8,000 and rising and OSPREYS news Update

First topic message reminder :

New news update........

Hooker targeting more Ospreys action- http://www.ospreysrugby.com/news/5451.php

Internationals return to work at Llandarcy- http://www.ospreysrugby.com/news/5450.php

Relive the end of season PRO12 drama with our fantastic CH4MPIONS DVD- http://www.ospreysrugby.com/news/5453.php

If the Ospreys have "sold" 6000 ST's how many BOGOF free ST have been issued with the sold 6000 ST at £165 each, 2000, 3000, etc up to 6000 and are the up to 4 children seats allocated? If the seats are allocated, there could be one paying ST holder and 5 seats empty if the nominated supporters don't turn up, also the stadium only has a 20K capacity! If the children are limited to a relative small number in the say a family area, this offer would make some sense.

It should be noted (if it hasn't already) that these memberships are part of the "early bird" offer. The BOGOF etc won't be continuing once the early bird offer ends on Monday (11th June).

glamorganalun wrote:If the Ospreys have "sold" 6000 ST's how many BOGOF free ST have been issued with the sold 6000 ST at £165 each, 2000, 3000, etc up to 6000 and are the up to 4 children seats allocated? If the seats are allocated, there could be one paying ST holder and 5 seats empty if the nominated supporters don't turn up, also the stadium only has a 20K capacity! If the children are limited to a relative small number in the say a family area, this offer would make some sense.

Read my earlier post, where it was explained.

Cari wrote:It should be noted (if it hasn't already) that these memberships are part of the "early bird" offer. The BOGOF etc won't be continuing once the early bird offer ends on Monday (11th June).

It says on the website that the early bird £20 discount offer ends on 11 June, not the bogof deal itself, unless i've missed it.

"Do you offer an Earlybird Discount?
An Earlybird Discount (from £20, category of membership dependent) will be given to that of the regular season ticket price for all existing, new or renewing members who complete their purchase before Monday 11th June, 5.00pm."

The Blues have sold 4500 season tickets as of last Thursday apparently.

Pretty good going without any offers on this year.

Has anyone got any official figures of season ticket sales for all our regions ? I would be very interested to see where they are all at so far at this early stage.

LordDowlais wrote:Has anyone got any official figures of season ticket sales for all our regions ? I would be very interested to see where they are all at so far at this early stage.

I doubt there would be any official figures released until towards the start of the season

wales606 wrote:The Blues have sold 4500 season tickets as of last Thursday apparently.

Pretty good going without any offers on this year.

That's twice as many as the Ospreys. Or half as many, depending on how you count. And how you define 'sold'.

Season tickets have never been so interesting. Or complicated.

The Ospreys have now soared well past the 7,000 mark now. Someone on the Ospreys forum asked the ticket office and he was told their selling 300 ish a day. I can't verify that number obviously but it's fantastic for us if it is true.

Latest news the Ospreys have powered through the 8,000 mark for next season!

Shifty wrote:Latest news the Ospreys have powered through the 8,000 mark for next season!

So, is that, cash has actually changed hands on 4,000 tickets?

P.s. How did you change your name to "Shifty"?

Well done to the ospreys

As I stated on another thread, the HC draw should help sell even more season tickets, what better than the best French and English sides in the HC.

i'm wondering why people are struggling to get their heads around this number.

8000 people bought a season ticket, so if everyone who bought a season ticket turned up, along with the friend who got a free ticket (not bought, since it's a freebie) that's 16,000 seats filled.

QuickBall wrote:i'm wondering why people are struggling to get their heads around this number.

8000 people bought a season ticket, so if everyone who bought a season ticket turned up, along with the friend who got a free ticket (not bought, since it's a freebie) that's 16,000 seats filled.

That does depend on the way in which the announcement http:

Spoiler:

is interpreted, Quickball.

Readings between the lines

The unprecedented response to this season's membership packages has seen the previous record membership figure of 5,493 smashed two weeks ago, with the 8,000 mark reached in just seven weeks and two days and with almost three months remaining until the 2012/13 RaboDirect PRO12 season gets underway.

I find it difficult to interpret whether he suggestion is 8000 additional sales or 4000 bogofs.

In terms of finance (at quoted standard prices of £165) that is the difference between £660,000 and £1,320,000 and that relevance is to be set alongside the salary cap. Confusion and/or duplicity reigns.

QuickBall wrote:i'm wondering why people are struggling to get their heads around this number.

8000 people bought a season ticket, so if everyone who bought a season ticket turned up, along with the friend who got a free ticket (not bought, since it's a freebie) that's 16,000 seats filled.

It was clarified on the Ospreys forum some weeks ago by the moderator. The figure refers to the total number of memberships "shifted" which includes those who have paid full price plus those who have been given free membership.

