Can tickets be too cheap

[gingerjon]

7 hours ago, meast said:

Yes, the fanbase is ageing at Huddersfield, but it's the same across the game as a whole is that.

Thats why we are trying to target a younger fanbase by offering them cheap season tickets, the problem is that they aren't marketing the club well enough, so no one knows about it, if we really push it, it might work but we don't and so it's making it cheaper for our current fans in reality.

Unfortunately the Giants don't have any say in drinking establishments around the stadium, needless to say the HGSA members bar, is now the only one, we allow away fans in for £1 donation, but we would really like the place to be full of Huddersfield fans and specifically HGSA members.

But thanks to the Leigh fans who were happy to donate to our academy by chucking their £1s in and most of them were friendly too.

I still wonder if season tickets (at any price) are really the best way to attract commitment-phobic under 30s.

A lot of what's been suggested on this thread has more to do with single events. I honestly think that whilst it'd be a longer haul that that is probably the way to go.

[GUBRATS]

7 hours ago, meast said:

Yes, the fanbase is ageing at Huddersfield, but it's the same across the game as a whole is that.

Thats why we are trying to target a younger fanbase by offering them cheap season tickets, the problem is that they aren't marketing the club well enough, so no one knows about it, if we really push it, it might work but we don't and so it's making it cheaper for our current fans in reality.

Unfortunately the Giants don't have any say in drinking establishments around the stadium, needless to say the HGSA members bar, is now the only one, we allow away fans in for £1 donation, but we would really like the place to be full of Huddersfield fans and specifically HGSA members.

But thanks to the Leigh fans who were happy to donate to our academy by chucking their £1s in and most of them were friendly too.

Perhaps not the ones who having ' donated ' found out it was card only payment and a 20 minute wait to get served

I wasn't too chuffed to find my chicken curry pie to be a steak and ale one in the stadium 

You've got real problems in creating any sort of positive attitude in and around that stadium 

[meast]

7 hours ago, voteronniegibbs said:

I wasn't taking the p. 

It was a suggestion from someone looking at your problem from the outside.

The " Giants" club name has never caught on, it has no sway in pulling new fans in, or evidently not many as that seems to be the issue.

As for club colours, you have a very traditional and well recognised jersey, but your marketing team are forever coming up with random designs that don't shout HUDDERSFILED RL , don't sell and are changed too quickly. ( and you're not the only club making this mistake). I cannot ever remember seeing a Huddersfield jersey being worn at a music festival / seaside holiday town etc. I have however seen many other RL jerseys at similar places.

And until you do something to get that big stadium bouncing on a match day, you won't make people start paying attention and wanting to get involved.

............ and yours is not the only club with similar issues

The issues around the identity you mention have been mentioned to the club numerous times, as you say, it's a rugby league issue not a Huddersfield issue.

Regarding the name, I totally disagree, we are still known as and referred to as Fartown by older people, again, across RL not just Huddersfield, but to the vast majority of the wider public Giants are the name everyone uses, we've been called Giants for a generation now so most people refer to us as Giants, most people in and around Huddersfield and Kirklees are fully aware of who the Giants are.

That big stadium will never be full or bouncing for Giants games sadly, regardless of what the club are called, wear or how much it costs to get into it.

[meast]

58 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

I still wonder if season tickets (at any price) are really the best way to attract commitment-phobic under 30s.

A lot of what's been suggested on this thread has more to do with single events. I honestly think that whilst it'd be a longer haul that that is probably the way to go.

I don't know the answer and I don't think the club do, I think they just think that by constantly hammering a wall it will fall down.

Personally I would like the club to adopt a more bombastic marketing approach to first get people interested, the first couple of games free or reduced for certain employment/education sectors then try and keep them by means of cheaper season tickets.

The problem is the club won't speculate to accumulate.

[meast]

44 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Perhaps not the ones who having ' donated ' found out it was card only payment and a 20 minute wait to get served

I wasn't too chuffed to find my chicken curry pie to be a steak and ale one in the stadium 

You've got real problems in creating any sort of positive attitude in and around that stadium 

Again, that's nothing to do with the club or the supporters association, although there are signs on the door and the people on the door were making people aware it was card only payment.

It was only a 20 minute wait cos all the beer guzzling Leythers turned up en masse

But yes, you're right, there aren't many positives to attending games at that stadium at the moment, which is why as a supporters association we are trying to engage with the club to make it better for next year.

[Damien]

11 hours ago, sentoffagain2 said:

   My daughter is a Giants member and dosn't like the ground.Believe it or not she likes going to Cas  as she hates the new type model stadiums.

