Season Ticket By Installments?

It's good to see that this forum IS being used as a conduit for the view of the supporter!

My view is that it would be a good idea to also have a "pay by installment" factor built in, but that it should be a little more expensive (though not a lot) than paying the whole lot up front.

The reason I propose that is because the close season income from season ticket sales is so vital to maintain cash flow during a fallow period (i.e. no matches) AND that by paying "monthly" there is always the risk that the supporter might withhold/cancel his payments due to dissatisfaction with the way the season pans out. Does that sound fair, and does it make sense? It does to me, although it might not to someone else so I think anyone objecting to that or seeing a flaw in that might point it out to us all.

As an example: Cost of season ticket if paid by 30.6.09 ~ £360.00 up front
Cost of season ticket ~ £400.00 up front
By ten installments ~ £44.00 per installment

I firmly back Merse's idea as to paying a slight premium for the option of paying in installments. Mike Bateson gave the response when this idea was suggested in the past that if someone stopped paying then it would be a difficult system to manage to a) get the outstanding money back and b) stop them from continuing to use their ticket.

I definately would have cancelled my direct debit if I was using this method when roberts took-over!!!

Good to hear that the club are considering these options (although it doesn't surprise me that they think of the fans and are prepared to be innovative).

I to am not always able to make some matches so buying a season ticket for the entire home league programme just doesn't make financial sense for me personaly. However if there was say a half or a third season ticket available which could be topped up ( used for ANY home league game) at one or two different points of the season I may well be tempted not just for any small savings I would make but also for the benefit of the club in getting some money in early. This would surely attract some more pre season and in season revenue as I would guess many are in a similar position and certailnly more supporter friendly as it would , in effect be paying for a season ticket in installlments and the problem of cancelling direct debits wouldnt be an issue as your only geting what your paying up front for.
If for any reason you happen to miss agame or two the any game ticket could be carried over to the next period. You could even have an incentive scheme where a large saving could be made on the last part of the sesaon batch if you had purchased ALL of the previous ones.
Just an Idea.

It is refreshing to hear that the club is aware of the financial problems facing fans and is keen to help.

Season ticket holders are important to clubs for two reasons. The cash comes in early to fund the tough summer months and there is a commitment to staying the course of the season regardless of the vagaries of the team’s form or of personal finances – which helps the Board to commit to player contracts with a little less trepidation.

The problem with spreading season ticket cost forward is that it takes away both of these benefits. The club would not get all the money up front and a fan faced with poor performances or reduced circumstances could stop paying – which would also cause an admin headache. I think Mike Bateson tried to tackle this in his early days by just contracting out the financing to a finance house – so the club got the money up front. The problem was that by the time the finance house added on interest, bad debt protection and a profit margin it ended up costing more for a season ticket than it would to pay at the gate 23 times. Not surprisingly, that was not too popular!

What could be done is to try to spread the cost back in time rather than forward, so that the club is never out of pocket. If the cost of a season ticket is say £300, this could be done by making it six payments of £50 by direct debit on June 1 through to December 1. On clearing of the third payment on August 1, a “half season” book could be sent out or collected. On clearing of the sixth payment on November 1, a second half season book could be sent out or collected. In order to keep people paying in full up front when they can, an early bird discount would apply so that if you paid in full by say mid July you would get say £20 knocked off. It comes around to the same thing, but psychologically this should be portrayed as a £20 discount for paying early rather than a £20 penalty for paying by instalments.

The clever bit would then be when the sixth £50 is paid. You could offer the chance to keep the direct debit going at £25 a month to start paying for the following season. By the time the next season kicked off, fans would already have paid three quarters of the season in advance. From a fan’s viewpoint, it would make budgeting easier as they would fork out a flat £25 every month rather than having months with no spend and then busy months with five or six home games to pay for. I think that with direct debits the amount can be increased if prices go up, but a good selling point might be that pre-payment safeguards against price rises (at least for the short term) thereby rewarding loyalty.

The admin for all this is not rocket science, but you would have to be sure you had someone capable of controlling it or you could end up in a bit of a mess. The additional hassle might not seem worth it in the short term, but the benefit would probably come through in the longer term.

The other thing I would like to see is cheap kids’ season tickets when bought with a full price adult season ticket. This could be say free for pre-school kids, maybe £20 for primary school kids, £50 for secondary school kids and £100 for sixth formers. Kids often dictate what families do at weekends and if you can hook them on the habit they may well stay for a lifetime.

In the future, I could see maybe personalised smart cards where people could pay amounts in advance onto a card which could then be “swiped” to pay for entry but also in the bars and restaurants and the club shop. When people had a little spare cash they could stick it on the card to ring fence it as “football money”. You could also market top-ups as gifts – so you could give a friend a £20 card for a present and he or she could use that as admission money, put it towards a replica shirt or treat their partner to a nice carvery. The technology might sound a little ahead of where we are today, but this kind of thing will soon be very cheaply available. My kids use a similar system to pay for school dinners - we pay a lump sum onto a swipe card and top it up when they have used up the credit.

I think that bit is very clever!



I'm sure this will come more quickly than we possibly realise. As a result of going to a game at Eastlands this season I've a swipe card that I can use to secure match entry over the phone and not have to bother with paper tickets. That, of course, is just one use of such a system. Doesn't do much for the future of our good old gatepeople however!

I suppose the psychology and practicality is important as well. The season ticket serves a single purpose and lives most of its life behind the clock - or in the drawer - whilst the swipe card stays in the wallet or purse and can serve many a purpose. 10% off at the zoo; 3 for 2 at Newton Races; discount at Waterstone's on the book that blows the lid off Chris Roberts....just flash the TUFC card!

How about: If a season ticket costs £300, fans have the option of buying and paying in full with a 10% discount if paid by end June - cost £270. If paid by instalments then an extra 10% is added for costs of admin etc. This could be: 3 x £50 paid at end of May/June/July and 9 x £20 paid at end of Aug/Sep/Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr - Total £330. All by Direct Debit and very affordable, so therefore the enthusiasm of fans is borne out by paying nearly half of the season ticket cost pre-season and the balance throughout the remaining 9 months of the year. The instalment amount then is not so big as to cause many fans a problem, and probably wouldnt be stopped at the bank by the vast majority of fans. Some other great ideas especially by Jon.