The mail to the Knights (miscalculation in percentage as I added $20 to this year for some reason)
Dear Knights Marketing and Pricing Staff
I have been a loyal and dedicated Newcastle Knights supporter since the inception of the club in 1988 and a season ticket holder for over 12 years now and possibly over 15 years. My father and I have always happily purchased our season tickets with no complaint about price or what the purchase of the tickets included. During the last 10 years we even upgraded the seats we had on the Eastern Concourse over to the Western Lower deck which at the time was a large price jump. Over the last 12 years we have seen the number of NRL games that the tickets entitled the holder to view diminish by as many as 3 games a year with changes made by the NRL and we do understand that the Knights have had no say in this issue, however the price of the tickets did not decrease with this loss of games. Through all of these changes every year when the renewal letter comes out in August / September the only discussion we have had was which one of us was going down to the ground to buy the tickets.
This year however is a different story and I am sad to say a much worse story then in previous years. This year the renewal letter came out and the price has been increased some 14% 15 % on last years purchase price excluding the discount for being a member of the club which I have been for five years. Now this increase is obviously much higher then the increase you would expect to see due to a CPI increase or even a possible increase that may be expected due to an increase in some running costs. When you take last years $50 discount for a season ticket and the cost of a membership at $35 then the increase this year is even worse at nearly 19% which is a much larger increase in price then we have seen in any past years.
The most disturbing thing about this increase is that it comes at the end of 2005 which as we know has been a year in which the club has had a very changing face and to my thinking would need to ensure continued support of the public. 2005 as we are all aware was obviously the worst ever season for the Knights first grade side and probably one of the worst ever years for the administration although the second half of the year has seen a remarkable turn around that all in the club should be proud of. Despite these poor performances most supporters including myself and my father still attended every game in some of the worst weather we have experienced at Knights home games in years, just to show that we still support the players no matter how bad the year may be going. The opening of the new stadium was a great achievement for Energy Australia Stadium and it may increase the costs for the Knights operating at this ground and I can well understand that ticket holders on the Eastern side of the ground could expect price increases to reflect the much improved facilities and seating they are receiving. However we as Western Grandstand ticket holders have seen no improvement in our facilities or conditions in fact if anything there has been an increase in the number of seats being damaged at games when being used in the normal way. On top of this the parking and transport to and from the ground has not been improved at all, this issue continues to be a major factor making the attendance of a game a difficult and timely experience if you do not arrive hours before the game then leave right on full time or wait for up to an hour trying to leave the Broadmeadow area.
Due to the price increase for 2006 and the fact that we as ticket holders on the Western Lower Deck have not received any value add to the features or facilities at the ground, we will not be renewing our tickets for 2006. This is a hard decision that saddens me greatly and one that we did not take lightly or rashly, we have discussed this issue over several times and made investigations into pricing of tickets and alternatives. What we have discovered is that many other clubs season tickets are not as expensive yet the facilities and grounds are of a higher quality (comparing 2005 ticket prices as most clubs have not yet released 2006 prices). The price of the tickets for the Knights come out to be $35 per game per head based on a 26 week season (assuming 24 games for each team and 12 home games) and we have a suspicion that in 2007 when there is an increase in the number of games played that there could be an even larger increase to the ticket price again. However by having foxtel installed on the base package which includes the NRL games, even if you only watch the Knights games you will pay $26.54 per game per television with an extra $6 for each additional television (this is in the first year including the currently offered $49 install fee and only $24.50 for each year after that on current package costs) based on watching both the home and away games as both are available to the viewer. Please do not think that this decision and complaint is based on a personal situation of money being too tight to afford the tickets or even a case of Foxtel being an influence on us not buying tickets as I already have Foxtel on a premium package and held my Knights tickets as well. This is basically a case that the Newcastle Knights as an organisation are not offering their supporters the value for money they deserve this season and we feel that in a year where you asked for so much support and belief from your supporters you have not given us the season ticket holders that financially support this club year in and year out the respect and value that we deserve in return.
As a side note to this issue which is a little off track but I believe is still very relevant to this issue the Knights marketing as a brand I believe is at an all time low. If people such as my self and other supporters that I have spoken to in the past feel that your organisation have not shown the supporters the respect and gratitude that they deserve then what hope do you have of swaying and convincing new supporters and investors to follow and help the club. The players can only do so much (and they do) for this club to show supporters that they mean something. But I feel it is far past time when the club administration needs to do something to show the long term supporters of this great club what it means to them and that the club administration are willing to give something back as a show of thanks. This is not a hard thing to do, every other organisation in the world has considered loyalty schemes and for an organisation like the Knights with an ongoing yearly product it could be easily implemented. You could simply give supporters that have held a seat for 5 consecutive years a discount (for example 5%) then once the tickets have been held 10 years increase it (perhaps 10%) and so on for 20, 30, 40 and if a ticket has been held for 50 years or more then it becomes a flat discount for the life time of that ticket holder. This would certainly encourage people to hold onto tickets in the good and the bad times and show them that the Knights recognise and respect the people who have financially supported them for extended periods of time. Alternatively you could sell season tickets for blocks of time the same way that telecommunications companies and other service providers (such as your stadium sponsors Energy Australia) sell contracts for services to customers; this protects the customer from price increases and ensures the Knights have a locked income from the ticket for a given length of time. You could offer seats for 2, 5, 10, and15 year blocks at different upfront prices, as a good selling point the longer the period purchased the better the price per year is. In calculating the price of the extended period tickets you can add in a CPI increase percentage per year so that you are covered for inflation but the customer is also protected against price increases above normal inflationary rates for the period of the ticket. These are not new ideas that are coming from left field or from some crazy fan ranting off ideas with a thousand cans under his belt these are ideas and marketing approaches that companies much larger and more successful then the Knights have been using successfully for a long time.
As an employee of a company that has one of the most recognised corporate logos and identities in Australia and is recognised as a leader in the marketing of our industry I can see that the Knights must make some changes to stay in the forefront of the professional sporting industry. One of the most important components to the success of the Knights even above the performance of the teams on ground is the ability to stand out as a sporting identity and convert this into revenue through merchandise and supporter dollars, which will obviously lead to better sponsorship dollars as well. One of these changes that needs to be made to make this possible must be to show the community, the customer and your staff, that you as an organisation care about all three groups equally and even make them feel that you could and would put any of them before the almighty dollar (even though it may not and should not be true).
I look forward to a response from the Knights explaining why I have made an error in my decision making process and why I as a long term season ticket holder should continue my association and monetary support of the Newcastle Knights by purchasing a 2006 season ticket.
Regards