Also, this indicates that the moderator is correct;
"we're all looking forward to seeing all 8,000 members welcoming the team to the field on the first home game."

http://www.ospreysrugby.com/news/5380.php

glamorganalun wrote:As I stated on another thread, the HC draw should help sell even more season tickets, what better than the best French and English sides in the HC.

Yes indeed and £85 for 3 HEC pool games and the 3 Rabo, all-Welsh encounters is in itself very good value.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

QuickBall wrote:i'm wondering why people are struggling to get their heads around this number.

8000 people bought a season ticket, so if everyone who bought a season ticket turned up, along with the friend who got a free ticket (not bought, since it's a freebie) that's 16,000 seats filled.

It was clarified on the Ospreys forum some weeks ago by the moderator. The figure refers to the total number of memberships "shifted" which includes those who have paid full price plus those who have been given free membership.

Also, this indicates that the moderator is correct;
"we're all looking forward to seeing all 8,000 members welcoming the team to the field on the first home game."

http://www.ospreysrugby.com/news/5380.php

cheers for the clarification.

Good crowds for the Ospreys next season then. Perhaps this will then encourage other fans of other regions to show willing and not be outdone by the Ospreys.

I think the title needs changing to 8000 - and they aren't stopping.

Updated now. And still great news

Of course the problem is that all the fans who would buy the odd ticket for a game won't if they get one of the BOGOF tickets but neither have they got the incentive to go to more games because they didn't pay for their ticket. It'll be interesting to see if the more season tickets are sold (so twice as many shifted as were sold last year) and whether the attendances are up or down. It may be tricky to find out exactly if this is true or not as no doubt they'll report as season ticket holders as in attendance even if they're not. Good way to artificially inflate the official records. It could even turn out to be a piece of marketing genius. We can wait and see I suppose.

I probably would have got one if I was still living in Swansea and then given the free one to my in-law to come along to the odd game.

This BOGOF scheme sounds like tremendous value for the fans, but what effect will it really have for the club? Presumably the thinking is merchandise and drinks/food sales will increase? Perhaps in the longer-term the main benefit will be retaining some of the free-riders as members

So what you are actually all getting so excited about is that if you make something very cheap then people buy it. It will be good for attendances this year and hopefully grows the crowd and support for future years.

justified sinner wrote:So what you are actually all getting so excited about is that if you make something very cheap then people buy it. It will be good for attendances this year and hopefully grows the crowd and support for future years.

Yes that is about the jist of it. Also, think of the extra revenue gained in match day programes, murchandise and beverages and food.

Sounds to me like if you have the space to accommodate such a scheme in your stadium, then it could work really well

Lets be fair whether the season tickets were sold for 5p each and free to anyone under the age of 90 and over the age of 1, the fact of hte matter is the Ospreys have 8,000+ people who have signed up to try and regularly attend their matches this season. Seeing as their average attendance last season (which includes away fans) was less than this then I think it is a fairly significant thing, and the Ospreys and their fans should be proud of reaching such a figure this early in the off-season.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Lets be fair whether the season tickets were sold for 5p each and free to anyone under the age of 90 and over the age of 1, the fact of hte matter is the Ospreys have 8,000+ people who have signed up to try and regularly attend their matches this season. Seeing as their average attendance last season (which includes away fans) was less than this then I think it is a fairly significant thing, and the Ospreys and their fans should be proud of reaching such a figure this early in the off-season.

How much of this extra interest do you think has come from the Ospreys new philosophy of playing more local home grown players ? It seems that more people want to see the up and comming tallent rather than the galacticos they had.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Lets be fair whether the season tickets were sold for 5p each and free to anyone under the age of 90 and over the age of 1, the fact of hte matter is the Ospreys have 8,000+ people who have signed up to try and regularly attend their matches this season. Seeing as their average attendance last season (which includes away fans) was less than this then I think it is a fairly significant thing, and the Ospreys and their fans should be proud of reaching such a figure this early in the off-season.

Another fact of the matter is that the Ospreys need the cash up front as they still face a winding up order in the high court, adjourned until 30 July, regarding unpaid tax.
By all means Os fans should look forward to larger attendances next season, but the financial matters are worrying.
Been there and done it with Cardiff Blues.

LordDowlais wrote:

How much of this extra interest do you think has come from the Ospreys new philosophy of playing more local home grown players ? It seems that more people want to see the up and comming tallent rather than the galacticos they had.

I would have thought the extra interest is due to the great offers and them winning the league.

There definately seems to be more positivity with the Ospreys - just like what happened with the Scarlets (even though we weren't winning) with a combination of more attacking/exciting rugby and local young talent being given it's head.

It'll all create a much better atmosphere and get people through the turnstyle - meaning more fairweather fans will come down as well.

