Free season tickets.

[working class hero]

I see Burnley have give their 6,500 existing season ticket holders free ones for next season. Would be a nice gesture for Reading to do the same, for the ones who've had STs since the opening of the Mad Stad.

£60m might have something to do with that.

Again a club manages to give away all that cash - when we went up we got an 86% price hike! I bet they invest more than we did too!!!!

[Forbury Lion]

I see Burnley have give their 6,500 existing season ticket holders free ones for next season. Would be a nice gesture for Reading to do the same, for the ones who've had STs since the opening of the Mad Stad.

Don't you think they've suffered enough?

Maybe a 10 year testimonial type award for those whose records show they have purchased tickets for every league game over the past 10 years

[Forbury Lion]

oh I forgot the free vouchers for the club shop.

Don't forget the free chocolate bunny voucher for ST holders in April.... here's hoping for some free mince pie vouchers in December.

[RoyalBlue]

I don't see why the club can't throw in the first Carling Cup game free on the season ticket, hardly an expensive gesture as, against smaller sides, we only charge a tenner any way and don't get much of a gate.

For the same reason as all the other times it's been discussed - it's not our money we'd be giving away.

In cup games the admission price is agreed between the home and away teams, and shared between them and also the FL (in the League cup it's 45% to each club and 10% to the FL "pool").

So even if we said it's a tenner for the game and were able to get the away team to agree to that (highly unlikely as it costs them!) we'd be committed to giving away 55% of £10 for each STH - this benefit would legally need to accounted for as being made available to all STHs, not just those who bothered to turn up.

So that's a cost of £49,500 to be handed over on ST sales so far - and that's before we even get to VAT liability and the way HMRC might question why the ticket price is reduced and insist on VAT being paid on the "normal" ticket price. Increase the ticket price to £15 and we're talking about handing over £74k+.

Although Derby County STHs get the first Carling Cup home game and a friendly free with their ST. Funny how RFC cannot do things others can....

As always it comes down to wills and ways. Both will appear with increasing frequency if the turnstiles start to click less frequently.

[Dirk Gently]

I don't see why the club can't throw in the first Carling Cup game free on the season ticket, hardly an expensive gesture as, against smaller sides, we only charge a tenner any way and don't get much of a gate.

For the same reason as all the other times it's been discussed - it's not our money we'd be giving away.

In cup games the admission price is agreed between the home and away teams, and shared between them and also the FL (in the League cup it's 45% to each club and 10% to the FL "pool").

So even if we said it's a tenner for the game and were able to get the away team to agree to that (highly unlikely as it costs them!) we'd be committed to giving away 55% of £10 for each STH - this benefit would legally need to accounted for as being made available to all STHs, not just those who bothered to turn up.

So that's a cost of £49,500 to be handed over on ST sales so far - and that's before we even get to VAT liability and the way HMRC might question why the ticket price is reduced and insist on VAT being paid on the "normal" ticket price. Increase the ticket price to £15 and we're talking about handing over £74k+.

Although Derby County STHs get the first Carling Cup home game and a friendly free with their ST. Funny how RFC cannot do things others can....

Durrr! Of course it can be done if it's factored and accounted for when the STs go on sale - but then they're not "free" - they're selling a ST which includes entry to the first cup match and to a friendly. The whole point is that you give tickets cup tickets away by changing what's included in the package once it's been sold to 9000 people!

[Rawlie19]

How long does it take you to extricate your head from the arse of RFC each night?

[Murts-is-Lej]

http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~1670062,00.html
"9,000 supporters took advantage of our early bird price freeze in March and April, renewing their seats for the upcoming campaign, and they have this week been offered a free ticket to bring a friend to a game this year"

Better than nothing I suppose...

[Rawlie19]

Why did you post information into a thread that is already discussing that information? You didn't think people who were posting in this thread knew that?

[Murts-is-Lej]

Sorry my mistake, I thought it was discussing "Free season tickets" not free friends' tickets.
Although I have to admit to being far slower with the info that the other ST thread (http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=88754&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=40#p2207692).

[gazzer, loyal royal]

Don't Arsenal include all their cup games in their ST cost ?


Of course their season tickets cost north of a grand, but that's not the point.....

I have no doubt we could have a cup game or two included. And we probably wouldn't even notice the extra £20 on the cost of the ST....

no they get three home cup games of their choice free, whether it be league cup, Fa cup or Champions League

[Dirk Gently]

Just to correct the inaccuracies in the initial post, too - Burnley haven't "given their ST holders free season-tickets" as a "gesture."

They ran an early-bird promotion before last season, so that anyone who renewed early got a free ST if they did get promoted - heard an interview with the Chairman last night, and he was well-pissed off at the lost revenue, but at the time they offered it they thought it was a safe bet to make after 33 years with no prospect of PL football.

It's a bet they lost, though - but in the overall scheme of things they still won financially.

But be under no illusions that this is a generous club rewarding its supporters for their loyal support (as presented by HNA's biggest wannabee WUM) - this is a club making an offer to get people to renew their STs early and then losing on that gamble!

[Rawlie19]

Charlton offered the same thing to their season ticket holders when they were relegated, and you can't say that they weren't expected to go straight back up. They were. It doesn't have to be only the clubs that have a 1000/1 shot of promotion that offer this to the hard core fans, and yes, if Reading were to go up and we'd managed to sell 18,000 season tickets because of a similar offer and then had to give 18,000 free Premier League season tickets away, they'd still be in a far better financial state than if they didn't have to give away any tickets but were still in the Championship.

