The Cost of Football

I am right, but I never shouted it out. The club are progressively offering less for more. We are progressively getting to witnessing a reduction in demand as people zoom up a waiting list - I moved up over 7000 places in a year and couldn't bring myself to pay 1400£ for a ST. Eventually this continuing gouging of fans is going to bite them in the ass because the point will come where demand fails to match supply.

If you want to talk about it in strictly business terms, history is littered with seemingly unassailable companies disappearing into oblivion because they did not listen to their customers. The longer this goes on, the more likely it is to happen.

All it will take is for Chelsea to build a new stadium with a better corporate suite and a better complimentary vintage champagne. When you lose touch with the real fans and start courting the corporate weasels you'd better have the best package in town or they are gone. These guys aren't turning up out of loyalty, they're turning up for the comfy seats.

I thought it was to attend GW meets.

it wasn't directed at anyone specifically, just my general thoughts on the state of the game and a response to the thread.

I'm right I'm right I'm right.

I am right!

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Originally Posted by GB.

If you want to talk about it in strictly business terms, history is littered with seemingly unassailable companies disappearing into oblivion because they did not listen to their customers. The longer this goes on, the more likely it is to happen.

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There is a difference though and that's the principle of a club having fans which most businesses don't.
I might like a certain company's products but if they keep upping the price for increasingly shoddy stuff then at some point I'm going to go elsewhere.
You're an Arsenal fan, you can't go elsewhere.
You can not go at all of course but right now there are enough people out there still willing to go. How long that persists of course remains to be seen. A trophy in the next couple of years and the mood will change.

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Originally Posted by Letters (TPFKA WWTL@WHL)

There is a difference though and that's the principle of a club having fans which most businesses don't.
I might like a certain company's products but if they keep upping the price for increasingly shoddy stuff then at some point I'm going to go elsewhere.
You're an Arsenal fan, you can't go elsewhere.
You can not go at all of course but right now there are enough people out there still willing to go. How long that persists of course remains to be seen. A trophy in the next couple of years and the mood will change.

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A point I made earlier, but I offered a strictly business answer to someone who wants to talk in a strictly business sense.

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Originally Posted by GB.

A point I made earlier, but I offered a strictly business answer to someone who wants to talk in a strictly business sense.

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Don't see what is so difficult to understand here, TBH. A club may have captive fans, but it doesn't prevent it from being subject to the rules of supply and demand on some level, which Arsenal is.

The way you talk you would think that football as a whole doesn't exploit its fan base - only AFC does. That's bollix, as you well know. Football sold its soul years ago, and if AFC wasn't trying to maximise its profits it would be regarded as commercially naive - in fact that's exactly what many were saying before we finally gave in to the lucrative pre-season tour model.

...and FWIW I disagree with Letters' point:

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You're an Arsenal fan, you can't go elsewhere.

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If as an Arsenal fan you don't like ticket prices, you can stay at home. If you don't like the food or drink prices, eat/drink outside the ground.

I'm not sure how you managed to disagree with me while repeating what I said.
Yes, you have the option not to go. But the point is that while Arsenal (and other clubs) are run along business lines the nature of support means their 'customers' are far more loyal than those of most companies.
It also means that although they can use that loyalty to maximise profits, they probably shouldn't.
And I don't think gary has said anywhere that Arsenal are unique in exploiting their fans.

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Originally Posted by Letters (TPFKA WWTL@WHL)

I'm not sure how you managed to disagree with me while repeating what I said.
Yes, you have the option not to go. But the point is that while Arsenal (and other clubs) are run along business lines the nature of support means their 'customers' are far more loyal than those of most companies.
It also means that although they can use that loyalty to maximise profits, they probably shouldn't.
And I don't think gary has said anywhere that Arsenal are unique in exploiting their fans.

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Gary has suggested that my arguments about Arsenal are not based on business principles. I am merely responding that - captive fans or not - it is subject to the most basic of business principles - supply and demand.

He doesn't suggest expressly that Arsenal are unique, but if we are going to slag off our club, the least we can do is to do so in the context of the fact that AFC is merely a satellite in a wider world of football's commercialism. Noone has responded to my poit that if the club didn't do so it would be slagged off for being naive and not maximising its business revenue.

And I don't understand you when you say that I am disagreeing with you while repeating what you said. You say they can't go elsewhere. I say of course they can - they can either stay at home or choose to go to tthe match but avoid the food outlets.