Dave - I know the Ospreys (and us all really) are having money troubles and that doing cheapy deals on tickets is not ideal as such (after all 8,00 tickets at £500 a pop would be far better) but just getting the interest generated around the region is a good step. However with a larger amount of season tickets sold, in theory, there should be a larger amount of shirts, programmes, beers, food, and general knick-knacks sold. Also the atmosphere should improve, and with that the number of casual fans attending should rise too. So hopefully that will help drive up the revenues.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Dave - I know the Ospreys (and us all really) are having money troubles and that doing cheapy deals on tickets is not ideal as such (after all 8,00 tickets at £500 a pop would be far better) but just getting the interest generated around the region is a good step. However with a larger amount of season tickets sold, in theory, there should be a larger amount of shirts, programmes, beers, food, and general knick-knacks sold. Also the atmosphere should improve, and with that the number of casual fans attending should rise too. So hopefully that will help drive up the revenues.

I hope it does work out for the Ospreys. We'll have to wait and see I suppose.

The Ospreys and Scarlets are doing some good work on getting fans in and being creative with ticket packages which is good stuff.

The Blues and Dragons need to buck their ideas up.

The Blues seem to have a "this is the price take it or leave it" attitude.

In fact I don't know who is maintaining their website but it is a mess. They are still advertising season tickets for 2011/12 and tickets for the HC quarter final in April. And if you click on the advertisement for the current year it takes you to the club shop where there are no tickets on sale and most of the merchandise is out of stock anyway.

Shambles.

doctornickolas wrote:The Ospreys and Scarlets are doing some good work on getting fans in and being creative with ticket packages which is good stuff.

The Blues and Dragons need to buck their ideas up.

The Blues seem to have a "this is the price take it or leave it" attitude.

Maybe because they are playing at a smaller stadium and are broke - without the discounts the O's have made they have still SOLD more tickets than them. They have made more money than the O's which is what they desperately need.

Maybe that's their 'idea', not to go bust?

doctornickolas wrote:The Ospreys and Scarlets are doing some good work on getting fans in and being creative with ticket packages which is good stuff.

The Blues and Dragons need to buck their ideas up.

The Blues seem to have a "this is the price take it or leave it" attitude.

In fact I don't know who is maintaining their website but it is a mess. They are still advertising season tickets for 2011/12 and tickets for the HC quarter final in April. And if you click on the advertisement for the current year it takes you to the club shop where there are no tickets on sale and most of the merchandise is out of stock anyway.

Shambles.

If Cardiff Blues are able to sell enough season tickets at full price then why should they put on offers when they don't have to? They need the cash if you hadn't noticed and £180 for a terrace ticket is only £20 more than what is was around 6 years ago.
Also, the website is no doubt being overhauled since there are many references to CCS and the contact details are incorrect in many cases. I should add though that their website has always been a bit rubbish.

wales606 wrote:

doctornickolas wrote:The Ospreys and Scarlets are doing some good work on getting fans in and being creative with ticket packages which is good stuff.

The Blues and Dragons need to buck their ideas up.

The Blues seem to have a "this is the price take it or leave it" attitude.

Maybe because they are playing at a smaller stadium and are broke - without the discounts the O's have made they have still SOLD more tickets than them. They have made more money than the O's which is what they desperately need.

Maybe that's their 'idea', not to go bust?

Indeed and look what happened when Cardiff Blues tried freebies, bogofs and all kinds of other deals - average attendances at CCS were reportedly up, but they still lost a shed load of cash.

Connacht have been doing something similar for the past year or two. Their attendances have almost tripled I think.

Its a good long term strategy. Firstly, just get the fans in the door! There'll be a bit of an atmosphere there at last and fans like that. They'll want to come back and once they get into the habit of going to matches and demand goes up, then prices will be increased.

Its a win win for everyone.

profitius wrote:Connacht have been doing something similar for the past year or two. Their attendances have almost tripled I think.

Its a good long term strategy. Firstly, just get the fans in the door! There'll be a bit of an atmosphere there at last and fans like that. They'll want to come back and once they get into the habit of going to matches and demand goes up, then prices will be increased.

Its a win win for everyone.

Basically it is just like pushing drugs get people to try it with cheap deals, and ideally whilst they are yound, and then when they are hooked rack up the price!

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

profitius wrote:Connacht have been doing something similar for the past year or two. Their attendances have almost tripled I think.

Its a good long term strategy. Firstly, just get the fans in the door! There'll be a bit of an atmosphere there at last and fans like that. They'll want to come back and once they get into the habit of going to matches and demand goes up, then prices will be increased.

Its a win win for everyone.

Basically it is just like pushing drugs get people to try it with cheap deals, and ideally whilst they are yound, and then when they are hooked rack up the price!

Spot on!

Yup worked for the cigarette companies as well!

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Yup worked for the cigarette companies as well!

I had that in there to begin with, and then thought I can't remember a time when smoking was a cheap hobby.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Yup worked for the cigarette companies as well!

