£19 for a U12 match day ticket
- Thread starter Ayresome_park
- Start date
BoroMart
Well-known member
@outoftown nomfella, it’s not how I became passionate for the Boro, the prem league didn’t exist back then. But it is the football that kids get saturated with in all forms of media today, it’s not how I want it, but it is the way of the world today even more than when I was a kid
We never will be able to compete with the big teams at the top, even if we were in the PL. It is for that reason we should be doing everything we can to attract more people to attend, particularly kids. We'll never be able to offer them success but we can offer them a regular experience and an identity.
I have lived in areas that have massive clubs and my friends that live there support those massive clubs but they've never been to see them live because it's impossible to get tickets and they are expensive. Fans of those clubs that live miles away in Teesside will never see those teams play. Give them the opportunity to choose attending Boro matches compared to only being an armchair glory fan because that is something we can compete with. Live football is so different to TV football. We have the opportunity to offer them an experience they won't get otherwise so pricing them out of that is a stupid thing to do.
BoroMart
Well-known member
Competing with the big teams wasn’t my point, retaining fans for the future was
Loop
Well-known member
A sustained period in the prem is pie in the sky imo. At best, we could hope to yoyo for a few seasons, but it's highly unlikely. We just haven't got the means to compete at that level. Plus, we go from having a good chance of winning most games in the Championship to getting battered every week in the prem. That will not be great watching for kids at all. Anyways, you don't need to be in the prem to have kids supporting you, there are plenty of teams below us that'll have plenty of kids supporting them.
BoroMart
Well-known member
Of course we do clubs with less going for them than us get a sustained run in the prem
viv_andersons_nana
Well-known member
But the point is that having lower, more affordable prices for kids now gets them hooked on the team. They become Boro fans for life. They want the shirts, the merchandise. A lot of them will keep going for years and years after that. They will then take their kids, etc.
We have to make it affordable to as many of the kids in our local community as we possibly can because we are a small town with little or no real global appeal and a finite number of potential ‘customers’. You need a pricing structure or approach that appeals to as many as possible within your reach to try and develop, grow and maintain your supporter-base for the future.
I'm talking about competing with them for fans, not trophies. We can offer access, not success. By having high prices we are removing access so it is leaving them with the option of watching Middlesbrough from a distance or watching City/Utd/Liverpool from a distance and in that situation there is no reason to choose Middlesbrough.
You can't retain fans if they can never afford to come in the first place.
BoroMart
Well-known member
As does having a team in the prem, the buzz of beating Man City or Chelsea again, seeing your local team pitted against Haaland or Salah and come out on top. Top flight has always brought the big match buzz on a near weekly basis. That gets the kids more excited than seeing Nathan Broadhead or Will Keane visit the riverside.
BoroMart
Well-known member
we got full and near full houses and saw loads of kids in boro shirt back in the prem days, its obvious our best method of building the next fans. It's not being objective to claim that we will inspire and attract more kidsthrough midtable championship form
Nest season will be our 15th since relegation with Southgate. We've had one season in those 15 years of PL football. Having a ticketing strategy that allows us to sell out when we are in the PL and not when we are in the championship is plainly the wrong decision because we're never there. In the here and now of being a championship club there are options that are actually realistic and we're ignoring them.
Things were very different back in the PL days. We weren't just a PL team, we were one capable of competing. we won trophies and played in Europe. Even if we get to the PL now we're never going to compete anymore. We're going to be happy to not get relegated. Basing a ticketing strategy on what worked in the 90s when we had a brand new stadium.
I coach the same 25 kids weekly as well as larger group of around 100 irregularly in Middlesbrough. The lack of Boro merchandise saddens me.
Out of the 25 kids, only 5 ever wear Boro shirts and 3 of those kids have Boro STs. The other 2 are my kids. One goes to the matches regularly and one doesn't as he doesn't like the matchday experience as much so I'm not paying £19 for him to sit there semi bored.
The other 20 kids wear Man United, Man City, Arsenal and Newcastle kits. Or kits from abroad. They couldn't give a t0ss about Boro despite their parents being Boro fans. If they don't get the match day experience. They don't get the bug.
When I was at school 25 years ago. Out of the 70 kids in my year, there were 2 Man United fans and 1 Newcastle fan. Everyone else supported Boro. I still remember the kids that didn't support Boro because they were the outliers. I ask my son now who his mates support he will tell me a handful support Boro and the rest support City/Newcastle/Arsenal etc.
By not getting young fans in the stadium we are losing our future fan base. Its happening right in front of us. It's not the same as it was years ago. There's so much access to elite football for kids through YouTube and social media as well as Sky etc. The only way to get these kids to get the Boro bug is to get them in the stadium. Don't price them out!
Out of the 25 kids, only 5 ever wear Boro shirts and 3 of those kids have Boro STs. The other 2 are my kids. One goes to the matches regularly and one doesn't as he doesn't like the matchday experience as much so I'm not paying £19 for him to sit there semi bored.
