Friday July 29 is Golden Season-Ticket Deadline

By Kooga
July 28 2005

How important is the Season Ticket Exchange Scheme in getting more bums on seats at Vicarage Road? To some it would appear that without it they would prefer to forego the discount offered by the purchase of a season ticket!

There has been little dissent regarding the inflation busting rise in season and match day ticket prices, so I’m confused.

It is my belief that the only thing that will increase the number of seats covered by said bums is the consistent winning performance of a Saracens team on the pitch in front of them!

Was it by chance that as Saracens became more successful on the pitch that the gate numbers from the beginning of the new year began to rise, or was it simply all the season ticket holders with unused vouchers exchanging them for additional tickets so their mates could attend for free?

Rugby World compares Union attendances against League attendances in their August issue. What is fundamental in their comparison that the successful teams in both codes regularly attract the larger crowds? This is a comparison they carried out at the end of the 2001/2002 season and it’s interesting to see that Saracens average gate in 2001/2002 was 8,388, whereas at the end of last season it was down to 7,308 – we are the only Union team in the attendance table not to have increased it’s average attendance at a home game!

In comparison, Sale Sharks had increased their average gate attendance from 4,593 to 8,348, a massive 82%! One could obviously assume that they operate a season ticket exchange scheme that has made it more attractive to attend their home games or one could sensibly reflect that this may have something to do with having a winning side?

Leicester Tigers as we all know, are currently the best supported Union side in the country averaging 16,789 at every home game, are looking to share the Crisp Bowl with their football neighbours as, in their words, seat availability has become a seriously limiting factor for the Tigers; A far cry from the 1970/1971 season when they attracted an average crowd of 367. Tigers Managing Director, David Clayton, believes that if they can get newcomers to attend three games, they feel they have them for life!

So wouldn’t it be far better for Saracens to focus on getting the people through the gates by having a winning team on the pitch than offering season ticket holders the chance of bringing a mate on a ‘beano’?