Time for some more doom and gloom, or just a reality check. It’s that old chestnut, Ticket prices. I have just had a quick look round our Championship 1 rivals,(I only looked at adult ground prices). I managed to get all but 2 Oldham and North Wales. Prices in general start at £10, with 3 clubs topping at £15 Barrow, Swinton and York, the average price works out at just under £13 across the board,(please feel free to correct me on this, it was only a quick look) anyone guess where I am going with this, guess who’s adult ground price is £17, yes the Cougars.
Crowds at home games, may if we are lucky may be around 500 – 600 to start with. If we get a winning run under our belts early, and are hoping the turnstiles are going to start turning, it is not going to happen at £17. I have spoken to 4 regulars from last season, who basically have said £17, is taken the p***, and they won’t be attending to watch the Cougars take on our Championship 1 rivals at that price, maybe if we were in the championship yes they would,(maybe).
I guess the club took a flyer with season tickets, when we still thought we were going to be in the championship, and then set match day prices accordingly. I bought 2 myself (mug).
If you take for example 200 ground adults at £17 give you £3400. But 300 at £14 gives you £4200, £17 just does not make any commercial sense at this level.
As much as this pains me, (because I lose out twice) we have to lower our match day prices for 2015. A route to maybe go down would be for the Club to contact all 2015 season ticket holders ask them if they would accept this, if the club has to bribe them by offering discounts on 2016 season tickets then do it. I just can’t see an alternative, and God help us if we start with a losing streak, it does not bear thinking about.

Agree with all that Shaun.

I'm a season ticket holder but would gladly accept the club lowering admittance prices to increase attendance. As you say, it would be nice to get a discount off next years season ticket in recompense for us putting our cash up front.

£17 for Championship 1



Maybe our glorious leader has bigger balls tham I gave him credit for .....

I've a season ticket too. Not sure I'll even break even since I just can't come to all the games but I too would gladly accept this. Makes perfect sense. Maybe Josh could mention it to GF...

Likewise I'm a season ticket holder (and speak for 2 others), I'd be happy with the above suggestion. My only reservation would be knowing exactly what the price sensitivity would be of a price drop? There are risks in any price change to ensure revenues are maximised. That said £17 per adult is simply not competitive. The best thing to justify that price will be have not just a winning team, but a winning team playing really good rugby.

Anyone know how much it is in to the game on Sunday?

Should be Adult £10 v East Leeds. Then go up £1 per match for each consecutive home win till it reaches £17. After a home loss, drops back to £10.

That's crazy, but you know what I like it, Its different, which is what the Cougars used to do so well

I paid £17 to watch Leigh v Bradford as we didn't have a game that day.
What a game that was and far better than any game of Super League I have seen this season.
£15 is realistic if we had stayed up £17 would be the norm in that division and the crowds would have been there.
Only time will tell if this gamble pays off.
A good winning run will see people coming through the turnstiles but win one lose one week in week out and were in trouble.
I do think the fact that we let players go or they retired and never replaced them goes to show that the powers that be and the coach thought that this league would be a walk in the park.
The reality is that the 5 that went down last year plus York, Oldham and Gateshead (Newcastle), there isn't a lot to choose between them.
The team we have this year more or less will pick itself so competition for places wont have players fighting for places.
Teams around us have strengthened which brings us all into the shake up.
I too was one of the people who thought we would win that league and it could get boring.
But I think there is at least 6 teams who are more than capable of wining this league.
In past seasons mid table finishes were acceptable but this season its a win, win situation and nothing else will satisfy the fans.
Good luck to everyone that makes our club tick and lets hope we are back in the second string this time next year.

£11.99 (or less) per MONTH gets you 8 games of televised NRL a weekend of which 6 are usually live. PVR's are very useful houshold tools if you happen to be sleeping/working etc when they are on.

It's all down to the perception of "value for money" and what you are prepared to pay for what you get which is of course subjective.

£17 for this level is crazy money.

Let's look forward to attendances of 500-600 if it stays at that price.

I hope I'm wrong but I can't see it. This will force some people away and will stop us from attracting new fans.

You can't put a price on a good time. You enjoy your tv rugby and the rest of us will support the Cougars.

Enjoy.

That many Connor ?

Gary's asked me to do a price comparison between clubs, I've compared the adult, concession, children and offers from each club.

ADULT:
Keighley Cougars - £17
Swinton Lions - £17 (Standing Price £15)
Barrow Raiders, York City Knights - £15
North Wales Crusaders - £14
Oldham Roughyeds - £13 (Standing Price £11)
Rochdale Hornets - £12 (Matchday £14)
Hemel Stags, London Skolars, Oxford RL - £12
Newcastle Thunder - £10 (Matchday £12)
Coventry Bears, South Wales Scorpions, University of Gloucestershire All Golds - £10

CONCESSIONS:
York City Knights - £12
Oldham Roughyeds - £11 (Standing Price £9)
Barrow Raiders, Keighley Cougars - £10
North Wales Crusaders - £9
Rochdale Hornets - £8 (Matchday £10)
Coventry Bears - £8
Swinton Lions - £7 (Standing Price £5)
Newcastle Thunder - £6 (Matchday £7.50)
Hemel Stags, London Skolars, Oxford RL - £6
South Wales Scorpions, University of Gloucestershire All Golds - £5

JUNIORS:
Oxford RL - £6 (Children Under Five £1)
London Skolars, York City Knights - £6
Newcastle Thunder - £5 (Matchday £6)
Barrow Raiders - £5 (Children Under Five Go Free)
North Wales Crusaders - £5 (Children Under Seven Go Free)
Oldham Roughyeds - £5 (Standing Price £3)
Rochdale Hornets - £5
Swinton Lions - £4 (Standing Price £2)
South Wales Scorpions - £2 (Aged 5-11 £1, Under Five Go Free)
Coventry Bears - £2 (Under Three Go Free)
Hemel Stags, University of Gloucestershire All Golds - £1
Keighley Cougars - FREE

Will be interesting to see how the attendance figures compare at the end of the season.

