true but at least if people pick and choose games the club gets the money anyway. Also not sure what rules are with regards to reporting attendance. I know some clubs announce season tickets as attending whether they turn up or not. Not sure whether we're going to go down that route or announce actual attendances.

I've said before, I think all clubs do that. If you've bought a ticket, you're counted on the attendance figure.

Otherwise you'd never get a sell out as there's always at least one person with a ticket who couldn't get there for whatever reason.

Congratulations, I am glad for Bradford that after the 10,600 or so pledged that 10,300 bought tickets. It would be interesting to see how many of the original pledgers didn't follow through.

While it is a good acheivement that deserves celebrating and one that ensures big healthy crowds in Odsal again it is not really great financially.

10,300 tickets at £60 is only equivalent to Hull selling 3000, Leeds selling 3100, Wigan selling 3200 and Saints selling 3300 of their standard early bird tickets and given that these clubs will sell between 2 and 3 times as many, in monetary terms its far from perfect for 2011 the biggest thing for Bradford is to make sure they entertain on the pitch enough to ensure they all come back (and if possibly grow in number) over the next 3-5 years at normal early bird prices.

I sincerely hope it works but the job has only just started.

not sure if RFL will allow it though as regards the licensing criteria if theres and obvious discrepancy between physical and announced attendances. Other benefit for club is if theres bad weather and people dont turn up then club still gets the money which has been an obvious problem last few years given our lack off a roof.

nice attempt at a troll. shame those 10,300 arent all at the headline £60 price point. I'll let someone else do the math for you to show the actual income is much higher than the amount you think. Put it this way the main stand has pretty much sold out and you dont seats for £60

OK, for (hopefully) the last time...

1 - We haven't sold 10,300 at £60. We've sold 10,300 ADULT tickets at £60 OR ABOVE. Tickets for the stand were £99 and as has been mentioned these have sold extremely well. And there's the junior tickets to put on top of that as well.
2 - It's not the same as selling 3,000 normal price tickets because more supporters through the gate means more shirt/merchandise/programme/beer sales.
3 - 10,000 season tickets sold should increase sponsorship opportunities.
4 - The club have a much more valuable marketing database.

I think that's enough for now.

I know it counts for a lot but its a bit simplistic to quantify the success of this scheme on purely financial grounds. The feel good factor right now is huge. I feel genuine excitement at the season ahead, due in no small part to the fact that Odsal will be buzzing again with healthy crowds.

All in all, a lot of use feel a warm glow and real sense of pride towards our club for daring to innovate. That's worth almost as much as the wonga surely?

It already has done.

Money in bank - certainty of a core income stream.

Main sponsor (previously in serious doubt) renewed (and other deals in progress) on the back of the crowd turnround.

Better terms with concession holders being negotiated on back of larger crowds

Club much better positioned to sell corporate and hospitality facilities

VAT rise beaten - club keeps more.

Massively imnproved and updated marketing database

Real buzz around the place again.

etc.

Remember we will still get further season tickets sold (including some at least of the pledge "waverers" plus the away support plus the walk-ins - of which there will still be quite a few, and increasing as we start winning more games...

Compared to where we would likely have been had nothing changed, the club will be much better off.

Incidentally: I paid £99 for a seat that last year cost me (IIRC) £196. Saved just under 50%. This year season ticket sales approx twice last year's, and its already clear a big chunk of the increase is for the stand, so by extension (remember savings on concessions, premier club etc are much less than 50% c/w last year) I'd expect season ticket income will probably be at least the same as last year overall, and MUCH higher than would otherwise have been the case. Before all the additional income the bigger crowds will generate.

The hard work continues; but the hardest job of all has already been done.

I agrre, & I am slightly excited about visiting Odsal next year myslef. But a warm glow & pride don't pay the bills. I feel that emotion from the speccies at places like Cougars but it hardly is sustaining.
Adey's post is what I was wanting to see.

This post needs to be a sticky

Wrong assumption though about the 8,000 @ £20. I sit in the main stand, and paid £15/game last season. Terracing early birds will have paid a fair bit less. And kids/seniors less again. Adult stand walk-ins may have paid a bit over £20 for a game, but they will have been a small minority. Make it maybe £11-£12 a game and you are likely nearer, given we'd still have had a core season ticket take up from the die-hard fans. I know it would be nowhere near £20 from previous discussions.

8,000 (your number) at £12 @ 13 = £1,248k

10,300 (min - will increase) at £80 (your number) = £824k plus maybe 2,500 walk-in and away support (847,000 when HKR come) @ say £18 = £585k total = £1,409k.

Allowing for the invariable guesses and approximations, surely the above suggests we are unlikley to be any WORSE off?

And as for the stall-holders, the only third party ones are for the food concession - and they will be paying rather more than they would have been given the higher crowds so a reasonable chunk still reverts to the club. The drinks and merchandise, raffles, programmes etc are of course all for the club.

Then we get the impact on sponsorship and corporate income. And the "14th man" effect (yes, even at Odsal...!)

I'm one of your more prudent accountants, but even I can see only financial upsides in what the club has done.

£18 on the gate - not that many upgraded at all - the queue at the upgrade turnstile was always virtually non-existent.

Much less than £18 on the gate for kids and seniors.

Less - much less in many cases- than £18 for most season ticket holders, especially those who availed themselves of the "early bird" pricing or were kids or seniors.

Try as I might, I get nowhere near your £20. And the figure I quoted was not miles out from something I learned in discussion with the club a bit ago. Even if it was say £14, you end up with a total gate receipts little different to my estimate for post-pledge. And if my £12 (or £14) is too low, then so is my £18.

So I remain largely un-moved.

Excellent post adey, but this is the key point for me that anyone who is not sure about the scheme should consider, we were in danger of being locked into a year on year decline in attendances and income which could have fed itself into an irreversable downward spiral, less fans > less money > less quality on the pitch> less fans>..etc.

As it is the club will be financially more stable for the season (cash up front) and we've broken that decline...for the moment at least, we now need to back it up on the pitch and introduce an upwards spiral. The club should be applauded for this initiative.