Wasn't there some kind of deal for reduced season tickets? Or was that under the [iAncien Régime[/i? Can't see it on the site at the moment.

I think under that system it was something where they came in groups, i.e the games were divided up by someone at the club and you then bought a ticket for that predetermined group of fixtures.

There's several ways you can do it:

A) Divide games amongst the top drawer fixtures (Wigan, Leeds, Warrington, etc)
B) A little from column A and a little from column B. Half the top drawer/ half bottom drawer games on each ticket.
C) Let the punter nominate the games, and then they're tied to those games
D) A ticket with seven games on it. The punter turns up, the amount of games on the ticket gets decremented by one.

Curious to see how much you could do realistically with the current infrastructure though.

I assume that the software in place already supports a lot of this, because I imagine the cards people got were similar to the season tickets. Punter turns up, bar code reader checks back with base if the person is allowed in or not, and then they get a yes or no answer back.

I imagine everyone wants option D because of the flexibility, or would accept option C.

The trouble with that is people are numpties. They will forget which games they have access to, how many games they have left, and so on. They will forget often and they will be there in numbers trying to get in at the last minute when you want the queue to be flowing.

If it's a predetermined list of games made by someone else then you can mark the card as Ticket Type A, or Ticket Type B, or whatever it actually is. You can have something on the website that lists which games Ticket Type A and Ticket Type B holders get access to, and you can also mention it in everything that markets the game. Also important is that the person on the turnstile has a simple thing to say. "Sorry sir / madam, you have the wrong type of ticket for this game. This is an A game and you have a B ticket. Full details are available on the website." Or you might even have a leaflet handy you can give them. That's it, problem dealt with. Next.

If the games the tickets cover aren't predetermined, and there's a whole bunch of flexibility tied into it, then the reason the bar code scanner and the thing it's connected to said no aren't necessarily clear. Is there a screen in there giving feed back to the person on the turnstile? If there isn't that's a big investment, and probably some development time to make it feasible. Do you even want the turnstile operator explaining what games the customer can get into or not? What if there's a huge queue behind them, it's two minutes to kick off and the punter is being a c0ck?

Or do you send them round to the ticket office to see what the problem is there?

Technology wise I bet it's entirely possible, with maybe a little development and investment. Procedurally I bet it's a nightmare.

I'm about to change the email service from under the feet of 40,000+ people. I did it before a little under two years ago. Thinking about the consequences even the smallest of actions can have on support staff is something I get to deal with a lot. Email services don't kick off in five minutes time though, and games do.

Not saying it's impossible, just that it's not as easy as you might think.

We (family of four) have had season tickets for the last 8 years, but decided against it this time. Some of that is cost - we live 70 miles away so fuel costs and increased season ticket prices have made it too pricey at a time when we have to cut back.

But we might have overcome that except for the fact that for the last 4-5 years during the formative period of my kids interest in sport there's been very little success on the field and they've experienced too many occasions where they've come away upset and dispirited, as well as cold and wet. Last year topped all that off, the idea that 'their team' might be gone, meant it was easier to move on rather than keep putting up with the pain, and neither of them wanted to go again regularly - too many other more satisfying things to be involved in, including their own involvement in sport which now takes a lot of our weekends, is cheaper and personally, for them, far more enjoyable.

They also follow football, the NFL, NBA, etc, which all seem to have more appeal to them because of the global nature of those games, their profile and the fact that their peer group know the players and can identify with the game etc. RL isn't even played at school level where we live and we're in Lancs, so hardly out of the heartlands, yet for a lot of their peer group, as far as profile, the game might as well not exist.

They're still Bulls fans, probably always will be, we had a full house watching the Leeds match on TV and came over to Odsal for the Salford game, but at a cost of £80 for a family of four in the family stand plus £25 in petrol and a meal out at OK's, we might make one other match this year.