Rather than looking at admission prices in our division perhaps this table is more telling -

Championship Adult Admission Prices 2015 - Cheapest Adult Entry
Bulls £20
Broncos £20
Featherstone £18
Leigh £17
Batley £17
Halifax £17
Workington £16
Eagles £15
Haven £15
Hunslet £15
Dewsbury £15
Doncaster £15

Makes seventeen quid into a Championship One game look a bit of a joke (albeit a paticularly poor one) really doesn't it ...

The kids free offer is fine in principle , but if it means raising the 'headline' entry into the ground to compensate ,to an amount that, with consideration to the above list. could be perceived as an extortionate level, and therefore puts off potential adult support , then its clearly not working .

Attendance at the friendlies has sadly shown how much the core support is dwindling , and also a good pointer to the level of support we are likely to get from our visiting teams [i(this Sunday may provide a bit of a blip as I suspect East Leeds as amateurs will bring a fair amount of support )..[/i and inflated entry costs is not going to help that any

An interesting comparison and very much food for thought for
our glorious leader .

Years ago, after 'Cougarmania' had bitten the dust, and with dismissing crowds, my fellow supporters agreed that the only way to increase attendances and interest was 'to breed' it. We have done our best by having a boy and a girl (who cannot attend because they live over 200 miles from Cougar Park) but they still follow the results and they, as we, my wife and I, still hope that the 'Glory Days' will,return.

It's great that the players have stayed with the Club but reality needs to be acknowleded by everyone.

There are problems that need to be resolved:

1. The admission price

and

2. Assuming that the Club actually does desire to attract families and younger supporters

The apparent obscene language used by players on the field (although I cannot confirm this fact as I have only read comments).

Can anyone explain why (if still broadcast before games) the 'Use if obscene languagewill not be tolerated by anyone' does not apply to players also?

We have been 'ever-present' since the 60's until moving away, and have instilled the 'Cougar Culture' into our children, who continue to support the Cougars but, how many responsible parents will,continue to attend games with their children when the (so-called) 'responsible players' ignore the comments played before every game?

After moving to the south coast, we have attended several games but, and IT'S A BIG BUT, we would never expose our grandchildren (aged 5 and 3) to the language used by players during games, which has been reported on this forum, so after supporting the Club in numerous ways for the past 55 years, unless the players improve their language, I will not make the 600 mile round trip to my beloved Lawkholme Lane (aka 'Cougar Park') again.

As for the entry price? It is unbelievable!

The players should be paid by results and they need to realise thus fact.

If they win then OK, but if they lose then why would they be paid at all?

'Player's Agents'! Don't get me started on that, nor the RFL.

Why don't we have it free in and a bit of adminstration?

Sounds fun....

17quid is a bit much but its all about supporting your team or not at the end of the day!

It might not have escaped your notice HC that Keighley as a town isn't exactly booming and as as shown in the friendlies , the amount of folk that are prepared to put money over the CP turnstiles is sadly diminishing fast , people are choosing to spend what little money they have elsewhere .seventeen quid on the gate is not going encourage them to change their mind and once people get out of the habit of going to games in many cases they are lost forever .


As was demonstrated admirably back in 1993 at the start of Cougarmania days , a town on its needs something to galvanize it , make it feel good bout itself , which is exactly what they did back then , making what should have been a relatively easy division to succeed in a big thing .... that was a moment in time that will never happen again , but the Club has a chance to build itself up this year but instead we aim to alienate our core support and go for the quick buck ...

There have been some creative ideas posted on here that need looking at , after all low attendances affect every other income stream the club has in some way , be it bars , food , merchandise , even function bookings (many of which coming from venue suggestions by supporters to room hirers ) and sponsorship , who wants to sponsor a. Gane if theres no b****er there , sort of defeats the object . ....

Btw supporting your team , doesn't mean following blindly without criticism if you believe something is not right ....

It's misplaced confidence and a shocking example of an attempt at arrogance to charge £17 to anyone, never mind loyal supporters. It's one thing charging a rate based on the perceived quality of product, but let's be fair about this - the product isn't that good.

There is a simple way around this which won't dent anyone's pride. Charge full price on the first home game, issue a voucher/receipt and on production of the voucher/receipt at the next home game earns a discount of a quid or two - reward for loyal regular supporters.

As Rachel has already eluded to - even if the product is good enough, the atmosphere will be 'away on leave' due to the 300 or so prepared to pay that kind of money..

Clearly there is a real lack of understanding of how to run a fan based business from the Board - clueless.

Is there anyone on here stopping attending due to cost?

I think we will struggle also crowd wise. Find all the hype made to fight rfl to then go quiet and recruitment disappointing don't seem to of pushed for players to go straight back up. Normally hardly miss but no enthusiasm at min for cougars. Will probably be attending batley vs fax tomorrow

£17 per game.... Disqusting!!! Get relegated and put prices up how does this work??. Don't think Gary will get many fans this season!! £3 more I can go watch a super league game at leeds.

Batley V Halifax ?????
I am the first to shout long and hard at anything Cougars that is wrong .....But .....
that's not very loyal is it ? Especially as Batley are such blatant Cheats .

Get yersen down to the Cougars not Batley !!!