naturally).

Perhaps Lake District Hammer will start travelling down to the Olympic Stadium infrequently while pompously lambasting the great unwashed of East Lahhnndahhnn for not supporting the club as fervently as he does.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,564]

As others mentioned West Ham are only cutting prices due to stadium move - although the reduction in ticket price is coming a season before the new stadium.

LDC does make a good point though, in whether the TV money will make any changes to clubs behaviour towards fans. Stoke are cutting their season ticket prices by £50 for next season and many other clubs have promised to freeze prices. There might be some movement in the right direction.

Having said that, after receiving an obscenely large amount of TV money you would think most clubs could better than not raising prices for a year...

I''m sure we will see West Ham prices jumping up again if them being gifted the Olympic Stadium at all our expense (over £100m of tax payer money is being used to convert it to a football stadium and put a whacking great be roof on it) will be seen as breach of the State Aid rules and they become liable for the costs.

[Hoola Han Solo 448]

Yes everybody''s covered it here.

No other reason than trying to get bums on seats in their new ground, which to be honest, is going to be a massive struggle. Expect lots of empty seats.

The club are merely spinning it as a kind of grand gesture, when in fact it''s just a ploy to get people in at this new ground.

When you break it down, the whole stadium being effectively ''gifted'' to them stinks.

[lappinitup 629]

[:D]

[The ghost of Michael Theoklitos 0]

[quote user="Alex "]Nothing to do with the fact West Ham are about to move into a larger capacity stadium and need to make sure they fill the seats, Lakey old bean?[/quote]100% This.It''s is smart business. They have a new massive stadium they can''t fill. They''re just trying to get bums on seats, so there are more people to add to their match day revenue.The timing is perfect from a PR perspective as well. They can spin it is doing it due to the new TV revenue, getting loads of press given the current supporter led campaigns on ticket prices, giving them loads of free press on this. It will also add momentum to the opposition of current ticket prices at other clubs - specifically London clubs.Well played West Ham FC. Well played indeed......

[mrs miggins 0]

Alex has got it spot on

[lake district canary 4,539]

[quote user="mrs miggins"]Alex has got it spot on[/quote]

Agreed. However, it is part of a bigger question as to how much supporters are being charged, in a world where in some other parts of Europe ticket prices are way, way, less in comparison. We are still living in rip off Britain in many ways and people are still are conditioned to accept being overcharged for things. The huge and obscene amount of money going into football should at least see more and more pressure put on clubs to reduce prices, so fans are not being fleeced at the club gates and in watching it on TV.

[lake district canary 4,539]

[quote user="mrs miggins"]Alex has got it spot on[/quote]

Agreed. However, it is part of a bigger question as to how much supporters are being charged, in a world where in some other parts of Europe ticket prices are way, way, less in comparison. We are still living in rip off Britain in many ways and people are still are conditioned to accept being overcharged for things. The huge and obscene amount of money going into football should at least see more and more pressure put on clubs to reduce prices, so fans are not being fleeced at the club gates and in watching it on TV.

 

[Barclay seats 4849 the 3rd 0]

[quote user="Yur Gonnaget"]What an odd post from someone who has previously maintained that season ticket holders are the spawn of satan and responsible for creating a morgue-like atmosphere with the club only being saved by those brave casual supporters who go to one or two games per season (usually big games, naturally).

Perhaps Lake District Hammer will start travelling down to the Olympic Stadium infrequently while pompously lambasting the great unwashed of East Lahhnndahhnn for not supporting the club as fervently as he does.[/quote]

You might be a binner troll ,,, but you are actually pretty funny 😆

[......and Smith must score. 1,347]

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]....As others mentioned West Ham are only cutting prices due to stadium move - although the reduction in ticket price is coming a season before the new stadium.....[/quote]Sadly for Hammers fans it doesn''t kick in until season 2016/17 when they move to the Olympic Stadium.You can trust Sullivan and Gold not to part with any cash until they''re trousering £100m pa ...  [:D]

[Katie Borkins 1]

[quote user="lake district canary"]There has been a lot of discussion recently on ticketing prices in the championship. Interesting to note that WH are reducing season ticket prices when new TV deal kicks in.  Cheapest season ticket to be £289, around  £15.20 a 19 match season.  Would seem to be the way forward in looking after the fans that are the mainstay of their club, because it can only be a good thing to get your fans on side.  After all, no-one would want fans to think their club is exploiting their fans by charging too much....

I know the championship is different, but whether we are in this division or the prem next season, it is maybe going to be something of a trend to see ticket prices being lowered.   There are ways that bridges that can be built between clubs and their fans - lowering ticket prices is one of those ways.

[/quote]

Well, I am probably more cynical than you but WHU need to attract new fans to fill the Olympic Stadium and what better way than a bargain ticket offer?

Incidentally, Karen Brady was interviewed on Radio 4 this morning and stated this was an effective redistribution of TV money. So, if TV money keeps going up, perhaps clubs will open the doors for free in order to get a bit of atmosphere going for the TV audiences.

[Molly Windley 76]

Work to convert the Olympic Stadium into a permanent home for WHU and athletics will cost £36m more than the expected £154m = £190mThis money is coming almost predominantly from the London Legacy fund which is an absolute disgrace, this could have been spent on so many more deserving grass root projects not a Premier League team that already owns its own ground.West Hams contribution to this will be a paltry £15m, leaving £174m to come from the legacy fund.They must clear all outstanding club debt as a pre condition before moving in, around £70m, hence no cheap season tickets next season.Rent will be around £2m per year, so basically we are never getting our money back on this.They will of course be able to sell their current ground and pocket the cash from it.

