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League One Season Ticket Comparisons

I have compared our price against full price season tickets from seven other clubs. The prices I am comparing are for one adult ticket, one 13 year old and one nine year old.
I have compared the Frank Adams Upper in the central sections with other similar seats in central, upper sections along the side of the ground.
None of the comparisons are in the Family sections of the ground.

Wycombe - £969
Bristol Rovers - £930
Ipswich - £859
Oxford - £620
Peterborough- £608
Gillingham - £605
MK Dons - £456

In my comparisons Wycombe were the second most expensive adult ticket behind Ipswich. The most expensive 13 year old ticket and the second most expensive 9 year old ticket behind Bristol Rovers.

Adult season tickets were

Ipswich - £589
Wycombe - £494
Peterborough - £489
Gillingham - £480
Oxford - £440
Bristol - £410
MK Dons - £372

13 Year Old Tickets

Wycombe - £285
Bristol - £260
Ipswich - £135
Peterborough - £119
Oxford - £90
MK Dons - £84
Gillingham - £75

9 Year Old Tickets

Bristol - £260
Wycombe - £190
Ipswich - £135
Oxford - £90
Gillingham - £50
Peterborough - £0
MK Dons - £0

I looked at sitting in the Frank Adams family stand at £589. Here are the Family Stand costs at the other clubs.

Ipswich - £630
Peterborough - £608
Wycombe - £589
Gillingham - £505
Bristol - £432
Oxford - £420
MK Dons - £366

Disappointed with the clubs new pricing structure. It’s anti family and far too high for League One in my opinion.

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Comments

  • The flippant answer to this is clearly "we'll be in the championship next season"

    But from your stats it doesn't look too pretty.

    Can @chairboyscentral add any more analysis to this?

    I note AFC Wimbledon have a most expensive seat of £475, but have cheaper ones too.

  • When you see it like in front of you like that you realise how shocking the increase has been, I agree if we end up in the Championship it could just about be acceptable, but for league one no, looks like there will be small crowds even when we are all allowed back in

  • edited June 2020

    I guess you've got to consider the state we were in before the Couhigs came in. It was never going to be a magic wand job.

  • @chairboyscentral said:
    I guess you've got to consider the state we were in before the Couhigs came in. It was never going to a magic wand, overnight fix job.

    Yeah, but maybe then the price rises should be phased in over more than one season. Some kind of incentive, partner offer or guarantee of something back if we don't get in to a certain number of games might have helped too.

  • @HolmerBlue said:
    When you see it like in front of you like that you realise how shocking the increase has been, I agree if we end up in the Championship it could just about be acceptable, but for league one no, looks like there will be small crowds even when we are all allowed back in

    And sadly no families. A young man's game now is seems..

  • This has been a PR disaster for the Couhigs. Have built massive goodwill over the last few months but they have destroyed It in an instant. Everyone expected some rises but certainly not to the level we have seen. How can they justify that we are one of the most expensive now? Do they not want families there? They would probably say that we would be ‘ dead’ if we were still Trust led. The Couhigs said that would make unpopular decisions. Merchandising and now season tickets. Very unpopular and testing the loyalty of the fans.

  • edited June 2020

    Completely over the top @davecz. You wouldn't have a club now without the takeover, so get real.

  • I am a realist and know that we would have been in trouble as a Trust owned club. BUT does that justify the rises in the season tickets. We are a family club . How many are able to afford to bring their kids now.

  • @davecz said:
    I am a realist and know that we would have been in trouble as a Trust owned club. BUT does that justify the rises in the season tickets. We are a family club . How many are able to afford to bring their kids now.

    Have a look at the statement and revision from Rob C. Looks a bit better now.

  • I don't think it's fair to compare the absolute premium seats. The cheapest and "midlevel seated" are much more important to almost everyone, and I think we'll be mid table in league 1 and relatively cheap in the championship with the new structure.

  • Good to see the Couhigs have responded so quickly to fans comments. In hindsight perhaps they should have issued an explanatory note, with the season ticket announcement.