[Sun Tzu]

Don't Arsenal include all their cup games in their ST cost ?


Of course their season tickets cost north of a grand, but that's not the point.....

I have no doubt we could have a cup game or two included. And we probably wouldn't even notice the extra £20 on the cost of the ST....

no they get three home cup games of their choice free, whether it be league cup, Fa cup or Champions League

You mean the price of their ticket includes 3 cup games ?

[Dirk Gently]

Charlton offered the same thing to their season ticket holders when they were relegated, and you can't say that they weren't expected to go straight back up. They were. It doesn't have to be only the clubs that have a 1000/1 shot of promotion that offer this to the hard core fans, and yes, if Reading were to go up and we'd managed to sell 18,000 season tickets because of a similar offer and then had to give 18,000 free Premier League season tickets away, they'd still be in a far better financial state than if they didn't have to give away any tickets but were still in the Championship.

Agreed - but the key point I'm trying to make is that this was an enticement to get people to renew STs, rather than a spontaneous gesture of generosity after promotion, as was initailly spun on here.

[gazzer, loyal royal]

Don't Arsenal include all their cup games in their ST cost ?


Of course their season tickets cost north of a grand, but that's not the point.....

I have no doubt we could have a cup game or two included. And we probably wouldn't even notice the extra £20 on the cost of the ST....

no they get three home cup games of their choice free, whether it be league cup, Fa cup or Champions League

You mean the price of their ticket includes 3 cup games ?

3 home games yes

[Sun Tzu]

no they get three home cup games of their choice free, whether it be league cup, Fa cup or Champions League

You mean the price of their ticket includes 3 cup games ?

3 home games yes

We could offer the same deal, with a suitable increase in the cost of the ST.

And a pinch of luck that we actually played 3 home cup games !!

[Rawlie19]

Charlton offered the same thing to their season ticket holders when they were relegated, and you can't say that they weren't expected to go straight back up. They were. It doesn't have to be only the clubs that have a 1000/1 shot of promotion that offer this to the hard core fans, and yes, if Reading were to go up and we'd managed to sell 18,000 season tickets because of a similar offer and then had to give 18,000 free Premier League season tickets away, they'd still be in a far better financial state than if they didn't have to give away any tickets but were still in the Championship.

Agreed - but the key point I'm trying to make is that this was an enticement to get people to renew STs, rather than a spontaneous gesture of generosity after promotion, as was initailly spun on here.

I know. I was just giving another example. And also a thinking that Reading could have offered the same thing. At least this season, as it's less likely we'll go up than it was last season and so they're probably onto a winner.

[Sun Tzu]

I know. I was just giving another example. And also a thinking that Reading could have offered the same thing. At least this season, as it's less likely we'll go up than it was last season and so they're probably onto a winner.

Would it have enticed many though ?

The hard core / through thick and thin fans renewed anyway.

Who would they be aiming at who haven;t put their money down but would be prepared to gamble on a promotion ?

I'd think a fair few of those who haven't renewed either can't afford to right now, so couldn't afford to even if there was an 'incentive' or are at the cynical end of the spectrum so don;t expect us to get promoted so wouldn't see it as an offer with any value.

It would be interesting to know if Burnley saw any real benefit. Presumably the 'only' benefit is a smallish number of STH are a few hundred quid up and hence feel a bit of goodwill towards the club. Which as they got promoted they are feeling anyway !

[Dirk Gently]

Charlton offered the same thing to their season ticket holders when they were relegated, and you can't say that they weren't expected to go straight back up. They were. It doesn't have to be only the clubs that have a 1000/1 shot of promotion that offer this to the hard core fans, and yes, if Reading were to go up and we'd managed to sell 18,000 season tickets because of a similar offer and then had to give 18,000 free Premier League season tickets away, they'd still be in a far better financial state than if they didn't have to give away any tickets but were still in the Championship.

Agreed - but the key point I'm trying to make is that this was an enticement to get people to renew STs, rather than a spontaneous gesture of generosity after promotion, as was initailly spun on here.

I know. I was just giving another example. And also a thinking that Reading could have offered the same thing. At least this season, as it's less likely we'll go up than it was last season and so they're probably onto a winner.

Again, agreed - and it would have been a nice thing to do for the loyal supporters, too. But it's never going to happen after the event, of course.

Trouble is, this season when STs went on sale, it did look like there was a relaistic chance of us going up.

An offer like this is probably most effectivewhen there's minimal chance of going up - othereise too many sign up and you lose too much future revenue. It's a delicate balancing act.

[West Stand Man]

Again, agreed - and it would have been a nice thing to do for the loyal supporters, too. But it's never going to happen after the event, of course.

Trouble is, this season when STs went on sale, it did look like there was a relaistic chance of us going up.

An offer like this is probably most effectivewhen there's minimal chance of going up - othereise too many sign up and you lose too much future revenue. It's a delicate balancing act.

More to the point, we had a very strong ST holder base last season without offering any such deals - Burnley struggle to get into double figures of thousands. This was marketing ploy to sell more - and it seemed to have worked. Sadly for them the risk that they were promoted and had to underwrite the costs of the renewals came to fruition - but that's life!