Tinkler proposal back on (take 3)

[Baron Vo Mandor]

Me too Alex I was just making reference when asked what was going to happen if they didn't privitise or what alternatives there were, the patrons trust wasn't mention.

 

[Alex28]

I thought it was on the public record that the Patron's Trust remained an option, however the clubs preferred method of moving forward was to accept Tinkler's offer.

 

[Serc]

Nathan Tinkler's plan to slash family ticket prices at Newcastle Knights

• Barry Toohey
• March 16, 2011 12:00AM

NATHAN Tinkler will slash the price of family tickets to home games in Newcastle to as little as $15 if he takes ownership of the Knights at the end of the month.
The mining magnate is poised to unveil a new ticketing structure for home games at Ausgrid Stadium within the next few weeks which could save families more than $200 a season - a major selling point of his bid to buy the club.
Currently, pre-purchase ticket prices for Knights matches range from $55 up to $112 per family per game.
A general admission family season pass for two adults and two children costs $380 or $660 for a season pass which guarantees the family low category grandstand seats.
Under the Tinkler plan, families would pay as little as $180.Tinkler Sports Group executive chairman Ken Edwards confirmed yesterday the new ticketing plan would come into effect immediately if Tinkler gained control of the Knights at an extraordinary general meeting of club members on March 31.
"Nathan is very firm in his belief that it's too expensive for families to regularly go to games," Edwards said.
"It is the same with memberships. I think the Knights currently have around 6000 to 7000 members. He can see no reason why that number can't be swelled to 20,000.
"It's about connecting with the people of the Hunter in a meaningful way and part of that is making it more affordable to watch their team play at home. Nathan doesn't want empty seats at the stadium simply because people who would love to be there supporting the team can't because they can't afford it."
Tinkler rolled out a similar structure when he took over A-League's Newcastle Jets.
Tinkler Sports Group spokesman Richard Fisk said no existing season ticket holder would be disadvantaged.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...ewcastle-knights/story-e6frexnr-1226022141020

 

[Newie is God's Country]

Tinks gets more impressive by the day in the way he is trying to sell the deal.

 

[Alex28]

So they will refund the difference to existing family season ticket holders?

It's all very well making tickets cheaper, but how do they plan on that being sustainable? Substituting sponsorship for ticketing revenue isn't going to make us a stronger business. It is robbing from one stream to cover another. The minute that they realise that they have to put prices back up they are going to piss off the punters...

 

[Elephant Hunter]

So they will refund the difference to existing family season ticket holders?

Remember he does not take over till 2012. So I am guessing he will drop the prices before they sell the next set of season tickets. Next years tickets will be purchased from the Knights with monies collected on behalf of NewCo not the current organisation.

Also I guess his thinking may be that it is better to sell 20,000 tickets at a lower price rather than 10,000 at double the price. The more people you get in the more engagement you get to fancs and the more merchandise you sell as well as tickets I guess

 

[Alex28]

Remember he does not take over till 2012. So I am guessing he will drop the prices before they sell the next set of season tickets.

Sorry mate...but wrong.

Tinkler Sports Group executive chairman Ken Edwards confirmed yesterday the new ticketing plan would come into effect immediately if Tinkler gained control of the Knights at an extraordinary general meeting of club members on March 31.

The ticketing thing is not sustainable. I kinda object to him sacrificing one stream of income with the promise of topping up another side of income and selling the prospects of us being this super club. If a football club could get by with super low ticket prices do you not think that every club would be doing it?

What we need to work out is why a club like Brisbane can charge full freight for tickets and get 40,000 people to a game, and look to improve game day rather than just giving our product away...

 

[Raiders_Premiers]

Sorry mate...but wrong.



The ticketing thing is not sustainable. I kinda object to him sacrificing one stream of income with the promise of topping up another side of income and selling the prospects of us being this super club. If a football club could get by with super low ticket prices do you not think that every club would be doing it?

What we need to work out is why a club like Brisbane can charge full freight for tickets and get 40,000 people to a game, and look to improve game day rather than just giving our product away...

Simple: because they are in a city of 2 million. Broncos crowds are quite poor IMO. If you wanted to look at it "per capita" the Raiders for example get far better crowds than the Broncos. Cowboys get the best (I think).

Anywho, my question is what happened to the Jets' crowds when Tinkler cut the prices?

 

[roopy]

Anywho, my question is what happened to the Jets' crowds when Tinkler cut the prices?

They got one 13k crowd - haven't taken notice since then though.

 

[Alex28]

Crowds up by an average of 10%. Cutting prices by 50% for a 10% attendance rise is not sustainable. Simple maths.