  • Fair play to Rob for coming out so quickly with positive answers for many.
    So the price for one of my lads has been reduced in the Family Stand only.
    It’s still a 275% increase to remain in the seats I have been in since my youngest was born.
    I either pay £989 for my current seats, up from £352, pay £494 to sit in the Family Stand with a poorer view and the option of getting soaked regularly or not renew.
    If you want the best view in the ground and have kids you are being heavily penalised, even though there are 100’s of seats empty in the Frank Adams Upper at nearly every game.
    I’ve decided not to renew but pick and choose my games carefully. If the games next season are restricted to season ticket holders only then I will not be at AP until 2021/22.

  • Hard decisions I appreciate @wwfcblue. I’m interested if anyone knows what the pricing structure was when the Family Stand first came in was.

    My unreliable memory thinks that it’s probably a similar pricing structure to now with regards to families (albeit with 2 or 3 extra ‘free’ games) and it’s only relatively recently we have spread the cheap -or even more recently free - seats around the ground?

    But yes, I can understand an extra £600 would make anyone rethink

  • @davecz said:
    Good to see the Couhigs have responded so quickly to fans comments. In hindsight perhaps they should have issued an explanatory note, with the season ticket announcement.

    They issued a FAQ didn’t they?

  • @wwfcblue said:
    Fair play to Rob for coming out so quickly with positive answers for many.
    So the price for one of my lads has been reduced in the Family Stand only.
    It’s still a 275% increase to remain in the seats I have been in since my youngest was born.
    I either pay £989 for my current seats, up from £352, pay £494 to sit in the Family Stand with a poorer view and the option of getting soaked regularly or not renew.
    If you want the best view in the ground and have kids you are being heavily penalised, even though there are 100’s of seats empty in the Frank Adams Upper at nearly every game.
    I’ve decided not to renew but pick and choose my games carefully. If the games next season are restricted to season ticket holders only then I will not be at AP until 2021/22.

    Can I ask if your decision is because the increase makes it unaffordable or if its just around the principle of the increase.
    Personally I can see the logic in removing the free kids tickets in the centre sections of the Frank Adams and have in recent years had to swallow the increases of kids tickets turning in to adult ones.
    I think the club should look at different pricing in the end sections.

  • They did used to have cheaper options in the FA wings, but I guess that was abandoned as you could get a cheap seat in bird-shit alley and just shuffle across to where the posh folk sit!

  • @wwfcblue said:
    Fair play to Rob for coming out so quickly with positive answers for many.
    So the price for one of my lads has been reduced in the Family Stand only.
    It’s still a 275% increase to remain in the seats I have been in since my youngest was born.
    I either pay £989 for my current seats, up from £352, pay £494 to sit in the Family Stand with a poorer view and the option of getting soaked regularly or not renew.
    If you want the best view in the ground and have kids you are being heavily penalised, even though there are 100’s of seats empty in the Frank Adams Upper at nearly every game.
    I’ve decided not to renew but pick and choose my games carefully. If the games next season are restricted to season ticket holders only then I will not be at AP until 2021/22.

    That's an incredible increase. Is that basically two adults going up £140 each versus last year's early bird and two previously free kids now being £190 each?

  • @Malone said:

    @wwfcblue said:
    Fair play to Rob for coming out so quickly with positive answers for many.
    So the price for one of my lads has been reduced in the Family Stand only.
    It’s still a 275% increase to remain in the seats I have been in since my youngest was born.
    I either pay £989 for my current seats, up from £352, pay £494 to sit in the Family Stand with a poorer view and the option of getting soaked regularly or not renew.
    If you want the best view in the ground and have kids you are being heavily penalised, even though there are 100’s of seats empty in the Frank Adams Upper at nearly every game.
    I’ve decided not to renew but pick and choose my games carefully. If the games next season are restricted to season ticket holders only then I will not be at AP until 2021/22.

    That's an incredible increase. Is that basically two adults going up £140 each versus last year's early bird and two previously free kids now being £190 each?

    That’s just me, a nine year old and a 13 year old. The two kids tickets have gone from £0 to £475

  • @wwfcblue said:

    @Malone said:

    @wwfcblue said:
    Fair play to Rob for coming out so quickly with positive answers for many.
    So the price for one of my lads has been reduced in the Family Stand only.
    It’s still a 275% increase to remain in the seats I have been in since my youngest was born.
    I either pay £989 for my current seats, up from £352, pay £494 to sit in the Family Stand with a poorer view and the option of getting soaked regularly or not renew.
    If you want the best view in the ground and have kids you are being heavily penalised, even though there are 100’s of seats empty in the Frank Adams Upper at nearly every game.
    I’ve decided not to renew but pick and choose my games carefully. If the games next season are restricted to season ticket holders only then I will not be at AP until 2021/22.

