Upping the attendance.

[Ian Royal]

Average attendence after 7 games 2010/11: 16,532
Average attendence after 7 games 2011/12: 17,382

Expect that to come down a bit after a big Saints crowd, obviously. I could understand the argument about ST renewals being higher than they would due to the play offs and deal, but that would explain why there had not been much of a drop in the crowds, not why there had been an increase.

[sandman]

Maybe we should the Getafe method. Better than putting up some posters at the station and it would work because there are a lot of w***ers on Hob Nob.


http://bcove.me/1dncitfj

[ZacNaloen]

Had some guys from Denmark sat next to me yesterday, not sure why they came to see Reading but all power to them

[Svlad Cjelli]

Had some guys from Denmark sat next to me yesterday, not sure why they came to see Reading but all power to them

Time nice but dim interviewed them on BBCRB afterwards and seemed a bit bemused that anyone non-partisan would be at the game.

[Royal Lady]

Had some guys from Denmark sat next to me yesterday, not sure why they came to see Reading but all power to them

Time nice but dim interviewed them on BBCRB afterwards and seemed a bit bemused that anyone non-partisan would be at the game.

Can't see why. If they were staying at the Madejski hotel, and were at a loose end on a Saturday, why wouldn't they take in an English football match on their doorstep?

[Svlad Cjelli]

Had some guys from Denmark sat next to me yesterday, not sure why they came to see Reading but all power to them

Time nice but dim interviewed them on BBCRB afterwards and seemed a bit bemused that anyone non-partisan would be at the game.

Can't see why. If they were staying at the Madejski hotel, and were at a loose end on a Saturday, why wouldn't they take in an English football match on their doorstep?

Exactly! And some people just enjoy watching football matches.

[Royal Lady]

Too true. I didn't hear Dellor - if I had, I'd have put him straight

[Svlad Cjelli]

Too true. I didn't hear Dellor - if I had, I'd have put him straight

Putting Dellor right on all the things he doesn't understand would be a full-time job.

[Ian Royal]

Too true. I didn't hear Dellor - if I had, I'd have put him straight

Putting Dellor right on all the things he doesn't understand would be a full-time job.

Can we start with teaching him what makes good commentary? Because it isn't chatting with Mick Gooding about his journey to games and what they did the night before.

[voyager1]

The economic conditions are making life difficult for all football teams outside the Premier League.

With rising fuel costs and poor wage rises (some cases, falling wages), people are having to watch what they spend and going to a football match can seem very expensive. All the football clubs near me - Luton, Watford & MK Dons - have seen attendances fall this season. Nottingham Forest couldn't fill their ground for their match against Derby and it seems the East Midlands clubs have seen falls in average attendances as well.

All of the above is out of the clubs control. The best way forward for any club is to recognise the difficult economic conditions and to do their bit to help - a starting point is by freezing the match day/season ticket prices. Not sure how Reading's season ticket prices have changed but the match day ticket prices for adults has been in the £22.50-£23.00 range for the past few years which is a good thing - compare with Watford who used to charge £22.50 in 2009 and now their ticket prices are £26.00.

If you put on special offers throughout the season, you run the risk of alienating the season ticket holders. If you designate 4 likely low attendance matches to be £10 specials then the season ticket holder will feel as though their season ticket has been devalued. You could give season ticket holders free guest tickets for these matches but no amount of special offers is going to solve the overall problem - economic conditions. You might get people flooding in for a £10 game but you won't see them again until the next £10 game.

As for luring new customers, I think the beauty of the club does that. The Madejski Stadium provides the nicest match day experience and this can be seen by the fact that people feel its safe to bring their children along.

For the Newcastle match in 2010, I brought a friend from Luton. She was accustomed to the conditions at Luton Town (having worked as a steward there previously). She was gobsmacked by the atmosphere at the Madejski Stadium and the fact there were loads of children about and little in the way of swearing (compared to what she experienced previously). She now regards Reading as her second team.

Unfortunately this post doesn't answer how to increase the average attendance - its very difficult in this economy.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

I think adverts would only work in certain circumstances.

Somebody in Wokingham who isn't really a Reading fan isn't likely to be tempted by an advert for Reading v Coventry.

