Season card sales
- Thread starter 18MFC76
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Dynamo Kev
Active member
durham is probably mainly split between them two up the road. there will be way more man utd and liverpool fans than boro.
i think because we have that larger area with stockton(were i'm from) also supporting boro we will always have the potential to pull in bigger crowds if things go well. if we were to become a decent premier league team again. season ticket sellouts would be the norm. probably only 20 teams in the country who could pull in over 35k fans every week potentially and we are one of them.
i think because we have that larger area with stockton(were i'm from) also supporting boro we will always have the potential to pull in bigger crowds if things go well. if we were to become a decent premier league team again. season ticket sellouts would be the norm. probably only 20 teams in the country who could pull in over 35k fans every week potentially and we are one of them.
Borokian1876
Well-known member
Fair enough leeds have the biggest uniterupted in the country there support is poor very poor considering. They could be huge, definitely bigger than the big two in our area
Borokian1876
Well-known member
This, could achieve the odd 40,000 average of things went very well.
Frozen Horse
Well-known member
What do we consider a good attendance for us in this division?
I think we're all influenced by what we experience as kids. For me, that meant routine attendance of 13-15k in the late 80s/early 90s at AP, and being very proud of averaging 1999 in the top flight in 88/89.
Now, times move on. Football as a whole is better marketed and attended. The hooligan image is less than it was then.Overall, we'd expect attendance to be much higher than they were then.
However, to have 50% more ST holders than a typical crowd in my formative years is something I can't help but feel is a good thing.
What we actually average depends on how well the team does, but I can't see it being below 23k even in a worst case scenario.
For 6 years prior to AK's promotion, it didn't break 20k
I think we're all influenced by what we experience as kids. For me, that meant routine attendance of 13-15k in the late 80s/early 90s at AP, and being very proud of averaging 1999 in the top flight in 88/89.
Now, times move on. Football as a whole is better marketed and attended. The hooligan image is less than it was then.Overall, we'd expect attendance to be much higher than they were then.
However, to have 50% more ST holders than a typical crowd in my formative years is something I can't help but feel is a good thing.
What we actually average depends on how well the team does, but I can't see it being below 23k even in a worst case scenario.
For 6 years prior to AK's promotion, it didn't break 20k
18MFC76
Well-known member
I disagree with that. Look at how full the family end is where the prices are excellent and in line with many other clubs. They've extended that area and it's full of ST holders. I know a lot of people that would have a ST tomorrow if our pricing was in line with what other clubs charge, particularly for young kids. I know the club have their reasons for what what they charge and it's been covered in depth on here but if our prices were lower I honestly think we would be looking at a good 27/28 thousand ST holders this season, possibly close to sell out.
There's not many Boro fans in Darlo either to be honest. All seem to be Newcastle fans or Liverpool/United. Very few Boro fans.
But I do agree with Borokian's general point (even if he's being a bit stubborn over his incorrect population figures), we have a bigger catchment area than our town population. We are well supported. Apart from being pretty much a monopoly in Middlesbrough, Redcar and Stockton, We draw fans in from a lot of North Yorkshire (Stokesley, Guisborough, Northallerton, Thirsk, Whitby even as far south as Wetherby). Granted, the further south you go the Boro:Leeds ratio increases in Leeds' favour. Similarly when you head North in to Billingham, Hartlepool and the Durham villages.
The catchment is there and potential for big crowds hence why we never have a problem selling out big Wembley allocations etc. If we got our pricing structure right, we could pull in 30k+ far more regularly than we do.
But I do agree with Borokian's general point (even if he's being a bit stubborn over his incorrect population figures), we have a bigger catchment area than our town population. We are well supported. Apart from being pretty much a monopoly in Middlesbrough, Redcar and Stockton, We draw fans in from a lot of North Yorkshire (Stokesley, Guisborough, Northallerton, Thirsk, Whitby even as far south as Wetherby). Granted, the further south you go the Boro:Leeds ratio increases in Leeds' favour. Similarly when you head North in to Billingham, Hartlepool and the Durham villages.
The catchment is there and potential for big crowds hence why we never have a problem selling out big Wembley allocations etc. If we got our pricing structure right, we could pull in 30k+ far more regularly than we do.
Biggy
Well-known member
The pricing structure has to be what it is for us to exist at this level. SG doesn't raise the prices to make a profit, it's needed. Personally I think there's opportunities for mini season cards ( 3-5 game spells etc. ) and also promotional games like we had in the past but over all we aint to bad.
GRZ pricing should be stadium wide IMO. Or at least extended so people can get a ticket.