I can well believe this. Atmosphere adds an awful lot to the experience but unfortunately the ground is just way too big. I have every sympathy with Huddersfield on that issue and there is little they can do to change that, bar getting much larger attendances, but that becomes a catch 22 situation. Even getting up to a 8k average the ground is only a third full. The obvious bonus of the ground to Huddersfield is that they are at least 20% part owners, unlike other clubs like Wigan and Hull.

If they played in a Warrington style ground their attendances wouldn't be discussed half as regularly and I suspect they would also get larger crowds on the back of a much better atmosphere and a lot more control of the ground and what goes on.

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

I still wonder if season tickets (at any price) are really the best way to attract commitment-phobic under 30s.

A lot of what's been suggested on this thread has more to do with single events. I honestly think that whilst it'd be a longer haul that that is probably the way to go.

It's an interesting point this one. And I suppose some of it will depend on what the plan is to monetise these under 30s. In effect you could argue that they have done what yiu suggest. They maybe know that they are not going to get these new u30's to commit to 13 games at 250 quid, and it's a lot of effort to try and get them to buy 13 tickets - in reality you may get them 2 or 3 times a year. A £65 ticket is the same thing. It is in effect banking 2/3 ticket sales at the start of the year from some of these people. 

I think the challenge is still there around giving it away to people who already pay full price but maybe they have data showing the number of 18 to 30 year olds makes it very low risk. 

[BridBeachRL]

9 hours ago, meast said:

We don't get crowds of anywhere near 8,000 and haven't done for almost 10 years, ironically, when we had a partnership with the university of Huddersfield!

But, IMO, we failed drastically to capitalise on that partnership, what was a perfect opportunity for the Giants to become a major part of the town's biggest employer stopped dead once the partnership ended.

Why we never put any lasting roots or ties with the university has baffled me for years, we could and should be reaping the benefits by now but nothing ever came of it!

Beer sales are irrelevant as we don't make any money whatsoever on concessions within the stadium.

 

That's definitely a shame and don't want to be topping up the landlords pockets! However it is a bizarre one the catchment area and history behind Huddersfield is all there. I don't know whether alot turn to the football club when they had the relative success for sport. I imagine alot would have come out of the woodwork but even so the RL club should be able to attract a decent croud especially when there aren't any other sporting fixtures for 15 miles or so. 

[Dave T]

12 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

I noticed today that the Giants fan base was old , compared to what I see at Leigh 

Also the lack of a decent drinking establishment outside the stadium makes it feel very ' drab ' , and low key 

Yes I know today's visitors aren't going to bring in the crowds , but it really doesn't work , not sure what they can do to improve it

It's a few years since I've been to Hudds, but it is always a shame, because the ground inside the bowl is beautiful, and the acoustics can be good and a noisy following can make a fair bit of noise. But you are right about it being drab. 

I know you aren't always sold on things like fanzones, but I think of all the places around, Hudds is crying out for a club-owned fanzone where they can make money from the fans and create an atmosphere. I know there may be issues with permission, but I think it would make a big difference to the experience there. 

I do also think the approach to how many stands are opened needs some thought, I don't know if they started opening the end again because of issues with fans but I used to like it when away fans were at the side near the home fans. I don't think they need three sides open. 

[meast]

13 hours ago, Damien said:

I can well believe this. Atmosphere adds an awful lot to the experience but unfortunately the ground is just way too big. I have every sympathy with Huddersfield on that issue and there is little they can do to change that, bar getting much larger attendances, but that becomes a catch 22 situation. Even getting up to a 8k average the ground is only a third full. The obvious bonus of the ground to Huddersfield is that they are at least 20% part owners, unlike other clubs like Wigan and Hull.

If they played in a Warrington style ground their attendances wouldn't be discussed half as regularly and I suspect they would also get larger crowds on the back of a much better atmosphere and a lot more control of the ground and what goes on.

Bang on the money with this.

We've said for years that our crowds aren't the real issue, it's the size of our ground and the amount of empty seats which are the issue, even of we got double the crowds that Leigh and Wakefield, for example got, their fans would still go down the Huddersfield have no fans road.

It's frustrating for us fans knowing there's not a lot we can do, we've suggested that the club 'compact' the stands but they're too scared of upsetting a few people who have sat in their seat for 27 years.

[meast]

13 hours ago, BridBeachRL said:

That's definitely a shame and don't want to be topping up the landlords pockets! However it is a bizarre one the catchment area and history behind Huddersfield is all there. I don't know whether alot turn to the football club when they had the relative success for sport. I imagine alot would have come out of the woodwork but even so the RL club should be able to attract a decent croud especially when there aren't any other sporting fixtures for 15 miles or so. 

