Should we bring them back?

Koukash said last season that they are gone and gone forever. Obviously this seems only fair when a lot of us are buying season tickets. But ever since Koukash went on his rant lat month about being angry over how slow season tickets are selling Ive been thinking about this. The majority of us are going to buy our season tickets regardless and I dont think the prospect of the club giving away a few free tickets occasionally is going to put any of us off. So, with that in mind, is it time to start giving free tickets away again in places like schools? This will make the stadium look more full, create more of an atmosphere and if they really enjoy the game they'll most likely come back again and bring family. Why would anyone be opposed to this?

In a word: no.

It devalues the product and is a slap in the face of committed fans.

They also tend to fall into the wrong hands.

No,No,No

Really? How do you work that out? If we have a stadium which is fuller and more people who will come back in the future there will be a bigger sense of occasion at each match. This will actually INCREASE the value of the product. 5 years ago I was criticising us for giving away free tickets but I now see their value since we stopped doing it. Last day at the Willlows was a great example: 10,000 people there - a lot on free tickets - and I remember it was a cracking atmosphere. Some of those on free tickets then will still be coming to games now I suspect.

Giving out free tickets may be a bit unorthodox in the context of the Koukash regime - he seems to have blamed them for all of our past problems - but is it simply not better to have people in the stadium rather than empty seats? We need to accept that we will probably have slightly lower crowds next year than we did this year if season tickets are anything to go by. With this in mind we need to think of ways of increasing crowds until we get a winning team. Until we have a winning team, we cant keep relying on adverts and publicity to improve attendances as so far its not worked.

It's better that the Club gets some income regardless of how many bums are on seats. Free tickets were previously picked up by those who would have paid. Which is why the Club wont do it anymore, and I can't blame them. Ticket offers and possibly free kids tickets with a paying adult would be the way to go imo. The atmosphere will come back when the team starts performing well, and having a good winning record at the AJ Bell will go some way to sorting things out.

I understand where you're coming from but it simply doesn't work.

I'd rather the crowds come back more naturally than if you force the issue, as I want my Club to survive financially before I worry about atmosphere.

No No No I'll give you two instances why it doesn't work, Manchester Storm and Manchester Giants when at the Arena both pulling in five figure gates most with free tickets.
When the management of the Arena changed the free tickets were removed the attendances fell to below 2,000 and both clubs whent to the wall

I think that everyone under the age of 16 should get free access to every game of rugby league, make it a proviso that they accompany an adult and encourage children too attend games.

As for free tickets they don't work, discounted options is another matter but 100% free just eats into the revenue being made through the turn style.

That is quite an assumption. I know a few supporters of many years who stopped buying season tickets due of the regularity in which they were getting freemans or discounted tickets. I suppose that skews the meaning of what a supporter actually is, but if it means turning up to games, cheering the boys on, buying food and drink in the kiosks and official merchandise, then it still sticks.

But thats because we used to give away more than were bought. The reason why this happened in the past is because of how regularly we were giving them out. We need to simply target a few matches which wont attract big crowds. It's unorthodox, but I genuinley think the club will (quietly) start giving away free tickets again; we already give away more than you'd imagine through competitions that are harder to lose than win.

Oh I agree it can work – the Swinton friendly where loads turned up was quite a feat by the club to achieve. And you will always have the gifting of free tickets in some respect anyway. But you will have more success giving away free tickets for the bigger games. Just because somebody receives a ticket for Wakefield at home, it doesn't mean they'll be more likely to go. Whereas if it's against Wigan or Leeds, clubs like that, they probably are more likely to attend and less likely to regift or even sell on.