I had that in there to begin with, and then thought I can't remember a time when smoking was a cheap hobby.

Probably not in our lifetime but when the big American tobacco companies (and British American Tobacco) took over from all the national producers (around late 1800s I think) they did it with cheap cigarettes loaded with really strong, highly addictive nicotine, then once everyone was buying their brand and the smaller, local firms had gone bust, they increased the price and reduced the strength until you have todays hugely expensive cigarettes filled with powder dry tobacco and huge amounts of chemicals and preservitives.

Still could be better for your health than watching the Scarlets strangle a loss/draw out of an winnable game against Munster/Ulster again!

People still whinging then? First we endure the repeated complaints about inflated ticket prices. Now that there's something of a bargain going on, all I've seen is people moaning about ploys etc. How about enjoying it while it's around? And when they do go back up start a brand new boycott and show them who's boss. That's ultimately how things are going to happen.

Fans vote with their feet and those feet have been walking away from the Liberty for a few seasons. None of them stopped being Ospreys fans but a mixture of the region not playing their best players because of Welsh commitments and the poor, boring tactics played by the region have turned fans off going to see games, hence attendences plummeted.

The departure of Johnson, the hope Tandy has given us and the basic admission of the Ospreys board that they have made a lot of mistakes have started to build bridges with the fans again. There havent actually been many "FREE" fans because it's pretty much accepted that most fans have simply asked a friend who might of been interested in going to see themto go halves on their ticket. So instead of paying £165 like normal, they have gone half each so £82.50 instead.

Children are free of course but they are at most region, the Dragons let in children free and I think the Scarlets do also. So they are not doing anything anyone else is not doing.

What they are doing is making themselves cheaper to see, and trying to promote themselves within their region, which is something a several of the other regions might do well to copy. One of the biggest problems is fans can see nearly every Ospreys game on tv for free, so the Ospreys have realised if they want bums on seats they have to pretty much let everyone in free. If every Swansea FC game was on teresstrial tv for nothing would they still get full capacity crowds all the time? Probably not!

Where are they at at now ?

Shifty wrote:What they are doing is making themselves cheaper to see, and trying to promote themselves within their region, which is something a several of the other regions might do well to copy. One of the biggest problems is fans can see nearly every Ospreys game on tv for free, so the Ospreys have realised if they want bums on seats they have to pretty much let everyone in free. If every Swansea FC game was on teresstrial tv for nothing would they still get full capacity crowds all the time? Probably not!

I got to agree with you on the TV thing. It would be better IMO if Scrum V/Clwb Rygbi shown the regions that are playing away on the TV, and the Welsh Derby matches (as they tend to sell out). That way the genuine fans who turn up week in week out are able to see all/most their sides matches, those who put off attending becasue the matches are on TV will more likely attend, and those who only have rugby on as it is better than watching the soaps and can sit and watch rugby. That way everyone wins.

Free Newport GD shirt offer;

"Right here are the rules for the shirt deal:

1. it's the away (white) shirt

2. You have to have been a season ticket holder last season to recommend a friend

3. Your friend can't have been a season ticket holder last season (but if they have been in previous seasons that's fine)

4. your friend must be over 16 (no juniors I'm afraid) but adults and all other concessions are fine.

5. The tickets can be anywhere in the ground and don't have to be together (in case you don't actually like your friend Wink )

6. You don't have to buy at the same time. If your friend buys a season ticket they just have to give your name and enough information to identify you (usually first line of your address) and we will link them back to you. So if you've already renewed you have not missed the boat.

7. You can recommend as many as you like (if you recommend 10 friends, you get 10 shirts)

8. The shirt will be given to the person recommending, not the friend. Obviously if you already have a shirt and want to give it to them you can order in their size and pass it on but the promotion is with you and not your friend.

9. The friend can live at the same address as and be related to you.

10. It's a season ticket offer so hospitality packages don't apply i.e. box holders or Business Club members."

http://www.draggedup.co.uk/chat/viewtopic.php?t=4169

Sounds like a decent deal and if nothing else should increase the number of Dragons shirts seen around the area, which should have some intangible benefits.

I had a letter through the post from the Chris Brown of the Dragons, since I'd purchased some tickets from their box office they were asking me to buy a season ticket, giving a list of prices and deals.

It's very good value to be honest, £99 for 16 home games plus a booklet of complementary tickets to give to friends and offers for the club shop and from some of the sponsors. Also a season tickets only £10 for u16s (not as good as the Ospreys free, but almost as good).

If the Scarlets didn't exist then I'd be tempted to buy a season ticket just to see some pro rugby...

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Sounds like a decent deal and if nothing else should increase the number of Dragons shirts seen around the area, which should have some intangible benefits.

Eh?
All they are offering is last season's second jersey that obviously wasn't popular at the time. If people didn't want it then, why should they desire it now?