[Mr Jenkins 0]

I''d like to see our club lower the price of Canaryplayer from less than £1 a game to something in the region 6.5 pence.

This would be a great jesture to those fans who wish to live away but still support our club on the radio.😄

[Alex Moss 2,165]

[quote user="Mr Jenkins"]I''d like to see our club lower the price of Canaryplayer from less than £1 a game to something in the region 6.5 pence.

This would be a great jesture to those fans who wish to live away but still support our club on the radio.😄[/quote]

What about 5p a game including the Play Offs, Mr Jenkins? This could be a big few weeks for David McNally...

[Katie Borkins 1]

Come on now everyone, remember that it''s only a tiny minority of posters who mock Lakey''s posts.

[lake district canary 4,539]

[quote user="Bor Bor Bor"]Come on now everyone, remember that it''s only a tiny minority of posters who mock Lakey''s posts.[/quote]

Mock off.

[king canary 7,621]

As someone else mentioned Stoke are probably a better example of a club doing something for its fans by freezing prices which is nice to see.

I do wonder how much longer high ticket prices can last outside of the big 5 Premier League clubs- surely at some point fans well reject the idea of paying so much money to support a team like West Ham or Villa who can realistically at most try to finish 7th and have a cup run.

[TCCANARY 263]

[quote user="Molly Windley"]
Work to convert the Olympic Stadium into a permanent home for WHU and athletics will cost £36m more than the expected £154m = £190m
This money is coming almost predominantly from the London Legacy fund which is an absolute disgrace, this could have been spent on so many more deserving grass root projects not a Premier League team that already owns its own ground.
West Hams contribution to this will be a paltry £15m, leaving £174m to come from the legacy fund.
They must clear all outstanding club debt as a pre condition before moving in, around £70m, hence no cheap season tickets next season.
Rent will be around £2m per year, so basically we are never getting our money back on this.
They will of course be able to sell their current ground and pocket the cash from it.






[/quote]

 

Boris (Tory) giving money to Karen (Tory).

 

 

[Molly Windley 76]

[quote user="TCCANARY"]

[quote user="Molly Windley"]Work to convert the Olympic Stadium into a permanent home for WHU and athletics will cost £36m more than the expected £154m = £190mThis money is coming almost predominantly from the London Legacy fund which is an absolute disgrace, this could have been spent on so many more deserving grass root projects not a Premier League team that already owns its own ground.West Hams contribution to this will be a paltry £15m, leaving £174m to come from the legacy fund.They must clear all outstanding club debt as a pre condition before moving in, around £70m, hence no cheap season tickets next season.Rent will be around £2m per year, so basically we are never getting our money back on this.They will of course be able to sell their current ground and pocket the cash from it.

[/quote]

 

Boris (Tory) giving money to Karen (Tory).

Indeed, looks like a right stitch up for us the taxpayer, good for Balfour Beatty though.After a little more digging round the net I found another reason why WHU will be offering cheaper season tickets. When the stadium deal was put together part of the deal includes giving Newham Council 100,000 free tickets to WHU home games per season. Thats over 5000 free tickets floating around for every home game, these will of course be distributed fairly and openly by the council to the deserving and underprivileged in the borough. Yup, of course they will.Missed the hidden piece of information that the retractable seating being installed in the stadium has not yet been budgeted for and will be on top of the £190 million already spent on the reconfiguration. Estimated cost for this will be around £20 million.As a comparison the Etihad was built for the Commonwealth games and then reconfigured to a football stadium  for a total cost of £134 million.

 

 

[/quote]

[C Goodenough 5]

I also understand that WHU are getting an interest free loan from Newham borough council to fund the move, to be paid back over something like 20 years.

 

Madness I say

[Lessingham Canary 99]

Its a total disgrace, tax payers money (London Legacy) supporting Wet Spam to exploit this situation, like most on here I am very cynical about everything Gold and Sullivan do, I can see them playing in the Olympic stadium, with 50,000 plus, the atmosphere will come from screaming school kids (great future support, totally understand that) will be surreal, last thing they want is empty seats.

In the meantime Barry Hearn''s remonstrations about the impact of this to the Orient fall on deaf ears, sad state of affairs.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

I''m kind of on the fence with ticket pricing. As an exiled canary, i''d love to be at the rotherham game at the weekend but due to demand being higher than supply, i can''t go. I go to as many games as I can up here and use my dads season ticket if I go to Carrow Road he has with my Uncle but can''t always use that. This means I can''t accrue the points I would like to to attend the in demand games. Kind of worried if we get to Wembley I might miss out.

In a way, the clubs have a right to charge what they want to the fans. If they can fill the ground at £100 a ticket then fair play to them. Other side of it though, is trying to make the game accessible to all. I''d answer to some people that they should take their kids to grassroots football and under 21''s games if they are priced out of the premiership and top championship grounds but I understand both sides of the argument.

In a way though, perhaps there should be a law written into these TV deals that means that some tickets go to the community for kids and other vulnerable to get a chance to go to games. The ticket revenue for teams like Man U is marginal to their total and they can likely afford to put on such good initiatives.

It''s a shame teams like Wigan and Ipswich who can''t get their grounds full can''t give the tickets out to the kids in the surrounding area who I bet would all love to go to the football. The problem there would be having to give tickets away to adults who would otherwise have paid to go.