    That's an incredible increase. Is that basically two adults going up £140 each versus last year's early bird and two previously free kids now being £190 each?

    That’s just me, a nine year old and a 13 year old. The two kids tickets have gone from £0 to £475

    That's one heck of an eye opener!

    Maybe you can rethink the family stand move though i appreciate you gave good reasons.

  • Rob says "The Frank Adams Stand also happens to be our most sought-after area of the stadium". I cannot recall seeing the FA stand more than 75% full except for the very occasional "big" game. I can accept why someone would think that giving tickets away to under 12's can be seen as a poor business model, however, if no-one then purchases the now vacant seats, how is that generating any revenue?

  • I can understand that if we have, for example, Aston Villa at home next season it would be frustrating for them not to be able to sell seats in the Woodlands because they are already taken by kids who got free season tickets.

    I agree that in recent years it hasn't been an issue.

    I also feel really sorry for families who have got used to going together in there to be suddenly hit with a huge increase if they want to continue.

    Perhaps what they should have done is communicate their thinking a few weeks ago so fans had time that get used to the idea that the club was looking incentivise families to use the family stand.

    Whilst they're looking at all this they ought to take a look at the number of adults that have season tickets in the family stand that don't go with kids. There are loads.

    If it were up to me I would say that adults were not able to purchase a ticket or season ticket in the family stand unless accompanied by a junior.

  • @HomerLone said:
    Rob says "The Frank Adams Stand also happens to be our most sought-after area of the stadium". I cannot recall seeing the FA stand more than 75% full except for the very occasional "big" game. I can accept why someone would think that giving tickets away to under 12's can be seen as a poor business model, however, if no-one then purchases the now vacant seats, how is that generating any revenue?

    This is my exact problem. The Frank Adams Upper are the premium part of the ground but it only ever gets completely filled once or twice a season, the rest of the time we have 100's of unsold seats.

    The club should not be giving away free tickets. But to go from £0 to £475 is designed to force myself and my two boys out of the stand and in to other seats, preferably the Family Stand. They've succeeded but only to stop me renewing all three tickets and my player sponsorship.

    As a parent of a nine year old season ticket holder, we already have to wave goodbye to three evening games a season. By the time we get out of the ground, walk back to the car and drive home to Reading, its gone 11 and that's too late for a school night. This coming season we are likely to have at least five home League games in the evening due to the shortened season.

    Due to the huge increases, lack of potential games and feeling like I am being punished for having kids in the premium part of the stadium, I am not renewing and will pick and choose games if and when I can get tickets.

  • One for an (organised) programme collector out there (with nothing better to do)

    It would be really interesting to look back at a sample of Season Ticket prices going back to when we joined the Football League. Pretty sure the last home programme of the season would list them so it might not be too impossible.

    7 ‘free’ matches a season has seemed rather generous and I’m interested how normal this level has been over the last 25 years or so.

  • edited June 2020

    @wwfcblue said:

    @HomerLone said:
    Rob says "The Frank Adams Stand also happens to be our most sought-after area of the stadium". I cannot recall seeing the FA stand more than 75% full except for the very occasional "big" game. I can accept why someone would think that giving tickets away to under 12's can be seen as a poor business model, however, if no-one then purchases the now vacant seats, how is that generating any revenue?

    This is my exact problem. The Frank Adams Upper are the premium part of the ground but it only ever gets completely filled once or twice a season, the rest of the time we have 100's of unsold seats.

    The club should not be giving away free tickets. But to go from £0 to £475 is designed to force myself and my two boys out of the stand and in to other seats, preferably the Family Stand. They've succeeded but only to stop me renewing all three tickets and my player sponsorship.

    As a parent of a nine year old season ticket holder, we already have to wave goodbye to three evening games a season. By the time we get out of the ground, walk back to the car and drive home to Reading, its gone 11 and that's too late for a school night. This coming season we are likely to have at least five home League games in the evening due to the shortened season.

