I think our BOD may know a little bit more about this than you. Seeing as though one of our BOD owns this company [urlhttp://www.reactivmedia.co.uk/[/url

Yes I know , I contributed to the other thread

As I said , if they get 2,000 replies , then job done , if they get 250 , not job done

It's great that the club want to listen to the fans, but the key issue of prices at the turnstile has not been asked. Is there a reason for this as it does seem fundamental.

I haven't carried out a surrvey, but I suspect if you ask most fax fans who turned up in their masses in years gone by why they don't attend now it will be due to prices. This has been mentioned on a different thread but surely it is better to have 20 fans paying £10each than 10 fans paying £15each. Plus the additional fans would presumably increase revenue once in the ground.

I know it would be a bold decision for the club to drop prices, but with the appropriate marketting publicising reduced prices in the lead up to the game, surely this is worth trying for a couple of matches.

we need to hit the schools harder than we already do to get more people in the shay on a sunday.
also flyering in local pubs, if we get permission would be a good idea, the ammount of people that ask the score in town (young and old) after games on a sunday is embarrassing.
these are fans that used to attend thrum hall ,that for whatever reason now decide to stay away? money maybe?

an idea.....do a retro shirt day, maybe for a 'big game' Where any one who wears a shirt dating before 2003 gets a discount on entry, this would surley convince some stay aways to get back down?! just an idea

I carried out a bit of a survey last year when I was selling programmes for the Trust (Game On) mainly to find out why they were not buying them. The ones I asked blamed the increase in prices once the East Stand opened where they sat before it was I believe £15 (correct me if I`m wrong as I`m not sure because I have a season ticket) then it jumped to £18 plus the price of their tea/ coffee /sandwich just about doubled.Many away supporters that were coming into the ground from other clubs were also complaining about the price of entry.
Now the price of the food is not the fault of the Clubs but people were saying they would do without the programme .
I would expect the new price of the East stand will soon be forgoten as long as there is no price increase in the near future.The food prices however seem to have made people change their habits somewhat by eating at home or fetching a drink with them.
I suppose you have to be comparable to other grounds in your prices and if you have not bought a season ticket when the teams seemingy effortless losses were happening it`s easier to say I`ll save my money. Because sometimes it is not about what it actually costs it`s wether it is value for money or not isn`t it.
You can have all the singing and dancing you like it`s whats going on ,on the field that matters to most people.
Instead of the "free meal" offer I would rather they gave a free childs season ticket that has to be the future for our Club geting the kids in.
It would be interesting to know what Bradford think about their £60 season ticket offer , I know they are playing poorly but was it a financial sucsess selling the 11,000 rather than the amount they sold the previous season? Has anyone asked? I also think the time is ripe for a mini season ticket with Noble now coming in it should be marketable.

How do you ' hit ' the school harder ?

' Fans that used to attend , whatever reason now stay away , stay aways ' , they are gone let them go , they wont be coming back , any investement in time or effort is wasted on them

i agree with you that getting more kids in the shay is the future, but i cant see that giving away a free junior season ticket as working......i buy an adult season ticket, and if i got a free kids one, i would have no one to give it to, many people would be the same i recon.

thanks for your input.....oh no wait there was no input! just an attempt to pull apart some valid suggestions.

contribute or
jog on SB

I've always found the idea of simply reducing gate prices a bit risky and all a bit 'made up'. People think you're suddenly going to get twice as many people just because you take a fiver of all prices. It just doesn't work like that. For each pound you take off you would need around 250 extra people to come in to equal what you were already getting (based on an average home gate of around 2,400).

Being clever with family tickets and kids tickets is what Fax need to do more of (it's not like they don't any way). Then maybe a few 'special' days like the retro kit/cheaper ticket idea above. Thereafter, the only thing that will increase gates is a team performing well against decent opposition in a competitive match. For all the hard work and price planning the Club does though, they'll always be another stupid suggestion and game killer that the RFL come out with which will put people off.

If you read my post it does say "I would" , I know it would not be ideal for everyone but for me I would rather try to nurture a new supporter than have a meal in the new stand (nice though it is).

done but should have a few more options on some questions that dont have box for writing anything.

FAO: Mr. Fax - just a point about the Cashfax questions. I've had to check options for two questions because the correct option does not appear, ie; why I don't buy cashfax and the following one. Another option could be 'other' with a box to fill in.

