I'm going to sound like a lone voice here ... maybe because I'm an economist by profession ... but I don't think that cheap season or match tickets are the answer.
Rob has proved that with his report that less than 0.1% of the 8000 £10 ticket offers have been taken up. Together with the figures on the amount of other discounted tickets that have been made available, there clearly isn't a widespread desire to come and watch Stanley in the town and the surrounding areas at the moment.
The maths are clear: for simplicity, if you get 1000 people paying £17, you would need to get 1700 people paying £10 to get the same revenue. That is, a reduction in the price of 41% would need to be matched by an increase in take-up of 70%. There is no chance that this will happen. The Club will lose money if it lowers ticket prices in an effort to raise gates.
But will it make up the money elsewhere?
Not via the food vendors as they have a fixed-price contract (as far as I know);
Maybe via programme sales but the Club will have paid more money for more programmed to be produced so the Club is exposed itself to more risk - it's break-even sales number will have risen while the effect of the ticket offer on attendance is uncertain;
To a very small degree via merchandise as I would suggest that the person who is tempted by saving £7 on his matchday ticket is unlikely to be the customer who will then spend £7+ in the Club shop;
To some degree via the 50:50 draw, but the effectiveness of that draw depends (in the Clayton End at least) upon the efforts of Liz who can't attend all home games.
What if we offer these discounted matchday tickets more times during the season? The effect is twofold. First, we make it less likely that the people who come because of the £10 price will then come when it is the normal £17. Unless they have become 'hooked' by their one discounted visit (unlikely, see later), why pay full price for a match when there will be another discounted match coming up very soon? Second, we significantly diminish the value of the season (or half-season) ticket.
What if we reduced the matchday ticket to £10 for the whole of next season (and correspondingly reduced the price of the season tickets)? That would be great for the fans! We would certainly see an increase in the number of season tickets sold as they would become more affordable and they would be better value as there would be less discounted matches during the season. But our attendances would need to rise by 70% across the entire season and not just one match. If it won't happen for one match, it certainly won't happen for the whole season and the loss of so much money could threaten the Club's existence.
Two things are obvious to me:
People who are tempted up the Club to watch a match, whether it is because of an offer or just out of interest, rarely come back.
The Club doesn't know precisely why there is such apathy within the surrounding areas towarding attendance at Stanley matches.
I have spoken to (and heard) lots of people who have come to the Crown Ground for the first time (or for the first time in a long time) and I have yet to hear one of them speak positively about their experience. They may have enjoyed the football - there have been some cracking games recently, but how many of us have been engrossed in the other games as a fan rather than as someone looking to be entertained - but the facilities have been lambasted almost every time. It is disheartening to hear 'never coming back' so many times. As diehard fans, we tolerate them, maybe even revel in them, but the facilities at our Club will not encourage occasional visitors to come back on a regular basis.
When was the last time that the Club engaged in some proper market research? Everyone in East Lancashire is a potential customer, yet the Club does not appear to know why they don't come (again) to games. At least, we no longer have a Chairman who complains about the public's apathy in the local paper, but we have no right to simply expect people to come to the Crown Ground despite the enormous benefit that we have from the 'Stanley' brand. As Rob has shown, it is not the issue of matchday prices that are keeping people away from the Crown Ground, yet we keep offering promotions in terms of price only. I suspect that the issue is one of facilities, but knowing our (potential) customers is of primary importance for the Club if it is to increase its future attendances and revenues.
Apart from the need for proper market research, could I make two suggestions, albeit for next season?
Scrap the £15/£17 distinction and just make the matchday prices a uniform £15 for adults. I know that I have just argued that a significant reduction in prices will lose money, but the prices are £15 before matchday anyway so the only people that are being penalised are the last-minute walk-on customers who are the type of people we want to attract back to the Club. Visiting fans know before the match if they are going to attend, so they will benefit from the £15 pre-matchday price and regular local fans will also benefit from the pre-matchday price, so again it is the people whom we want to attract that we are imposing a £2 surcharge upon. It may raise a few extra quid for the Club, but it is targetted at the wrong people. Just as important are the psychological effects of a price. I remember that there was quite a lot of grumbling when the price rose above £10 and it is, to a lesser extent, the same with £15 - two notes rather than two notes plus at least a couple more coins as well. The other psychological effect of the price is that we cannot be more expensive than either Rovers or Burnley. Adult matchday tickets in the Riverside Stand at Rovers are £15. I have yet to speak to any non-Stanley fan season who isn't surprised at the cost of our walk-on prices.
Enable season tickets to be paid via monthly direct debit up to the beginning of the season. I know that the additional cost of insurance has previously been raised, but the impact on the number of season tickets sold would more than offset any cost. As Rob pointed out, over 25% of our season ticket holders did not attend on Saturday. For me, it was a relief. It meant that over 120 people had already given the Club its ticket money for this game (during last summer), but didn't turn up. In other words, at least 120 people paid on the gate more than would have been expected for this level of attendance. Season tickets are vitally important for the Club. Not only do they bring in money during the summer months, but the Club receives the money whether the person turned up for the match or not. The more that can be done to increase the number of season ticket holders, the better it will be for the Club.
So what needs to be done now? I think that we all agree that the free kids tickets (with £5 for any accompanying adult) are necessary in the current climate, but they are only a very short-term answer even if they are effective. In my opinion, the Club needs to engage in some proper market research and, if the results are as I suspect, prioritise either an improvement in the facilities here at the Crown Ground or, ultimately, return to Ilyas' dream of a new stadium. When we rank last in the division in average attendances, we need to seriously improve our non-match revenue streams.