Blues listen to what the fans say

Blues have some ticket news for fans after listening to complaints via Free Radio, The Birmingham Mail and their own fans forums.
This is from the club.

We’ve listened!
Following supporter feedback in recent weeks, Blues are delighted to confirm a number of incentives to help get St. Andrew’s rocking.

With Huddersfield Town, Leicester City and Ipswich Town on the horizon in the coming weeks, we want our famous home to be at its formidable best and need your help to ensure that happens.

So for the next three home fixtures, we’re dropping our early bird initiative on tickets meaning that the price will no longer increase on a matchday. This will be for a trial period and if uptake proves to be popular with supporters then it’s likely to remain in place.

For the visit of Huddersfield on Saturday (6 October), our ‘buy one match ticket and get the second half price’ offer* is already proving to be popular with Bluenoses. Season ticket holders are also able to bring a friend or family member along for half price. This exclusive offer for home fans fulfils the criteria for a Football League’s ‘local offer’, of which the club are limited to four per season.

There will also be staff and pupils from the inspirational Harry Moseley’s school, Blakenhale Junior, after Blues donated tickets to mark the launch of the Help Harry Help Others charity.

A decision has also been taken to downgrade the match against Leicester on Saturday 20 October to a grade B fixture meaning that prices start from just £24.

There will also be a great family offer in place for the Foxes fixture with 2 adults and 2 children gaining admission for £60 and 1 adults and 1 child only having to pay £30**.

A link-up with Breast Cancer Campaign through the sale of our new 2012/13 Diadora third shirts was announced recently and we’ll also be donating tickets to the charity for the Leicester game.

We’ll also be rewarding the commitment of our season ticket holders and True Blue members who will be able to purchase a ticket for 500 loyalty points.
Meanwhile Kids for a Quid is back for the game against Ipswich on Saturday 3 November.

Given the current economic climate, we understand that times are currently tough for many Bluenoses. Therefore we hope that these incentives are seen as worthy gestures, while still ensuring that the commitment of our paid-up season ticket holders is respected.

*The ‘buy one match ticket and get the second half price’ offer won’t be available on matchday.
**The family ticket offer is available in all areas of the stadium apart from the corporate, club class or paddock areas.

hootie63 wrote:it may or may not make a difference but at least they are trying and listening to what the fans think is the problem. Its always a good thing when the club listen and a start to them trying to address that side of the club rather than them ignoring what the fans think

It’s always a thorny issue but ticket sales and attendance have been in the news a lot at Blues recently. Tomorrow marks the start of a trial period whereby Blues have equalised the prices between matchday and “earlybird” sales, cutting a fiver off the price charged for tickets sold on the day of the game. It’s a step in the right direction but is there more that can be done?
Before I go any further I want to emphasise how ticketing and attendance is an emotive subject – everyone has their own individual reasons for what they do and whilst there is no law saying you have to like those reasons it is courteous to respect people’s opinions and their right to exercise their prerogative as they see fit. Furthermore, I would also like to emphasise that I am in no way speaking for everyone – these are my opinions and my opinions alone.
I have to admit that I was surprised by Blues’ move to remove the earlybird discount and make it the same (lower) price regardless of when a ticket is purchased. I was under the maybe mistaken impression that this wasn’t achievable but clearly the club have done what was required to ensure that something that a lot of people hated has been removed – albeit for a temporary period at first. I’m guessing that for the change to come into effect permanently there will have to be improved takeup of “walkup” sales to show that it was something that was keeping people away.
I guess the most surprising thing is that according to the statistics the club have supplied me with walkup sales haven’t been exceptionally affected this year. A quick glance through the stats available show that a similar amount of people have bought tickets on matchday to last year for similar games – which would maybe say that the £5 extra wasn’t the main reason for lower attendances. Based on the figures I’ve been given the problem seems to be much deeper than price; it would be fair to say that season ticket sales aren’t as good as they were last year and my worry is that some of the people who haven’t renewed have given up going altogether.
The way I see it, there are three principal factors that affect attendance. Firstly, what’s going on on the pitch. I think it’s safe to say that if your side is playing like Brazil circa 1970 and scoring goals like it’s going out of fashion more people will turn up than if you’re playing dull, dour, negative hoofball. Secondly, what’s going on off the pitch – as an example it’s no surprise to me that Leeds United and Blackburn Rovers are having massive attendance problems because of their problematic ownership situations. Thirdly is value – not price, but value. People want to believe that they’re not getting ripped off, that they’re paying a fair price for what they are to receive and that they aren’t being pushed into paying something that is more than they need to.
If you take this into account then the only thing the club’s ticketing staff and their superiors can affect is the third one – and because of this, this is what I’d like to concentrate on with regards to long-term changes. I’ve obtained prices for what Blues fans will pay for away trips this season where they are available and currently, the cheapest ticket (barring the £20 terraces at Peterborough which are a special case) was £23 for the Cardiff game on Tuesday night. Most prices are around the £25-£28 mark with Ipswich charging fans on the day £33.50 and Leeds United an extortionate £36. This says to me that Blues are in the right ballpark for what they are charging as tickets for Huddersfield (Grade C ) will be £23 in the Tilton whilst Leicester (Grade B) will be £28 for the same seat.
However, what I would like to see at Blues personally is a doing away of categories. I don’t go to St Andrews to watch the opposition – I go to watch Blues. It’s my belief that a set price – say £24-£25 for every game in the season would tell people in advance exactly how much they would have to pay; it would be easier for Season Ticket Holders to see the value in their season ticket purchases and no game is overvalued or undervalued. I’d then add that the first four games on TV would benefit from being the games that “local offers” (of which Blues are limited to four per season) would apply to and all those games would be a £5 cheaper (as an example).
I’ve got a few more ideas like this, but they are my ideas, and I’m not egotistical enough to believe that everyone will agree with them. I have therefore decided that during November I will be promoting two ticketing surveys on this site – one for ST holders and one for non-ST holders. I’m going to put together a series of questions so I can better gauge what Blues fans want, and then once the surveys are complete I will post my analysis (as well as the raw data) so that everyone else can see what has come from it. Furthermore, I have met with the club and I have obtained agreement from them that they will also take the data and use it to help base their ticketing decisions for the season 2012/3. The surveys will be anonymous and will ask for no personal information whatsoever; all they will be will be about your opinions on ticketing, pricing and how the club can better fill the ground.
I hope that if enough people take part, then positive change can be affected and maybe, just maybe Blues fans will be happier with ticketing policies in the future. In the meantime I would like to urge fans who can go to the Huddersfield game to take advantage of the offers available – the ground doesn’t look as nice empty as it does full and I’m a believer that the team play better with more of us behind the

A quick glance through the stats available show that a similar amount of people have bought tickets on matchday to last year for similar games – which would maybe say that the £5 extra wasn’t the main reason for lower attendances.

I’ve obtained prices for what Blues fans will pay for away trips this season where they are available and currently, the cheapest ticket (barring the £20 terraces at Peterborough which are a special case) was £23 for the Cardiff game on Tuesday night. Most prices are around the £25-£28 mark with Ipswich charging fans on the day £33.50 and Leeds United an extortionate £36. This says to me that Blues are in the right ballpark for what they are charging as tickets for Huddersfield (Grade C ) will be £23 in the Tilton whilst Leicester (Grade B) will be £28 for the same seat.