I think it's great that kids under 11 can get in free, but unless people know about that and unless you have the marketing of characters/players/success that first attracted us, it will always be difficult to get new people in, particularly families - the costs and competition for spare cash are just too great. I think 6500 is probably a base of support to build from, but the days of 14-15k are long gone and likely never to return. In part, some of the problem I'm sure comes from the nature of the relationship between the City and club, which has never seemed to meet its potential. With the new ownership, time and investment that might change, but I have worked in Bradford for a long time now, and yet have never got the sense of everyday connection/interest in the club I get when I'm working in Wigan for example, that sense that the club is woven in to the very fabric of the town's identity. We've all seen what a cup run can do and the chicken and egg of success and increased support might be helped if we did the impossible in the CC or something similar in the playoffs, but I suspect for the medium term 7-8k will be about what we can expect with larger numbers for the derby, Wigan etc.

With regards to kids and social media and the future of the sport etc that Adey raised I do worry about the future of RL. In a world of instant access to sports with a global profile, it's likely that those sports will continue to prosper and regional games will be diminished as a result - the fact that the NFL can sell out Wembley for two games, whilst the CC final will struggle to get a full house is alarming, great for American football, but again only so much money to go around.

I also don't think it helps that Sky has shown so little interest in Aussie RL, yet they have have 'super rugby' in abundance - if you were a casual spectator interested in 'rugby' as a game, you'd struggle to pick out RL as a real alternative to RU. You can have all the magazine programmes, special interest stuff there is, but without actually showing more games from elsewhere around the world, any casual sports fan would be forgiven for thinking it was a minority interest variant of the 'real game'. Of course it also doesn't help when some of the matches that Sky do cover are so one-sided - Wigan v Widnes for example, and look at some of the matches they could have ended up with last weekend - god forbid they ever cover a match the likes of Wigan -v Hull KR. Similarly I've hardly met anyone outside of the RL community who knows the World Cup is taking place, even casual sky viewers I know, who do have an interest, have not been aware of it.

I hope this changes, and I hope the World Cup is a success, but at present the future of RL doesn't look so bright and I think Bradford's attendances reflect some of that and some of the problems that have been systemic to the club over the last few years. With time and energy and a lot of work that might turn around, but the context of the sport in which the club is operating is also problematic and needs to be understood.

Seems to me from reading the posts above that the club has done well to retain 6.5k season ticket holders at full prices.

Given the decline of the club since 2006/7, some awful performances under McNamara, the bad publicity of the financial mess along with the historical problems of the ground and awful weather we've had for the past few years I'd say we're doing alright. It's important to put it into context.

We now seem to have a young side that is on the upward curve with an increasingly convincing head coach in charge. Off the field it is to be hoped we can get a period of stability and gradual improvement in how the club runs. If we get that then I can see attendances gradually rise again albeit slowly unless we get a trip to Wembley or something to speed things up.

Some decent weather would certainly help, as would some development of the ground but those things are in the lap of the gods.

Rome wasn't built in a day. I hope those running the club are aware of that and aren't expecting anything other than a long difficult struggle. However if we keep this side together and are careful with who we bring in things will improve. The dark days of the McNamara era are behind us.

ALL ?

Don't think we need a trip to Wembley tbh, we just need ac atalyst and if we make the playoffs getting to the QF or the semi of the cc will show we are back amd mean business and that this club is no relation to the dross pelt the past

We couldn't have use some Cup wins and home Cup draws. Statistically we are due around 100 consecutive home ties in the rounds.

Trouble is if the draws are against naff opposition even then we may only get 3K or 4K through the gate - but that's a load better than no games at all.

But you know we will get most away fixtures, sods law.

Also looking at the fixtures Bulls are only on tv twice more, least we should have a good attendance for the home games.

And even though the leeds game is on tv it should still be a very high turnout circa 13k and we have wigan and wire to come, looked at the others not many fans will follow them.

Could also do with as many bulls fans travelling to the away games and buying tickets through the buls to pump in more money.

Wigans runin seems abit suspect final 5 games 4 at home, handy for them least we have 3/5 at home.

probably by prior arrangement to allow them a run of away games first to allow JJB to be reseeded. seem to remember they did this last year or year before as well at end of premier league season for same reason

You're on the ball today they have 5 games away through may and start of august, missed that whilst i was looking through the list was realy concentrating on the final rounds.

You know we are doing well when we start looking at other clubs run in's!!

