Empty Seats

If people who are getting heavily discounted season tickets can't be bothered to show up when there are hundreds of kids locked out who would love to go then yes there should be consequences. All of the arguments I've had in here about enlarging the ground have centred around getting the next generation in and these people are selfishly taking up seats they aren't using.

Put the price up or bring in a system where these discounted tickets are taken away from people if they are taking the piss. There's no justification for heavy discounts if they aren't bothering to show up.

define taking the piss.

If every ST holder missed just 2 games a season (not unreasonable behaviour given 1 likely ill and 1 family commitment), then if we have 5k ST tickets then over 23 games that’s 434 empty seats a game. If 6k STs then 521 empty per seat.

So if we have c 400/500 seats during 2 big holidays months of august and September (childless families often choose this month) plus while covid cases are high, then this is less about taking the piss and more like the normal ebb and flow of attending.

that’s not to say the TO can’t do more to minimise the problem but we need to tone down the OTT emotional angst
 
Well according to every website that I have looked at up to yesterday re Barnsley game our attendance TBA or not mentioned.

QPR attendance was given out on match report on BBC website for QPR on Tuesday evening.
I have already mentioned Barnsley attendance was on COWS, 9486 I think.
 
Perhaps SDD missed my post but his claim that block 1,8,9 were empty was wrong, so blaming discounted tickets for families is flawed. Block 8 was just as full as any other block around the ground and that’s also the main family stand block. Blocks 1 and 9 were so sparse that it wasn’t a “no show” problem primarily.

The problem is a communication one for example this), where the club announce that all tickets are allocated when in fact they’re not. All tickets which can be purchased online have been sold/allocated but to purchase tickets in blocks 1 and 9 you currently have to phone up or go down to the ground.

So you're saying that there are virtually no season ticket holders in blocks 1 and 9?
 
How do you know the no shows are season ticket holders?

This is the upshot of what DJ is saying. The no shows are in those blocks - they are virtually empty. There would need to be very few season ticket holders in those blocks for it not to be a ST problem.
 
So you're saying that there are virtually no season ticket holders in blocks 1 and 9?

I’d certainly assume there are fewer season ticket holders in those blocks than other blocks in the ground. Your time in those sections is limited, you have to move the whole family out once a child is over 16 and can only have a ratio of 2:1 in regards to adults per child.

The club also keeps sections of these tickets to offer to junior cherries and one adult for the match by match ballot.

Then they can also only sell tickets in these areas by phone and in person and I believe they could do a better job communicating this as the demand is quite obviously there, but families who are not completely au fait with it all have no idea.
 
This is the upshot of what DJ is saying. The no shows are in those blocks - they are virtually empty. There would need to be very few season ticket holders in those blocks for it not to be a ST problem.
You could just have admitted you don’t. They could be complementary tickets for Partners, businesses etc.
 
I’d certainly assume there are fewer season ticket holders in those blocks than other blocks in the ground. Your time in those sections is limited, you have to move the whole family out once a child is over 16 and can only have a ratio of 2:1 in regards to adults per child.

The club also keeps sections of these tickets to offer to junior cherries and one adult for the match by match ballot.

Then they can also only sell tickets in these areas by phone and in person and I believe they could do a better job communicating this as the demand is quite obviously there, but families who are not completely au fait with it all have no idea.

But why are there more season ticket holders in block 8 than block 9? They say they boot all kids out once they get too old so they can create a 'family friendly environment' and to encourage younger fans to attend games yet only block 8 seems to be anywhere near full.

If there's not a specific problem with family season ticket no shows then they must surely be concentrated in block 8.

There is very clearly a problem in the family areas. It's either ST no shows, lack of demand or terrible sales/marketing strategy by the club. The likelihood is all of the above.
 
Price out the less well off you mean?

This is people who are paying the current price and who are not attending whilst, apparently, there are lots of kids dying to get in to watch the team. Put the discounts on the match-by-match tickets and not the STs then more people can go.
 
But why are there more season ticket holders in block 8 than block 9? They say they boot all kids out once they get too old so they can create a 'family friendly environment' and to encourage younger fans to attend games yet only block 8 seems to be anywhere near full.

If there's not a specific problem with family season ticket no shows then they must surely be concentrated in block 8.

There is very clearly a problem in the family areas. It's either ST no shows, lack of demand or terrible sales/marketing strategy by the club. The likelihood is all of the above.

Block 8 is the more central area so the better view, so anyone in block 1 or 9 may want to move into block 8 when seats become available for their season ticket.

If block 1 and 9 being sparse was down to season ticket holder no shows then why was that not replicated in block 8, the main family stand block?

For a midweek match, demand on a match by match basis for younger families would fall, but the demand is there, it’s just not being communicated well. Like my example above. You can’t advertise that all seats are allocated and then hide at the bottom of an article, which few will read when you’ve seen the headline, that there are still tickets available but you have to do it in person or over the phone.
 
Block 8 is the more central area so the better view, so anyone in block 1 or 9 may want to move into block 8 when seats become available for their season ticket.

If block 1 and 9 being sparse was down to season ticket holder no shows then why was that not replicated in block 8, the main family stand block?

For a midweek match, demand on a match by match basis for younger families would fall, but the demand is there, it’s just not being communicated well. Like my example above. You can’t advertise that all seats are allocated and then hide at the bottom of an article, which few will read when you’ve seen the headline, that there are still tickets available but you have to do it in person or over the phone.

Block 8 wasn't full tbf and surely the same logic applies to match-by-match sales - they'll be sold in block 8 first. As I say it's likely a combination of the three factors. Block 1 should be a general sale area if they can't sell them to kids.
 
Block 8 wasn't full tbf
Going a bit round in circles now. Already said it wasn’t full, but was just as full as anywhere else in the ground.

So highlights again that season ticket no shows in the family section is no bigger problem than season ticket holder no shows all around the ground and thus the need for a incentive based system to enable season ticket holders to declare their seat is going unused would be welcome.

The problem the club have of selling tickets in person or on the phone only in the family blocks are a separate issue.
 

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