Could the directors be brave and change the matchday entrance pricing to £5 for everybody?

Then work your socks off to get the crowd up to 2,000 to start with. Of the two options in the subject, I know which fans and players would prefer and there would be 3 times the chance to generate income from add-on sales - food & drinks etc. I'd also have a 'happy hour' so that on first team matchdays, all drinks inc beer are half price (and advertise the fact in advance!).

German soccer gets average crowds higher than the English Premier League based on low ticket prices and cheap beer.

Season tickets could then be scrapped from next season (except for those who want them for the stand). This would save the cost of producing and distributing the proposed 40,000 free under 16 season tickets. People don't really value anything that is free. Even a very low cost means that those who really want it will buy.

If the entrance was £5, tickets could be printed for each match and sold at outlets for a small commission eg all those outlets that sell national lottery tickets.

It wouldn't preclude small target promotions at schools and workplaces for each match at even less than £5.

Something is needed to start building momentum now with the opportunity that the proposed re-structure of the game will provide.

Could the directors trial the £5 entrance fee for everybody for the say the last two home league games this season?

Completely agree with you.

I never saw the logic behind going to the time, effort and ultimately expense of producing and distributing so many kids season tickets when you could just let them in for nothing.

Secondly the biggest expense in taking a family to watch a game is the price of a Parent(s)' ticket if anything is going to attract the demographic that it appears the club is trying to attract it's this.

I think it would stand or fall on how it is marketed though. Get as many posters in as many shop windows as possible, the odd billboard around town etc

That seems to be our problem at the moment, it would fall flat on it's face without the desire or effort to make it work.

Superleague clubs have tried massive discounts on season tickets and it does not appear to have been sustainable.

It would also help that newbies didn't see us getting bounced by another bottom of the division team

We would have to play the sort of rugby and give them an experience that would make them want to come back when the price went up again.

We're knackered then as our rugby at min is poor.
I agree they need to try stuff to get people in but if the rugby is crap they won't come back.
To me if want to move forward they need to get a winning team in who people will watch then get onto fans who aren't season ticket holders anymore see what can do to get them back

You'd be amazed Loyal Fan about how the free season tickets aren't just working but help promote the club.

For a matter of fact, our new teamsheet sponsors are Shipley College. They are promoting the club within the college and will have a stall at the Workington game.

We have recently seen an influx of there students attending games and we will be hosting a tag rugby competition at the College on Wednesday 5th June.

As well as them we're reaching out to all schools in the no mans land between ourselves, the Bulls and the Rhinos (Bingley, Saltaire, Shipley ect.) and with our recent joining of Welcome to Yorkshire we will be more than capable when it comes reaching out to businesses as well.

If you're going up the Aire Valley in the direction of Bratfud then I applaud the effort but you're really going further into Dulls territory so it may be difficult to attract people to come and watch Cougars instead of them. Are you doing, or planning to do, anything similar in the opposite direction? Surely we have a huge area of potential to the west - out towards Skipton and wider Craven, and even, at a push, over the hill towards Colne, Nelson & Burnley. That part of Lancashire has no RL clubs and, although football is king, there must be some RL fans thereabouts who might be tempted along to Keighley. The attraction would probably be dependant on the whole matchday experience though and of course the actual product on the pitch so, for the time being, there is much work to be done.

This assumes the crowd will more than triple.

Donny offered woman and kids free and there crowd was about 667 ish.

It may be worth noting 667 x £5 is £3335.

A huge gamble, also many of your 667 will be kids or have season tickets already.

To reduce the price by two thirds would be suicide, it would inevitably reduce the clubs income for most if not the entire season.

I also doubt that that even one full season at £5 a game would spread the word enough to triple the crowd for the following season regardless of the amount of marketing.

No, I don't have any better ideas at this time but I certainly don't want to see the club struggle with a ludicrous idea like this.

< wondering if people are thinking more about themselves than the club

Would people still boycott at 5 quid a head?

What a stupid idea, fast track to administration.

I understand the sentiment but if you come down hard on ideas people won't try! People aren't stupid for trying to find ways to help the club, sure some ideas, well lets face it most ideas probably won't work but without them there's no dialogue, eventually we will find the diamond of an idea ............................... people keep trying don't be discouraged!

Well, what do you think of the idea on paper? Do you seriously think crowds will go up to 2500 a head at 5 quid?

This is a forum, i have said its stupid an idea and i still feel it is.