    Due to the huge increases, lack of potential games and feeling like I am being punished for having kids in the premium part of the stadium, I am not renewing and will pick and choose games if and when I can get tickets.

    I think the club will have considered that, but if we're in the championship, or even competing at the top of league 1 again, have decided that it could be better financially for the club even with a few deciding that it's frank Adam's or nothing.

    If there are 100 tickets in the FA that are held and not used for a big game, that's 300 quid plus drinks etc.

    If kids no longer have a season ticket but come for the odd big game and pay, that's more money to the club.

    If kids are desperate to come, but funds are tight, there are £19/95 season tickets in the family section.

  • @wwfcblue my advice would be to wait a few days, try to see the new structure as something for all and not just to punish you and then decide if the short term anger stays or if you would be missing too much by not being involved.
    We did something similar a couple of years ago when two of my regular group stopped season tickets due to price structure changes. I felt like you at first but decided to carry on and look what I would have missed.
    I hope to can reach a compromise. I am sure it's not personal to you. Maybe raise your concerns with the club?

  • Just checked what I paid last year for adult ticket in Frank Adams. Was £353 which is now ££494.Increased by £141 which seems to be the increase across the board..Certainly asking questions about renewing.

  • @Right_in_the_Middle said:
    @wwfcblue my advice would be to wait a few days, try to see the new structure as something for all and not just to punish you and then decide if the short term anger stays or if you would be missing too much by not being involved.
    We did something similar a couple of years ago when two of my regular group stopped season tickets due to price structure changes. I felt like you at first but decided to carry on and look what I would have missed.
    I hope to can reach a compromise. I am sure it's not personal to you. Maybe raise your concerns with the club?

    It's a tough call for Rob and I respect his wish to get us on an even keel. I would be doing the same.

    I'm not angry, just disappointed with the 275% increase and reduction in games my boys can attend, due to Covid and more evening games.

    It makes much more sense for me to pick and choose games, if that's at all possible.

    What's more important is we are in the playoffs to go up to the Championship. What an achievement by the Trust, Rob, Gareth, Dobbo and the squad..

  • @wwfcblue said:

    The club should not be giving away free tickets. But to go from £0 to £475 is designed to force myself and my two boys out of the stand and in to other seats, preferably the Family Stand. They've succeeded but only to stop me renewing all three tickets and my player sponsorship.
    Out of interest, what would you have thought was reasonable for a price to pay for your two lads? Not wanting to pick a fight BTW, just thought it would be could be a useful gauge for the club to rethink that strategy. Like most, I doubt many of those seats will get sold apart from premium match days, so it might be better to have some monies, for example £200 & a proportion of F&B, than 2/3 x £30 and next to zero of anything else?

  • @EwanHoosaami said:

    @wwfcblue said:

    The club should not be giving away free tickets. But to go from £0 to £475 is designed to force myself and my two boys out of the stand and in to other seats, preferably the Family Stand. They've succeeded but only to stop me renewing all three tickets and my player sponsorship.
    Out of interest, what would you have thought was reasonable for a price to pay for your two lads? Not wanting to pick a fight BTW, just thought it would be could be a useful gauge for the club to rethink that strategy. Like most, I doubt many of those seats will get sold apart from premium match days, so it might be better to have some monies, for example £200 & a proportion of F&B, than 2/3 x £30 and next to zero of anything else?

    I expect the club were hoping that most if not all people with kids in the FA fall into 2 categories

    1) rich enough that they dont care about a price hike
    2) will move to the family stand and continue to come

    I think they're probably right but time will tell

  • edited June 2020

    I have (had) a season ticket for my six year old in the FA and she came only 3 or 4 times last season. I have no issue at all with the free ticket being taken away, I imagine it’s situations like mine they’re looking to stop.

    I do hope however that match day tickets for children in all parts of the ground remain reasonably priced. I have no desire to move to the Family Stand and still want to bring my family on occasions. It may not be huge numbers but I do see this decision costing us young fans in the long run.

    I’m a fourth generation Wycombe fan. If I’m not able to bring my daughters it’s unlikely there will be a fifth. (That sounds like I’m trying to be a bit more dramatic than I really am!)

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