The other 20 kids wear Man United, Man City, Arsenal and Newcastle kits. Or kits from abroad. They couldn't give a t0ss about Boro despite their parents being Boro fans. If they don't get the match day experience. They don't get the bug.
When I was at school 25 years ago. Out of the 70 kids in my year, there were 2 Man United fans and 1 Newcastle fan. Everyone else supported Boro. I still remember the kids that didn't support Boro because they were the outliers. I ask my son now who his mates support he will tell me a handful support Boro and the rest support City/Newcastle/Arsenal etc.
By not getting young fans in the stadium we are losing our future fan base. Its happening right in front of us. It's not the same as it was years ago. There's so much access to elite football for kids through YouTube and social media as well as Sky etc. The only way to get these kids to get the Boro bug is to get them in the stadium. Don't price them out!
viv_andersons_nana
Well-known member
Not if they can’t afford a ticket to see those players play it doesn’t.
And also, the last time we were in the Premier League it was absolutely sh*t. A miserable, thoroughly unenjoyable experience compounded with a relegation that had been inevitable for months.
BoroMart
Well-known member
initially, yes. But the idea will be to get to a point where with a bit of luck we get to cup finals again.
But the point is, the only way for the club to retain fans is to be in the prem, the only way for the club to be financially viable is to be in the prem
h_m_boro
Well-known member
My own little situation.
I live in Stockport, have done for 24 years. My kids were born down here, and they are both Boro fans first, County fans second.
I started taking my daughter when she was 5, went to 3-4 games a season she loved it. Different times, more money about, I could afford it. She had a massive wobble in High School where kids were teasing her for her Boro support and she begged me to take her to a City game. Flatly refused point blank. Wasnt nice in the house as mam was backing her and asking why I wouldn't take her. But she came through it, and is now a 100% Boro fan.
Son is surrounded by plastic Man City fans at school - it's sickly. But being fair to him he wears his Boro stuff and just dismisses the taunts....as I've kindly explained what plastic fans are all about......
Both love going to games but I can't afford to take them at £40. The games become a "treat" couple of times a season as it's north of £100-120 just to go. Might not sound much but if I could save £30? on a family deal I could probably justify it - at least pay for the diesel.
STs are out of the question so it's looking like IPTV to watch Boro......even though I'd rather be there (and NW away tickets are generally difficult to get hold of .....and taking my 10 yr old......hmmm.....one for another thread).
That's just two kids. There must be hundreds in Teesside with similar situations where they'd love to go but mam and dad just can't afford it. And they cross over to the dark side .......was in Teesside Park a few months back and was shocked to see kids walking around in Man City kits
Very, very short sighted by Boro and long term will bite them on the ar*e. But, hey, Gibson seems happy with empty seats so.....
I live in Stockport, have done for 24 years. My kids were born down here, and they are both Boro fans first, County fans second.
I started taking my daughter when she was 5, went to 3-4 games a season she loved it. Different times, more money about, I could afford it. She had a massive wobble in High School where kids were teasing her for her Boro support and she begged me to take her to a City game. Flatly refused point blank. Wasnt nice in the house as mam was backing her and asking why I wouldn't take her. But she came through it, and is now a 100% Boro fan.
Son is surrounded by plastic Man City fans at school - it's sickly. But being fair to him he wears his Boro stuff and just dismisses the taunts....as I've kindly explained what plastic fans are all about......
Both love going to games but I can't afford to take them at £40. The games become a "treat" couple of times a season as it's north of £100-120 just to go. Might not sound much but if I could save £30? on a family deal I could probably justify it - at least pay for the diesel.
STs are out of the question so it's looking like IPTV to watch Boro......even though I'd rather be there (and NW away tickets are generally difficult to get hold of .....and taking my 10 yr old......hmmm.....one for another thread).
That's just two kids. There must be hundreds in Teesside with similar situations where they'd love to go but mam and dad just can't afford it. And they cross over to the dark side .......was in Teesside Park a few months back and was shocked to see kids walking around in Man City kits
Very, very short sighted by Boro and long term will bite them on the ar*e. But, hey, Gibson seems happy with empty seats so.....
BoroMart
Well-known member
If we get to the prem, parents will find the money, the have in the past. We don't suddenly get a pay rise as fans through promotion, yet gates go up.
It could be too late by then. 80% of Boro will support other clubs
Loop
Well-known member
Steve, let the idea go. We aren't a prem club & will struggle to be. let's enjoy the Championship and get the kids involved.
h_m_boro
Well-known member
It will be adults finding the money, not kids. If parents are struggling how will they find the money for £35 adult / £25 kids......never mind STs? Some may well be seduced by the PL but most genuine cases?
Or their must be some well paying paper/milk rounds on Teesside.......