“𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘣 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦… 𝘣𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳.”
In an interview posted to LinkedIn, Arsenal Chief Commercial Officer Juliet Slott explained he insights into the clubs commercial growth.
During the interview, she spoke about “putting supporters at the heart of everything the club do”. On paper, this is a spot on approach. It is recognition that the owners are custodians of the club, and those working do so in the interests of the fans, not the bank balance. But her interview was all smoke and mirrors.
For some time, I have thought the attack on away fans and the disastrous changes in home ticketing was all about having as many fans going to a single game as possible, rather than less fans going to lots of games.
We get around 40,000 away tickets during the course of a Premier League season. My feeling was the club want 40,000 fans to go to one game, not 4,000 fans going to 10+. And at home they want every single one of the 230,000 silver and red members going to one game, not 23,000 going to more than half.
In saying “w𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘣 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦”, Slott has basically proven my theory right.
Her goal is to have as many fans going to one game as possible, at the sacrifice of the 1000s that have regularly gone to more games. And under this philosphy the club will suffer.
Slott wants us to be like the LA Lakers a mate of mine said recently. And I think he is right.
By having lots of fans go to one game, the club can then hike up ticket prices. The theory being that people will pay £100+ a ticket and go 3 or 4 times a season, rather than spend the same £400 and go 10 times a season. This approach will double our gate receipt income.
But this can only happen once fans are conditioned that they will only go to a couple of games a season. They will then be grateful to get a ticket and will pay whatever it takes to go to their one or two games.
The average price for a ticket to the LA Lakers is $453. Most fans go to a single game and will travel from all over the world and happily pay that as part of their holiday. And that is what Slott is looking at.
But she does not seem to understand that football is very different to basketball.
To start with the Emirates is a 60,000 stadium. The LA Lakers arena is just 20,000. The bigger stadium increases the supply and reduces the demand.
Whilst the LA Lakers quite easily get 10,000 “one-off” fans each game, Arsenal would have to attract 40,000+, and I do not think the demand is there for 40,000 different fans to pay £100+ a game across 19 league home games a season.
The club see the 40,000 gold members, 30,000 silver members and 200,000 red members as some sort of golden egg. They seem to think that having 270,000 members would result in the stadium still selling out each week if they removed season tickets and doubled or trebled ticket prices. “55,000 of the 270,000 will go” will be the thinking. But it is just not true.
On average, 5,625 silver members are applying for games. That is less than 20% of all members. 29,000 of red members are also applying – around 14.5%.
Across both membership categories, just 15% are applying for games – a total of around 36,450. Add that to season ticket holders and we have around 76,000 actively trying to go to a game.
“76,000 is higher than 60,000, the demand is clearly there” will be the response. But that is the demand when tickets are, on average, £40 a ticket. Would that demand remain as strong when tickets get pumped up to £100 a ticket? No. And that is where the philosphy breaks down.
The LA Lakers can charge extortinate ticket prices because of the supply and demand, which has many influencing factors.
Firstly that small arena. Secondly, the lack of alternative options in LA also pushes the demand up.
LA has 2 NBA teams – the Lakers and the Clippers. The city has an ubran popultion of 12.2 million. Compare that to London which has an urban population of 9.7m.
There are 7 Premier League teams in London, 3 in then Championship and 4 in League’s One and Two. That is 14 teams – without even taking into account National league and below.
London has 1 professional football team for every 700,000 people. LA has 1 NBA team for every 6,000,000 people!
I think the American ownership of football clubs is “if we can get a Super League, we will increase the fan base”. In their mind, they want there to be just 2 or 3 professional clubs in London, and then they would get the similar ratio of fans to teams as in places like LA. But this again shows a lack of understanding of the tribalism in football.
If you had a European Super League (ESL) with Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham in it, you would not suddenly get fans of West Ham, Crystal Palace and QPR supporting one of the ESL teams. They would still support the club they do now, the club their parents supported and so on.
Football is ingrained in the psyche of people in this country. For many it is a generational thing.
The NBA is also the only decent basketball league in the world. Basketball fans across the globe will happily pay that ticket price to watch a single NBA game in their lifetime. Football is not the same.
You are not going to suddenly attract a fan from Germany to pay £100 a ticket to watch Arsenal v Burnley when they can watch their local team for £20. Same as Greece, Norway and more!
The Premier League might be a bigger brand than the NBA, but football teams have far much comeptition for fans both domestically and overseas in comparison to basketball.
Slott looking at the American model and thinking “this is what we can implement here” just shows a lack of understanding of our great game.
We already seeing the effects on the new philosphy in the ground.
There has certainly seen a drop in atmosphere this season due to the ballot, reduction in Ashburton Army allocation and other factors involving less tickets than ever going on general sale. And against Burnley there were plenty of empty seats despite it being a sell-out.
The issue is that whilst fans from around the world might fly in for Arsenal v Manchester United, they will likely stay away for Arsenal v Burnley. And then that is when we end up back to the aforementioned ESL.
They will be banking on Arsenal playing Barcelona, Real Madrid and Milan every season rather than Bournemouth, Luton and Sheffield United, and that having more “super games” will increase demand and as a result, they can increase ticket prices.
The clubs philosphy is not about putting supporters first. It is about trying to create a new way of following football that will see more fans going to less games, and ticket prices getting hiked up as a result.
And our management are not the only ones to share this view. Every top club across Europe also wants the same…
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 