The input was about the ' stay aways '

The question was to get you to explain what exactly you meant ?

You are spot on there , simply reducing prices just p155es off fans who have ST s and you never get your return numbers wise ,

And you are spot on with the family tickets , it's all about being clever in the distribution , to avoid existing fans taking advantage , as that is the main reason club owners don't do it

' stay aways'

i mean by the many fans that after the game are drinking in town, and ask " what was the score ?"

they obviously have an interest, and the majority go on to say, "i did go when we were up at thrum hall "

i can not beleive they dont go because its more difficult to get to the shay or logistics, its probably just price.

you must get them over there too?

Loads of them , but it is too late , they will never come back , I'll bet loads will still come out with " that Nigel Wood , fleeced the club blind , ime never going watching them again "

I've had , " The directors are robbing the club " , this when I was on the board tipping in every week , or " Ime not paying to watch them till that Alan Rowley goes " when Alan wasn't even connected to the club , or " My mate was THE best scrum half at .... Club , but Leigh didn't sign him " so I ask , " where's he playing now " , " oh he packed in a couple of years later "

They always have an excuse , it is never " well I just don't like it anymore " , or , " I prefer to spend my money in the pub watching footy and SL for free "

They are gone , and if they ever did come back you can guarantee that'll be the game you play crap against Hunslet and lose , whereupon you will hear " I'm not paying good money to watch that rubbish "

You just know that will happen , you need loyal long term fans of Halifax RLC , not glory hunters who will turn up once or twice and then return to the pub watching Man Utd v Chelsea the following week

Done it

The aim is to increase crowds. You are not going to get sustainable increases unless prices come down. Families may come one week with the incentive of free tickets, but given the option of then spending £50 plus the following week to watch Halifax v Hunslet......Halifax's prices would be okay if we were in Super League, but they are too high for the Championship.

With the right marketting before any game with reduced pricing, I don't see why you can't get way more than 250 extra people in. I attended a game at Thrum Hall in the 1989/90 season against Runcorn Highfield, RL's then perennial whipping boys and the crowd was over 6000. Where are these fans now?

As for the season ticket holders being a bit miffed, all I am suggesting is a trial for a few games this year. If it works, then I'd suggest it is implemented across the board next year but in the meantime, would any true fan with a season ticket object to a genuine attempt by the club to increase numbers?

No I certainly would not mind but I would prefer them to offer a mini season ticket so people are more likely to commit to attend the games for the rest of the season rather than a one off.

You are missing the point a little bit there Freddy , you are assuming that after one visit , these ' fans ' are suddenly expected to start coming straight away , that will just not work , so what you have to do is ' Blanket marketing '

Set aside one part of the stadium ( skircoat ) , that becomes your dedicated family stand , nobody gets in unless accompanied by kids , you don't randomly invite anybody , you go into a couple of local schools with the community dept run by frank , they do the ' pitch ' for the club , you invite the whole school ( kids,parents,siblings,teachers,spouses ) to a game , that is ' closing ' the deal

The teachers and their spouses go in the best stand and you invite them into the corporate lounge ( this is building relationships with the community as you want them to help sell the club to the kids and parents , ie a feel good factor , you want them all to have a good time

As the ' family stand ' is exactly that you don't sell alcohol , you work with your catering company , you tell them what you WANT , that being say hot dogs , cones of chips , cartons of drinks and toffee , ie just enough for kids without costing the earth

As the families enter the stand you ask them to fill in a simple questionnaire asking for their opinions of the day and if they would be interested in any ' special deals ' on future tickets obviously with their contact details

You have different schools every time , you invite a 1,000 people each time , do this for 5 games , then contact all those that said they would be interested in a special deal and do them a full family ticket for 20 quid , out of those 5,000 , you might get 500 back for your special deal , you make an extra £ 10,000 and potentially get another couple of hundred new fans , they won't come every week , but hopefully they will see themselves as Halifax RL fans

Then do it again , and again , and again

It won't happen overnight and it takes a lot of work , but it is the only way you will ever start to improve the numbers coming through the gates

It is no good getting a hundred down here and a hundred there , you need to get 4,000 through the doors to generate the atmosphere to get them to enjoy themselves enough to come back

Not forgetting to communicate all this to your existing fan base , so they trust the club to make sure things don't get abused , and are not upset when they see people getting something for free ,

But they're not going to come every week just because the price is £1 cheaper per ticket. Why would they?