We are the landlords, or we are one of 3 owners of the stadium, we aren't tenants.. yet!

The support for rugby league in Huddersfield has never really been there, apart from a post war boom, even in their most successful times, Huddersfield have never historically attracted big support, in these times of not supporting local teams as much there's little chance of Huddersfield attracting casual fans until we become consistently successful, even the likes of Wigan, Saints and Leeds are just about pulling in 5 figure crowds, so it's not just a Huddersfield problem.

We don't necessarily have a catchment area either, save for one or two smaller market towns around the West/South Yorkshire borders, most other areas surrounding Huddersfield aren't catchment areas for the Giants at all.

A lot of locals came out of the woodwork when Huddersfield Town had some relative success, but it's easy and easily acceptable to jump on a soccer bandwagon I suppose.

[meast]

13 hours ago, Dave T said:

It's a few years since I've been to Hudds, but it is always a shame, because the ground inside the bowl is beautiful, and the acoustics can be good and a noisy following can make a fair bit of noise. But you are right about it being drab. 

I know you aren't always sold on things like fanzones, but I think of all the places around, Hudds is crying out for a club-owned fanzone where they can make money from the fans and create an atmosphere. I know there may be issues with permission, but I think it would make a big difference to the experience there. 

I do also think the approach to how many stands are opened needs some thought, I don't know if they started opening the end again because of issues with fans but I used to like it when away fans were at the side near the home fans. I don't think they need three sides open. 

It's not through the lack of trying from the supporters association I can assure you!

Yes, it was a good atmosphere with away fans down the side, but there were simply too many people couldn't behave themselves and let their clubs down, ironically, and I'm not being personal to you, but the problems with Warrington fans around 2006 was the last straw ultimately.

Again, we've had talks with the club about allowing away fans in the end blocks down the side but again, too many of our fans would be against it.

[Dave T]

26 minutes ago, meast said:

It's not through the lack of trying from the supporters association I can assure you!

Yes, it was a good atmosphere with away fans down the side, but there were simply too many people couldn't behave themselves and let their clubs down, ironically, and I'm not being personal to you, but the problems with Warrington fans around 2006 was the last straw ultimately.

Again, we've had talks with the club about allowing away fans in the end blocks down the side but again, too many of our fans would be against it.

Yeah, it doesn't surprise me and I suspected it may have been to do with behaviour. For all we talk about segregation not needed, I don't think that holds up to too much scrutiny. 

[meast]

22 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Yeah, it doesn't surprise me and I suspected it may have been to do with behaviour. For all we talk about segregation not needed, I don't think that holds up to too much scrutiny. 

2003 we had trouble with Leeds and Hull fans 

2004, Leeds, Warrington and Hull

2005, Leeds, Hull, York and Warrington.

2006 Hull and Warrington, Warrington fans attacking a steward and smashing their way into a bar was the last straw.

Sadly the trouble didn't stop there, Wigan fans scrapping with each other and stewards and Salford fans scrapping with each other, stewards, police and their own players was pretty ######!

Admittedly though the majority of fans could sit together and enjoy some old fashioned banter, I don't think they could now though.

 

[nadera78]

6 hours ago, meast said:

We are the landlords, or we are one of 3 owners of the stadium, we aren't tenants.. yet!

The support for rugby league in Huddersfield has never really been there, apart from a post war boom, even in their most successful times, Huddersfield have never historically attracted big support, in these times of not supporting local teams as much there's little chance of Huddersfield attracting casual fans until we become consistently successful, even the likes of Wigan, Saints and Leeds are just about pulling in 5 figure crowds, so it's not just a Huddersfield problem.

We don't necessarily have a catchment area either, save for one or two smaller market towns around the West/South Yorkshire borders, most other areas surrounding Huddersfield aren't catchment areas for the Giants at all.

A lot of locals came out of the woodwork when Huddersfield Town had some relative success, but it's easy and easily acceptable to jump on a soccer bandwagon I suppose.

Just reading around this, the KSDL (owned 40/40/20 split) had no money coming in for 18 months and needs to pay out approximately £10m for repairs in coming years which it can't afford. So the stadium ownership is going to be placed into a community trust, and a licence to run the stadium awarded to the football club. The Giants will then become tenants of the football club. 

Is that correct? Because we've seen elsewhere what happens when RL clubs find themselves in this situation, and it isn't good news.

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, Johnoco said:

What about the market for people who work various shifts and cannot commit to a ST due to working when games are on? It must be a fair percentage these days. A part ST could be ideal for that.