I.m.o. On paper a cracking idea but if it didn't work well and still only averaged the
crowds the club would be in the myre....... Maybe dangle the carrot of
half price @ £7:50with some sort of loyalty card system , for arguments sake lets say
Attend three matches at £15 get the 3 stamps on your card then you get
the next 5 matches you attend at £10 and get your card stamped 5 times
Then for the rest of the season it is £7.50 a match.
The idea is quite basic so everyo.e understands the more you come down the cheaper
it gets , easy to implement with some sort of dated secure rubber stamp on the turnstile ,
Hand over your money get your card stamped so it isn't holding people up for mor than a few
seconds.
And as it is a unique idea for a sports club , think of all the free publicity it would get in
the newspapers and calendar / look north type tv programmes....even some big company to
sponsor it to cover the cost of any cards / rubber stamps etc..
The Cougars could get some superb coverage with the right promotion with something like
this.
The only stumbling block I could see is the concessions pricing structure ,unless that
price was just capped at £8 a match all season like it is now.

Discuss.

A much better and more logical idea Burleycougar

I would like to know the fors and againsts on this one as on balance it could be a goer

The first thing that springs to mind would be the season ticket holders, maybe the club would guarantee that a season ticket could be bought at the least possible cost i.e first 3 games £30, next 5 games £50, balance of games (5?) 7.50 = season ticket costs £117.50, maybe include a free game for the season ticket holders friend during the season as an incentive

would like to hear the clubs views on this one

Unworkable. How could this be administered - apart from making keighley cougars a laughing stock in the internet age with bits of paper and rubber stamps

How much cash does the lady in the office expect from each turnstile? Now say a turnstile clicks 100 times, the operator has to hand in 100 x £15. With this idea, nobody would have a clue how much is due - poor control, and a temptation ...

Ok, so

McDonald's, subway and others all use this or similar systems and they work well

We have more than one turnstile, it's not rocket science, they even use different turnstiles for adults/children/concessions you know

With unworkable logic like that I'm surprised we fuel our cars, I mean, how can we get diesel/petrol and gas out of one pump trigger!?

Wow is this what level it's sunk to? Being patronising, really?

For my 2p worth I actually think a loyalty card system whilst conceived with the best intentions could be overly complicated.

Burley Cougar's proposal relies on 3 tiers of pricing within the loyalty card structure, then there's season ticket holders, children, those with out loyalty cards and other concessions. So we are probably looking at around 6 or 7 price categories every game. Theoretically this would be split across 4 turnstyles, general admission/loyalty card, kids, concession and season tickets. Every discount given by the loyalty card scheme relative to general admission has to be accounted for in order for the clubs books to be straight. Which requires a very high degree of accuracy from a volunteer turnstyle operator who at the same time is trying to get people in to the ground and take money. At somewhere like McDonalds they have advanced epos systems that enable this to be done efficiently however I doubt the club has the resources to install such a system.

The sad reality is that the club is haemorraging fans and something needs to be done before the club enters a terminal decline, if it hasn't already. It appears that the real core of the debate is pragmatic vs visionary with neither being fundamentally right or wrong just a different viewpoint. The status quo clearly isn't working, so all ideas should be encouraged no matter whether there based on what has worked before, are new and innovative or so outlandish that on the face of it they look crazy in the eyes of some. The very definition of logic is coming to a reason or outcome through argument.

You never know we might just hit upon something palatable to all of us.

As things stand at the moment, the entrance fee could be FREE and still the people would not come.

Not all of the reasons are entirely the current clubs fault, there are a lot of historical reasons as well. I would suggest that if a straw poll was held in the town and the question was something like "Can you name a professional sporting club in or near the town?", that the Cougars would hardly be mentioned.

The solutions are not entirely in the current clubs hands either, but reading what bits of information are available it seems that the present position is as good as it is likely to get.

The WHOLE system of Rugby League in this country, IMO, needs restructuring and reorganising, not just sticking plasters and hope & pray.

The actual game on the field needs very little change.

Great constructive thoughts to someones idea? Well done.

People come on here to suggest things and get shot down. They take the time to think about the club and whether the idea has merit or not who the hell are you to call it stupid. I'll tell you one thing, if I was a potential fan coming on here to see what goes on, I'd not bother going to the ground. The club needs to increase attendances to achieve it's goal, fact. It's going to have to do something rather than just advertise to converted fans to do that.

I bet some people could fall out with themselves..............?

Speak for yourself

Glad to see someone can see what the real problem is. Cracking post.

Just pointing out that the system proposed isn't as 'unworkable' as was stated

A Strong post posted, less of a strong reply posted back, nowt wrong with that, could have been a stronger but didn't see the point in creating something from it.

Maybe it's a prerequisite to joining on here.

Thank you for such constructive comments Mr Churchill , I presume you have
the gumption to come up with a more workable idea ???