This is picking up on a sub-discussion which appeared in the match thread - partly my fault as I expressed mild disappointment with the figure, which in turn was a result of over-optimistic noises from the Club during the week.
It's a complex question because if you drop prices you need to be confident that the crowd will increase such that overall revenue goes up.
The reason why there might be room for improvement is that some competitors are getting bigger crowds. I'm not therefore interested in Millwall, who don't, although they are the only direct competitors in the division for fans in our catchment area. I've chosen two Champ. clubs who are not parachute clubs and not particularly riding on a wave of optimism, AFAIK : Stoke and Middlebrough. They got 25k and 26k respectively on Sat compared to our 22k (rounding to nearest 000). Also AFAIK disposable income in their catchment area is significantly lower than ours.
Comparing them in any detail would be a bit of work but now we have AI. I've used Claude. Now, there are a few Lifers who I know are way ahead of me in using AI, and could improve my prompt (bloody stupid tech-bro word, btw, what's wrong with "brief"?) so I'll post my prompt next para. Summary of Claude's answer in the next post...spoiler, it does not look like we are expensive at all....
"I would like you to analyse the overall price for tickets to matches at three English Championship football clubs. The purpose is to establish whether the prices at Charlton are significantly higher than at Stoke or Middlesbrough. This will not be straightforward as the clubs will charge different amounts for different parts of the stadium and you will need to ascertain the capacity of each section. You can ignore "executive" or hospitality sections. I suggest you use the price of the next home League (not Cup) game at each club. If the club appears to charge different prices according to the status of the opponent, I will let you decide how to deal with that! It is essential to work on the prices for this new season as Charlton were in League One last season."
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The answer is pretty long so here is the link to the full thing, meanwhile the headline:
Conclusion
Charlton Athletic's ticket prices are definitively NOT significantly higher than Stoke or Middlesbrough.
The evidence clearly shows:
Charlton's approach to Championship pricing appears measured and fan-friendly, especially considering the significant step up in competition level and operating costs. The club has avoided the "promotion premium" that some newly-promoted clubs implement, instead maintaining accessibility while competing at a higher level.
Middlesbrough continues to operate at the premium end of Championship pricing, justifying this through consistent attendances despite being in one of England's most economically challenged regions. This makes their pricing strategy, rather than Charlton's, the outlier in terms of being significantly higher than their peers.
“…disposable income in their catchment area is significantly lower than ours.”
Does that take into account the number of millionaires in the capital / Kent vrs Middlesbrough and Stoke? I ask because, considering house prices, cost of living, driving restrictions (fines / tolls / etc), and so on - things people in South East London / North Kent have to deal with - and also factoring in the demographic amongst football fans (even though it’s become very popular among the middle classes now), I’d question that view.
Probably wrong, just find it surprising - not so much generally, but amongst football fans
Tell someone that about a flat in SE London and they wouldn't bat an eyelid.
With Millwall, Leicester, Southampton, Portsmouth, Birmingham, QPR, Coventry, Sheff Weds, Wrexham, Norwich, Oxford, Sheff Utd all likely to sell out the Jimmy Seed Stand I would probably put Watford towards the lower end of that pack in terms of being attractive opponents, probably only ahead of Oxford so probably 12th out of maybe 13 expected away end sell outs.
Of the remaining 10 home games 4 of them are on a Tuesday night which naturally see lower attended crowds which reduced prices probably won't have much impact on. That then leaves maybe 6 home games in which to target increased crowds but even then out of those 6 remaining 3pms Stoke, Blackburn, Preston, Bristol City, Hull and Swansea there's still every possibility Stoke and Bristol City may sell out the JSS. Hull on the penultimate game of the season may need a result and bring a crowd with them too.
So in reality it's probably only Blackburn, Preston and Swansea 3pm games who may not come anywhere near to selling out the JSS stand against potentially 12-15 more games that could sell out. Of the 15 + Watford I would still put Watford amongst the bottom 3-4 of most appealing teams to watch us play against.
Point is I would expect more bigger crowds than reduced crowds for the rest of the season even if results dip and we get into a relegation scrap I don't see this team rolling over to cause crowds to give up and not come back. So on that basis probably no need to reduce the prices.
That's also before you have the debate about the board's investment in the team and raised season ticket prices.
It’s like hotel rooms - if you don’t fill them that revenue has gone.
But that said, it would be surprising if a club have much higher season ticket prices AND lower walk up prices than Charlton.
I am sure there's room for innovative match-day promotions, maybe yours is one of them, and specifically for the sections @Weegie Addick mentions, but based on comparison with those two clubs (and I guess we could ask Claude to do the job on the whole league to see where we rank) I don't see much wrong with our season ticket prices.
In addition to @Gribbo's comments about disposable income, and the need to compare one-off tickets as well as season tickets, I think another relevant variable is the number of choices of ways to spend said "spare" cash. I would argue London offers a far wider choice of leisure activities and venues than either Teesside or the Potteries, so the competition for casual uncommitted customers (as apposed to die-hard fans) is greater in Charlton than Middlesbrough or Stoke.
Yes, we should have prices as low as possible for every ticket in the ground.
Whilst I think it’s a better model to have lower ticket prices across the board like German sides tend too do, it would benefit us greatly too, Wembley showed their is a greater fanbase than what we saw yesterday, get those people in by slashing ticket prices as a way to have a cheaper day out than going elsewhere in south London or Kent, attendances and fanbase grows and we claw back fans who may of been disillusioned after such a rubbish last few years pre Jones
https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/pint-of-beer-prices-for-all-24-efl-championship-clubs-ranked/
Theres a huge discrepancy in our fan bases ages, so the older crew have probably done well and seen great house prices increase over the last 3 decades and the youger lot possibly still at home on lower paid jobs.