I wouldn't attend all games in a season either because of the reasons you list. I wouldn't particularly care if anyone thought I was less loyal personally.

I don't have a season ticket this season even though I have had in all previous seasons. I decided I wasn't going to mainly because of the uncertainty last year but actually thought to myself how is being a season ticket holder actually an advantage? I will probably see 11 home games (due to holidays)so no price difference - the club still gets the same money, just a little later. If we get to a GF or CC final will I really struggle to get a ticket - doubt it. Do I get something when I buy my 10th/20th/30th consecutive season ticket?

What incentive is there for me to buy a season ticket? My earlier suggestion would work for me but I appreciate it may not be suitable for all.

But cup games, at home, against a club which isn't going to be a big attraction is the perfect vehicle for the marketing dept to hang its hat on. We're not going to get a big crowd, so we can't lose much if we drop prices plus there will be no season ticket holders feeling hard done by 'cos others have got in cheap. Tenner each, and kids under 16 free with shed loads of advertising in the papers and around the city, get 10K in the ground - all we have to do is win it, of course...

I'll be curious to see what the attendances are like if by some miracle there is a home cup fixture. The present base attendance is at about the level they used to drop off to.

I don't think its quite that easy with cup games, though? I have a recollection that gate receipts are pooled or something, that the RFL call the shots, and one reason the club never put on any pre-match entertainment or anything before cup games was because the club received no financial benefit from the game just costs...

Typical, the go ahead strivers once again stifled by the overbearing bureaucracy...

:pogoaf49

Funnily enough, [url=http://www.giantssupporters.co.uk/Editorial/Ken%20Davy,%20April%202013.html:pogoaf49:pogoaf49=#400000:pogoaf49Ken Davy:pogoaf49:pogoaf49[/url:pogoaf49 seems not to share yours (and my) reservations on this subject.

[url=http://m.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/story.html?aid=18618634&category=news:pogoaf49:pogoaf49=#400000:pogoaf49Hudgell & his pal:pogoaf49:pogoaf49[/url

We are far from alone in having concerns about attendances.

You can understand these people being frustrated by such low crowds though[4,200 at Hudds last week? Jesus wept, but it's clearly pointless to mouth off about it; the ones who [ido[/i go probably agree with the sentiments anyway and the ones who don't most likely couldn't care less, and certainly won't be influenced by them.

They come across as rich men phoning the newspaper to talk about how unfair it is that their train set is broken.

In fairness to Davy, his despair looks to be in a letter to their supporters' organisation. Although at least he took the trouble to thank them properly for what was nevertheless a fairly modest sum.

My concern is that the recession is showing no real signs of ending and that is the reason for low crowds. Clubs have got to be incredibly imaginative to get bums on seats and it's going to be a real struggle. The RFL also need to be understanding of the situation and bend over backwards to make it as easy as possible for clubs to survive.

Every club has a limit to the number they can attract. In the good old days it was around 14k at the Bulls but those days are gone.

I'd say we're doing alright all things considered. I just hope our owner was aware of this situation before he got involved.

The letter is very interesting in that it references what is a golden era in the club's history by comparison with the previous decades. I know the last two or three seasons have started well and ended poorly but the level of cynicism around the club and its messageboard is extraordinary.

When Davy refers to the club winning a trophy it seems that the vast majority of the fans simply don't believe him anymore.

There is debate about a 2-tier SL, 10 in each tier, come the next Licensing round.

Which IMO would soon become a 10-team SL, hogging the Sky money. Not that there are any precedents, of course...

I am increasingly thinking this may turn out to be more than a mere debate.

If so, which tier we would end up in would seem to depend a fair bit on the answer to Bullseye's last question.

I don't see how a 10 team SL would make clubs better off. Fans aren't going to have any more money to spend on going to games until we come out of recession in about 2024.

Sounds like an exercise in hogging what meagre money the RFL secures in sponsorship in order to survive. Not sure that's any more sustainable than the situation we currently have.

Would increasing the overseas quota not help, as the issue alot of people mention is that the standard is dropping, so getting a few more aussie and new zealanders over here could add some excitement.

But due to the high salary cap in Aus would we get any decent players?