At least for a couple of seasons, me and a lad at work went half on a Bulls ST and when he was working I used it and vice versa. If it ever arose that we both were off, we used to split the cost of a ticket to get in. 

There must be loads of other variations on this but the days of everyone working Mon-Fri are long gone and I think they need to reflect this. 

This isn't particularly aimed at Huddersfield btw. 

Leeds introduced flexi 3 and 5 match season tickets a couple of years ago - obviously no real assessment can be made given the pandemic impact. I do think there is a place for those.

Do any clubs grade fixtures in the way football clubs do?

[Spidey]

27 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Leeds introduced flexi 3 and 5 match season tickets a couple of years ago - obviously no real assessment can be made given the pandemic impact. I do think there is a place for those.

Do any clubs grade fixtures in the way football clubs do?

I know Widnes did for hospitality/sponsor packages for a few seasons, just not for other punters

[daz39]

5 hours ago, nadera78 said:

Just reading around this, the KSDL (owned 40/40/20 split) had no money coming in for 18 months and needs to pay out approximately £10m for repairs in coming years which it can't afford. So the stadium ownership is going to be placed into a community trust, and a licence to run the stadium awarded to the football club. The Giants will then become tenants of the football club. 

Is that correct? Because we've seen elsewhere what happens when RL clubs find themselves in this situation, and it isn't good news.

No, the football club will take over the financial operation of the stadium from KSDL while the ownership shares are being put into a community trust. The football fans have always though that it's 'their' stadium and we should be 'kicked out' but it isn't, ideally they would buy our share out allowing us to build a proper stadium for our needs but again that will never happen.

I don't like the place, i never have and never will, yes it's a nice stadium for those visiting it for a couple of hours once a year but for our home games and our operation level it is way way too big and is a huge reason our crowds have, are and will keep falling no matter how cheap it is to get in. 

Even with double our usual crowds it's still only going to be a third full which in itself is a problem and one we have no way out of!.

[gingerjon]

29 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

I know Bradford did a 'flexi pass' type thing too but obviously it either didn't work or just withered away. But I'm suggesting something more long term, like a half ST as a permanent option, rather than an occasional promotion.

Unless they feel it would impact on full ST holders opting for that instead? I don't know.

But what I do know is that the majority of the crowds in those Bulls glory years *didn't* have a ST but still attended, so getting bogged down in ST's may not be the answer at all.

London went through a stage of offering a 'big game' mini season ticket. From memory, there were six games on it.

I never bothered with a Broncos season ticket because the deals/promos etc that they used to do meant the saving was negligible from an ST, if it even existed at all.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

On 20/09/2021 at 08:23, Dave T said:

I know you aren't always sold on things like fanzones, but I think of all the places around, Hudds is crying out for a club-owned fanzone where they can make money from the fans and create an atmosphere. I know there may be issues with permission, but I think it would make a big difference to the experience there. 

I do also think the approach to how many stands are opened needs some thought, I don't know if they started opening the end again because of issues with fans but I used to like it when away fans were at the side near the home fans. I don't think they need three sides open. 

Toronto Wolfpack showed that it’s possible to create an event around the game and attract new fans to the stadium on the back of that. Clubs don’t have to replicate it exactly, they can tailor it to their own tastes, but imo more effort should be put into creating an event around the game rather than just attracting people with dirt cheap tickets.

I like the away fans behind the posts at Huddersfield, but think the two stands for home fans should only be partially open, say shutting off 30% of each stand would get all the fans in closer proximity. Huddersfield have a lovely stadium it’s just too big for them.

[meast]

13 hours ago, nadera78 said:

Just reading around this, the KSDL (owned 40/40/20 split) had no money coming in for 18 months and needs to pay out approximately £10m for repairs in coming years which it can't afford. So the stadium ownership is going to be placed into a community trust, and a licence to run the stadium awarded to the football club. The Giants will then become tenants of the football club. 

Is that correct? Because we've seen elsewhere what happens when RL clubs find themselves in this situation, and it isn't good news.

We will still have a 20% share in the stadium, we will have representatives on the board of the trust and the stadium can't be sold or our share can't be given away by the other parties.

We won't be tenants as such, Huddersfield Town will be the main financiers of the trust simply because they're the bigger, richer partner, they will handle all the financial side of things, aided by Giants, Kirklees and other representatives on the trust board.

In effect yes, we will be paying to use the stadium like we do now, but not KSDL anymore, I don't think there's any danger of the Giants getting kicked out, whether the fans want to remain is another matter though!