 

[Yosh]

Indeed... However it doesn't really matter right? He'll top us up with $10m a year anyways isn't it?

 

[Alex28]

No Yosh...

 

[Johns Magic]

Crowds up by an average of 10%. Cutting prices by 50% for a 10% attendance rise is not sustainable. Simple maths.

I imagine that Knights crowds would increase much more than the Jets' crowds did.

People don't go to the A-League because it's sh*thouse, not because of pricing.

You couldn't get most people to go to the A-League if it was free, I doubt the same would be true for a Knights' game.

 

[Alex28]

All I am saying is that the message of putting $3 Million in extra revenue per year is somewhat watered down if you take $1 Million away from another (not guaranteed) scheme. I have no doubt that Tinkler will make sure the club is adequately funded no matter what the ticket price is, however if he wants it to be a self-funding business (and he wouldn't be the first millionaire who gets sick of funding a loss making venture) the tickets will one day have to go back up in price.

If this is a sweetener to get the members to vote yes, it is one that will eventually come back to bite them.

 

[KempoKnight]

All I am saying is that the message of putting $3 Million in extra revenue per year is somewhat watered down if you take $1 Million away from another (not guaranteed) scheme. I have no doubt that Tinkler will make sure the club is adequately funded no matter what the ticket price is, however if he wants it to be a self-funding business (and he wouldn't be the first millionaire who gets sick of funding a loss making venture) the tickets will one day have to go back up in price.

If this is a sweetener to get the members to vote yes, it is one that will eventually come back to bite them.

Your looking at it with a glass half empty look, Ill be going for the glass half full approach on this and heres why.

ticket prices are slashed to 50%. Before this lets say hypothetically we average a 10k crowd but now with ticket prices reduced we gain an average of 17k.
Now lets say tickets were at full price hypothetically $100 so 10k x 100 = 1million. Now with the 50% price reduction tickets are $50 so 50x17k= 850k. Now at this point yes we are at a loss in revenue. BUT we now have an extra 7k people buying food/drinks/alchohol/merchandise and whatever else you can buy at the game. so lets say we once again make on average 1million per game for food/drinks/alchohol/merch etc on the 10k people with the addition of 7k more people we would make, based on the same figures another 850k ontop of that, so our original loss of 150k gets turned into a profit of 700k.

Tinkler and Edwards are rich men for a reason.

 

[jonno_knights]

More people at the game = more sponsorship revenue.

This might be one of his plans to top up the 7mil to 10mil.

 

[otori]

He's not talking about crowd wide price reductions. It's a family discount. It's bloody smart business as these are the people I'd want at games if I owned a footy team. Families breed tradition with footy and tradition breeds lifelong devotion.

 

[Alex28]

Your looking at it with a glass half empty look, Ill be going for the glass half full approach on this and heres why.

ticket prices are slashed to 50%. Before this lets say hypothetically we average a 10k crowd but now with ticket prices reduced we gain an average of 17k.
Now lets say tickets were at full price hypothetically $100 so 10k x 100 = 1million. Now with the 50% price reduction tickets are $50 so 50x17k= 850k. Now at this point yes we are at a loss in revenue. BUT we now have an extra 7k people buying food/drinks/alchohol/merchandise and whatever else you can buy at the game. so lets say we once again make on average 1million per game for food/drinks/alchohol/merch etc on the 10k people with the addition of 7k more people we would make, based on the same figures another 850k ontop of that, so our original loss of 150k gets turned into a profit of 700k.

Tinkler and Edwards are rich men for a reason.

$1 Million on food and merch on a 10,000 crowd? Who is spending on average $100 per game on food and merch?

If we attract new people to games on the basis that the tickets are cheaper, I think you will find those people are less likely to spend huge amounts on food and merch - after all they are going to the game because it is cheap and they don't have to outlay as much cash to go.

It is a gift back to the people. Nothing more, nothing less. it is about getting more people to the game and lifting crowds, and not worrying right now whether we make any profit through the gates.

 

[cram]

Supporters club have stepped up today full page AD in the Herald warning against proxy hunters, I wonder who is funding them or if the raffle tickets are paying for it.

 

[Burwood]

How can this be anything other than a positive? Increased crowds will bring in more money through sponsorships, merchandise and food/alcohol. You can even look at the impact it will have on the team by playing in front of a couple of extra thousand spectators each home game. And when these kids get older they will hopefully then be coming to games with their friends, and eventually, bringing their families along as well.

There will be a flow-on effect throughout several of the club's revenue streams- looking at it simply as a loss of ticketing revenue is a bit simplistic.