Otto42
Well-known member
As long as I've been supporting the Boro, mid 70s, our support has tended to fluctuate, the exception being when you had to have a season ticket to get into the ground. 21000 at those prices for 2nd Division football is great and if we look like going up we'll regularly start to sell out home tickets in 2024. My lad and I will probably do more home games this season as away tickets are becoming more of a closed shop!
How do you attract new supporters though outside of the immediate Teesside area?
Most people who support the team outside of the area probably have it in 'their blood' and a family history
Will have been easier attracting new fans when we won the cup, signed household names and were playing in Europe.
I guess because we've lost our Yorkshire tag people who live in the likes of Thirsk, Ripon, Knaresborough, Harrogate, York etc (all within a 50 min drive) have no connection with the club
You cant even buy a Boro shirt in any Sports Shop apart from the club's own shop, which has been the case for many years
When I lived in Brid if i bumped into someone with boro merch on i'd usually find like myself they had moved from Teesside.
Look at Hull they fly the flag for East Riding they should be attracting fans from Beverley, Driffield, Goole, Hornsea, Brid etc but if you lived in these East Yorkshire Market towns would you support Hull City because they are your nearest highest ranked professional team?
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Sorry not sure if youve misunderstood my point. Probably down to my poor way way of writing it out. I think the support is already there in these places. We just need to get them in the stadium
Otto42
Well-known member
We do get them in the stadium when we are in the top flight, 1997/98 was a bit of an anomaly due to the three points 'injustice' and 1994/95 due to it being the last season at Ayresome and Robson being appointed. When we got promoted under Karanka our average built from around where we are now over the season
The Karanka stats are surprising we regularly drew in crowds of 15-16k when you look at the stats but remember how many minutes we went without scoring a goal during that period when we were very defensive to watch
We have the potential to get much higher crowds than we have over the last 15 years. The fan base is there, the stadium capacity is there.
It's just whether the desire is there from the club.
Redwurzel
Well-known member
BG - I went to school in Whitby and lived there for many years - there are not hundreds of Boro fans there waiting to come if we had a £300 Season Ticket.
The average person in Whitby considered Middlesbrough to be full of people on drugs, who may break in their car. It was also considered to be full of pollution and full of people different to Whitby Folk. They liked Leeds, because it was considered the capital of Yorkshire, they didn't consider it an industrial city and could travel to Elland Road without seeing the rougher parts of Leeds. I think the Revie years brought a lot of fans in too when Leeds were always challenging for top honours from 1965 to 1974 then won the old division 1 in 1992 and Champions League Semis in 2000/21.
Historically Middlesbrough was a town of mainly working class immigrants from outside the immediate area. All but 1 of my great grand parents were from areas well away from Teesside, mainly other industrial areas. The nature of this has made the area feel different socially. I think this helps gain local support on Teesside for the Boro, but harder to get support outside Teesside.
The average person in Whitby considered Middlesbrough to be full of people on drugs, who may break in their car. It was also considered to be full of pollution and full of people different to Whitby Folk. They liked Leeds, because it was considered the capital of Yorkshire, they didn't consider it an industrial city and could travel to Elland Road without seeing the rougher parts of Leeds. I think the Revie years brought a lot of fans in too when Leeds were always challenging for top honours from 1965 to 1974 then won the old division 1 in 1992 and Champions League Semis in 2000/21.
Historically Middlesbrough was a town of mainly working class immigrants from outside the immediate area. All but 1 of my great grand parents were from areas well away from Teesside, mainly other industrial areas. The nature of this has made the area feel different socially. I think this helps gain local support on Teesside for the Boro, but harder to get support outside Teesside.
birkbeck_dj
Well-known member
When I first started watching Boro seriously(mid-80s) the gates were 5,500. I always think 20k is a good gate for this division.
HolgateCorner
Well-known member
I don’t doubt what you say but it is 2 hours to Leeds from Whitby!!
Completely agree Middlesbrough as an industrial town has little in common with Whitby but I suspect those who follow Leeds rather than the Boro are missing out on a lot.
Whitby has its own club of course, I hope they lend some support to them.
Aztec chimera
Well-known member
I can assure you that Billingham is overwhelmingly Boro. The mags and mackems in the town are a very tiny minority. I can count on one hand how many I know and I've lived there my whole life. The ones that are there though are visible because there's a coach leaves from 1 pub to the mackem home games (or there used to be). Although not all are what I'd call boro supporters but the vast majority follow them and the results.
Exactly, then you head north and the ratio Boro:Mackem decreases. Hartlepool has a lot of mackems and by the time you get to peterlee there are hardly any Boro.