You need 250 extra just for that £1
500 for £2
750 for £3 etc

There's no way that people in Halifax are sitting in the wings just waiting for the price of a ticket to come down £3. Simply reducing the gate prices is not going to work in any sport at 'this level' (the level that gets around 2,000-4,000 fans).

If ALL tickets were reduced by £5, if wouldn't have an impact of getting 1,250 in to off set the costs and even after a potential rise in crowd figures it would just hit a rut and Halifax would suddenly be charging £10 for Adults and getting 2,500 with the people not going still 'not being d'.

People who don't go now don't want to because they just don't, prices are just a glorious excuse that's used the world over, sport to sport.

Simply put, if reducing price was so obvious to the solution, why don't ALL Clubs (in Rugby and lower League Football) do it? Because it's financial suicide. Clubs have their own bills, VAT to pay and rising costs in the current climate just like everyone else.

The fact that Championship Rugby is practically a dead end sport just makes matters worse.

Also the 6,000 fans watching a tinpot game in 1990. What are they doing now? Well what are they not doing!? This is 2011, an age away from that. They're in pubs, cinemas, on the internet, xbox, Sky TV doing things on HD 3D Amazing -techno-vibes-full colour-screens...with surround sound, probably not even in Halifax anymore. Forget these people and forget these times.

[There's no way that people in Halifax are sitting in the wings just waiting for the price of a ticket to come down £3. Simply reducing the gate prices is not going to work in any sport at 'this level' (the level that gets around 2,000-4,000 fans).

If ALL tickets were reduced by £5, if wouldn't have an impact of getting 1,250 in to off set the costs and even after a potential rise in crowd figures it would just hit a rut and Halifax would suddenly be charging £10 for Adults and getting 2,500 with the people not going still 'not being d'.

People who don't go now don't want to because they just don't, prices are just a glorious excuse that's used the world over, sport to sport.

Simply put, if reducing price was so obvious to the solution, why don't ALL Clubs (in Rugby and lower League Football) do it? Because it's financial suicide. Clubs have their own bills, VAT to pay and rising costs in the current climate just like everyone else.

The fact that Championship Rugby is practically a dead end sport just makes matters worse.

Also the 6,000 fans watching a tinpot game in 1990. What are they doing now? Well what are they not doing!? This is 2011, an age away from that. They're in pubs, cinemas, on the internet, xbox, Sky TV doing things on HD 3D Amazing -techno-vibes-full colour-screens...with surround sound, probably not even in Halifax anymore. Forget these people and forget these times.'"

:2vrt1748

I'm not saying they are waiting in the wings for prices to come down. The point is that Halifax (including surrounding towns) has a larger population than some Super League clubs and has previously pulled in big crowds. The obvious way to increase crowds (as was shown in the 80's) is to be successful but, as there is no magic wand to guarantee this, the locals need an incentive to come along.=#FF0000:2vrt1748 Ultimately the entertainment they receive must justify the price they pay through the turnstiles


Sorry but that is unquantifyable , you cannot compare supporting a sports club to going to the pictures , you build loyalty into support , the price is an issue if you are trying to get somebody interested from new , it tends not to be once they are fans , if it is an issue then , they will tend just to support when funds allow , but will still remain ' fans '

It is very quantifiable, particularly whilst you're trying to build the loyalty. You can persuade people to come through with an incentive of free tickets, but how do you get them to come back in the following weeks? Most families will consider how they want to spend a Sunday afternoon. At the moment, watching Halifax for a family of 4 will cost more than other options such as going out for a pizza or going to watch a film. I agree its not an issue once you've got loyalty, but it is very hard to build that loyalty with an inconsistent team, in the second division and prices which are more expensive that other entertainment.

by putting on free transport if neccessary

That puts around 4,000 in the Shay , whereupon it becomes a much more ' exciting ' place for a youngster , they really wont care who you are playing , do all you can to make a fuss about them , supply cheap flags ,food , anything that makes them feel ' special '

Of course it helps if you manage to win , but playing attacking RL and scoring trys will still be enough even if you lose , you are putting your values and opinions on what is on offer at the match , look at it from an 8 yr olds perspective , or even an 8 yr olds parents perspective , if the club give little Johnny and his mates a great day out for hardly any cost , they will look to come back even if only occiasionally when funds allow , but they will potentially consider themselves Fax fans , and that is the start