On Monday evening, the Trust met with the board of directors and asked them the questions that had been submitted from members.
Question 1
There have been issues about the ticketing information provided around certain away games this season. While this isn’t something the club can always control, if supporters do raise concerns could there be a process put in place where answers are provided on the club website/twitter, both to try and remove some uncertainty and to avoid situations like that at Blackpool?
Reply :
There were concerns raised well in advance of our game with Blackpool surrounding potential protests affecting the game. The FA and Football League were not forthcoming with actions to ensure the game would not suffer, and Blackpool’s charter had been changed weeks previously concerning the situation should the game be abandoned. In spite of agreeing to open an additional section if required, and advising the Club that this would happen, Blackpool then failed to fulfil this agreement. The Club will always attempt to provide current information in accordance with that received from the home club, and this is what occurred in this instance, but not maintained by Blackpool. We also agreed that as well as passing information to Leighanne Coyle for the RAFC website and Mark Wilbraham for the programme we would pass any information we receive to Col Cavanah for rochdaleafc.com also. It is always our intention to give supporters as much information as we can.
Question 2
It’s usual that season ticket holders get priority for all-ticket games, can it be confirmed that this is always still the case especially in the case of away games when ticket numbers may be restricted?
Reply :
Season ticket holders will always receive priority for all-ticket games, home and away. We did also discuss the options available, such as ballots, first come-first served, ticket purchasing history, if we had an away game and the allocation that was sent to us was less than the number of season ticket holders we had. However, the Club would welcome suggestions of suitable alternatives from supporters.
Question 3
What has been the effect of the price rises for matchday tickets at Spotland in terms of numbers of home fans who pay on the day? Is this something the club will re-assess at the end of the season if numbers have fallen?
Reply :
It is difficult to assess the effect of price increases on the number of pay on the day fans – home and away. There are so many variables other than price alone that can affect attendance eg. close proximity of fixtures can cause fans to cherry pick specific games, irrespective of the price rise. The overall picture regarding spectator revenue is that prices had been held for five years and financial pressures have ultimately led to the increase. In addition, pressures outwith the control of the Club can result in a decrease in revenue, one of which is smaller attendances by visiting supporters :
Peterborough last season 799 / this season 708. Oldham 1000 less supporters this season than last
However, season ticket sales are up this season by 3.6% – total 1411. This is in addition to a rise of 13.5% last season to the previous one (League 1 from League 2).
200 Under seven’s (free)
350 Junior season ticket holders.
As has been shown in the past, the Club will only increase prices when absolutely necessary to maintain its financial stability. Prices were frozen for 5 years. The club assesses both match and season tickets prices every year and also assess its concessions/age categories at the same time.
Question 4
What are the percentages of season ticket holders who used their ‘bring a friend’ vouchers for the games the promotion has been run this season?
Reply :
Scunthorpe 10.5%
Wigan 6.3%
Coventry 10%
The Colchester game is the final one to apply the offer.
Question 5
What is the current state of play with regards to the Stadium Company?
Reply :
The outline agreement advised at the AGM remains in place, but the final detail has yet to be negotiated. To issue any additional information regarding these negotiations would prove detrimental to achieving a positive conclusion.
Question 6
Are the club still looking to secure their own training facilities? If so, where are we up to on this?
Reply :
The Club continue to seek their own training facilities, but have not succeeded in identifying a suitable site.
Question 7
What led to the decision to stick to normal admission prices for the televised FA Cup match against Bury?
Reply :
The factors which led to the decision to charge normal admission prices are – The tie is between two League 1 teams with a similar current pricing policy. The fact that it is a local derby with the resultant increase in policing/stewarding costs means that the net revenue gained will be considerably reduced. Finally, any tariff has to be agreed between the two sides competing, and tariff proposed was agreed by Bury.
Question 8
What steps will taken in the future with all-ticket games later changed to pay-on-the-day
Reply :
The Club, whenever possible, would wish games to be pay-on-the-day, but the decision to make games all-ticket rests with the police, on the grounds of crowd safety. With the Oldham game, it was originally declared all-ticket due to the problems experienced previously. The maximum ticket allocation was released to Oldham but they did not sell the allocation. Due to this, the police changed it to pay-on-the-day at short notice.
For the FA Cup game against Bury, declared all-ticket by the police, an allocation of 3000 has been released to them. Dependent on the allocation being sold, it will remain all-ticket, but should the situation change, the police will review the situation.
The Club would always wish entry to be pay-on-the-day to allow as many fans as possible to attend with the minimum of inconvenience, but the overriding aspect has to be crowd safety, a decision to declare a game all-ticket resting with the police. Any changes from all-ticket by the police with little notice will always be attempted to be relayed to supporters by the Club. The club would apologise to anyone inconvenienced when the all ticket status is relaxed on an all ticket match. The club would also urge all supporters to adhere to future all ticket matches and would like to stress that finances are not an issue when determining an all ticket game. Spectator safety is the only concern and we are extremely grateful for everyone’s support and understanding.