Firstly, apologies for my series of rants today - I'm having trouble getting over the ANZ shift and feel the need to vent.
We've seen this week how much the NRL has bent over backwards to appease the broadcasters and get top dollar for their broadcast rights, but I thought it was worth comparing it to the income generated by season ticket holders.
I've not seen the latest figures but I believe we have somewhere around 10,000+ season ticket holders/members or at least have until recently. Let's say on average each of these members are paying about $200 each. I think that's pretty conservative given how many season ticket holders are in the Cronin and Ken Thornett stands which are above $300. So lets say that somewhere between 2 and 3 million are generated from season ticket holders. When you add the amount of money those season ticket holder spend on their club through merchandise, game-day spend, etc. I don't think its unreasonable to suggest those 10,000 supporters do put somewhere around 3 million in the bank for the club. I'm not even including things like game-day advertising and promotions, which of course partly depends on the continued attendance of those season ticket holders.
Those current membership figures only equates to half the Stadium and so there is an unrealised market potential for that figure to be close to twice that amount.
So these are the figures to be compared with the broadcast rights, which currently sit around the $4 million mark and which according to press reports are likely to be boosted to $5 million.
So in reality, season ticket holders/members aren't too far behind the broadcasters in terms of their financial contribution to the club. And actually represent a larger market opportunity.
On a day where the interests of season ticket holders have clearly been put last, I think it's worth keeping in perspective that not even the "commercial reality" argument does not hold much sway because the people that rock up the game every week represent one of the most significant revenue sources for our club and are potentially the club's largest revenue stream.
And yet, I ask you how many Sunday afternoon games did we get at Parramatta Stadium this year. Why? Because Foxtel like to show our games at night because we rate well.
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It is time for the finacial contributors to let the club know they are not happy.
What would happen if most of these season ticket holders withdrew their support?
What if they did NOT buy any merchandise?
I would urge ALL season ticket holders to NOT purchase their tickets until the very last opportunity and watch the club - and NRL suddenly sit up and take notice of our complaints.
If there was someway to have fans from ALL the clubs boycott the merchandise until say Rd 3 or 4 next year I bet all of a sudden the NRL would be out there throwing rose petals at our feet as we entered any game venue.
Your right Phil - with the season ticket holders contributing nearly the same as Fox & 9 it is time for them to flex their own financial muscle.
As I'm going overseas next year they've already lost my membership as well as merchandise money. I won't be subscribing to the NRL online and I will simply stream it live or watch it somewhere I can get it for free. We've been sold out and our voices need to be heard. The first thing to do is remove the current Board. That'll put the new Board on notice that any incompetency will not be tolerated by the fans. Secondly, we need to boycott merchandise sales and lower membership numbers. If they realise that their main source of income is drying up then they'll have to try and accommodate the fans for once.
Fiddy i think its a bit of a different story here mate, its not a must win game to progress further in the semis, its not on free to air, it is a game to say goodbye to two of our greatest legends that was our own home game that was sceduled at our own home ground, that was meant to be a personal goodbye from the loyal fans at parra stadium with a goodbye to the players afterwards for those that go to the club, im not one of those people but i think its wrong that the game has been chopped n changed for them n we have now effectivly given it away, there is no comparison to this game n the semi in 09, cheers
Yeah and did they do it? Nope Dragons were crying that it was their home game and they deserved it
I'm a Parramatta fan and have been for more than thirty years. Unfortunately, due to where I live it's simply not affordable or practical for me to be a season ticket holder. That's fine, it's something that can't be helped.
What bothers me though is the season ticket holders apparently begrudging fans like myself the opportunity to see the last game of two Parramatta greats. IT'S ONE GAME!!!!! Surely you guys can accept a little pain so that loyal fans who buy jerseys and spend (in my case) half of what the "average" season ticket costs to go to a single game, can have that chance. If this game was at Parramatta Stadium, I couldn't have gone because it was sold out. Now, at least, my friends and I can go.
While season ticket holders are an extremely important part of the club, the Parramatta Eels are not the sole property of a select few who live within a reasonable distance of Parramatta Stadium. One game is not going to kill you guys.
BUT do you think it fair that amazing ambassadors for the game in every aspect did
not get the opportunity available to 99.9% of players in ANY sport to be sent off on their own
home ground ...at least to have KNOWN it was their last?
ps like you we live out of town I bought tics in April,
they were many still available for the last few months.
I feel your pain Orange but why didn't you buy a ticket when they came on sale.
I have had one hell of a time rearranging flights and God knows what else but still managed to get my ticket as late as 15/8/2012. through Ticketek.
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