He might, however, be tempted by one of the bigger games, like Saturday's, or Reading v West Ham etc.

They might, if they have kids, be tempted by a kids for a quid day, as they probably wouldn't know about it if they aren't a fan.

Other than that though, pretty useless.

[ZacNaloen]

Aren't they working on TV channels for localities?

So it won't be long before They'll be cheap crap adverts on local TV

[No Fixed Abode]

WHat about providing free transport to the ground from the town?

[melonhead]

Average attendence after 7 games 2010/11: 16,532
Average attendence after 7 games 2011/12: 17,382

Expect that to come down a bit after a big Saints crowd, obviously. I.

pretty sure wed have had a big game at that point in 2010/2011 too though*


*based on no research whatsoever

[melonhead]

Had some guys from Denmark sat next to me yesterday, not sure why they came to see Reading but all power to them

down the front of the north stand? saw them, they all had black and grey training jackets on, with footy club name on back, cant remember the club name though

tbf we do seem to get alot of football tourists in the north stand- lots of foreign clubs/sides get tickets in there

[Ian Royal]

Average attendence after 7 games 2010/11: 16,532
Average attendence after 7 games 2011/12: 17,382

I Expect that to come down a bit after a big Saints crowd, obviously.

pretty sure wed have had a big game at that point in 2010/2011 too though*


*based on no research whatsoever

Swansea 18.5k or Leeds at the end of November at 23.5k

Next two games up were 18k and 16k Cardiff & Norwich, and actually we should get fairly similar against Brum and Cardiff, if not higher seeing as Cardiff was a Wednesday last season.

[Friday's Legacy]

why not consider doing what newcastle are doing by offering reduced season tickets. queues out the door at st james' today. they want to push their avg gate of 46,000 to the capacity 52,000 and will likely do so now. credit where it's due.

[RoyalJames101]

http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~2493778,00.html

Royals season ticket holders can now buy up to two additional tickets for our clash with Peterborough next month for just £5 each!

As a reward to our loyal season ticket holders, we are offering these special discounted tickets for our important home game - a saving of up to £50 on two seats!

Brian McDermott's men take on Darren Ferguson's charges on Tuesday 29th November, kick off 8pm - looking to emulate our extraordinary 6-0 win at Madejski Stadium at the end of the 2009/10 campaign.

The offer applies to any match ticket category in any stand and will be available until 5pm on Monday 28th November. Tickets already purchased for our clash with the Posh can be refunded on request.

To take advantage of the offer call 0844 249 1871 or visit the ticket office in person - act quickly to secure the best possible seats.

Our season ticket holders have a number of benefits available to them, including £50 rooms in the Millennium Madejski Hotel, refunds on hospitality and more besides - see our Season Ticket Benefits page for details.

Good gesture from the club, hopefully this will get the attendance slightly higher than it would have been for the visit of mighty Peterborough

[Wycombe Royal]

http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~2493778,00.html

Royals season ticket holders can now buy up to two additional tickets for our clash with Peterborough next month for just £5 each!

As a reward to our loyal season ticket holders, we are offering these special discounted tickets for our important home game - a saving of up to £50 on two seats!

Brian McDermott's men take on Darren Ferguson's charges on Tuesday 29th November, kick off 8pm - looking to emulate our extraordinary 6-0 win at Madejski Stadium at the end of the 2009/10 campaign.

The offer applies to any match ticket category in any stand and will be available until 5pm on Monday 28th November. Tickets already purchased for our clash with the Posh can be refunded on request.

To take advantage of the offer call 0844 249 1871 or visit the ticket office in person - act quickly to secure the best possible seats.

Our season ticket holders have a number of benefits available to them, including £50 rooms in the Millennium Madejski Hotel, refunds on hospitality and more besides - see our Season Ticket Benefits page for details.

Good gesture from the club, hopefully this will get the attendance slightly higher than it would have been for the visit of mighty Peterborough

If it was a Saturday match I would have brought my two kids along for £5 each, but as its an evening fixture.......

[Royal Lady]

Now I really don't want to appear ungrateful - but if you've already bought a ST, then being able to buy tickets for a fiver for 2 friends/family members is surely helping them out, not the ST holder - so advertising it as if it's a good deal for ST holders is a tad wrong isn't it?