Thanks everyone for the comments and feedback.
Just to absolutely clarify the process we’ve been through and give some context from club:
We have seen a period of rapid growth, both in GA season ticket holders (including demand) and in Hospitality. The club is trying to ensure it can grow in line with demand, in order to generate more income which in turn get’s put into the football budget so we can compete in the Championship. We recently published our 5 year mission to become a sustainable Championship Club with Premier League aspirations. With this in mind, we have to be innovative in generating income but also maximise our existing streams.
While there is appetite to build more seats, this takes time and planning and in the meantime we are ensuring that we can continue to compete financially in this league.
All of the above being said, we do understand that this is an emotive subject and also that for those it impacts it’s an unwelcome change.
My team started working on this a month ago, and one of the important considerations was to ensure that whatever we did, we made sure the least amount of people were impacted. We reviewed a number of options and looked at the specific type of ticket holders in each area. The option we have adopted will mean some season ticket holders are displaced, but also Commercial season ticket holders are too.
The team are absolutely committed to making sure that every person impacted is found the best possible solution, hence the early engagement prior to season tickets going on sale and two dedicated members of staff have been allocated the role of speaking to everyone individually and talking through options. We also acknowledge that it would be shortsighted of us to view everyone through one lens. We therefore wanted the engagement via phone calls to capture any specific information we may not already be aware of so we can take this into consideration.
It’s fair to say that despite what many may think, lots of the Hospitality guests we have are regular guests that have been attending Home Park for a long time too. Some of these have been season ticket holders and traded up recently to Hospitality packages.
I want to assure everyone that while all of our decision making includes many aspects, one important consideration is keeping aligned with our community value. We, of course, have to weigh up the commercials, but even where a commercial decision is made we go through a process to ensure we mitigate any risks and also we do our best to offset any risks/concerns or at at least minimise them.
Thanks all.
CK