Ashton: I Wanted to Be Respectful to Fans on Season Ticket Prices
Friday, 24th Mar 2023 12:43

Town CEO Mark Ashton has outlined the thinking behind the season ticket prices, which were announced on Wednesday.

The cost of season tickets went up on average by around six per cent, £20 for a renewed adult seat, having been frozen for the previous two seasons.

Ashton says he and his staff looked at the club’s season ticketing in depth prior to this week's announcement.

“We’re picking up historically the way things have been run and we did a really big, deep dive into the cost of our ticket prices this year,” he told TWTD.

“It’s very easy to bundle everything together and just take an average price but actually you need to look at the blend and we have got a lot of categories, that’s probably the best way to describe them.

“Some of them, we felt the prices were strong, others when you compare them with the rest of the league and other clubs, not so strong.

“So, rather than throw them all into one mix and just put a price on everything, what we did was take the categories and broke them down and looked at what we felt the prices should be in those categories.

“And I think that’s averaging out at around six per cent. The rate of inflation is over 10 per cent, be under no illusion, our costs are going through the roof. The energy bills, the electric bills are through the roof.

“But I wanted to be respectful to the fans and say ‘Look, we are going to have to raise the prices but we also value what we’re doing and the way you’re supporting the club because we’ve broken every record in the books and in retail this year’.

“Whether it’s sponsorship, whether it’s hospitality, whether it’s travelling to away games, iFollow etc etc, we’re asking a lot of fans in a cost of living crisis and fans have just been fantastic.

“We felt that the six per cent average was fair and wasn’t over the top. I think what sums it up for me, and I think is really fair and we debated this long and hard, is that if we get back to the Championship, the prices are still two per cent lower than when we were relegated. That tells you something.

“I want to keep a packed Portman Road. I set a target of 18,000 season ticket holders this season. Within a gnat’s breath we’ve done that, it’s 17,970-something. We’re right on the cusp of the 18,000 and if you threw comps etc into it you’d be above it

“But if you look at the real number we’re bang on 18,000. When I said that to the staff at the start of the season, they thought I was mad.

“Have set a target for next season? We’re working that through now because it’s got to be realistic. It would be easy to say ‘I want 18,000 again’.

“We’re working through where we want to cap it and a natural cap feels around 20,000 to me with the stadium as it currently is because I think if you go anything really above 20,000 you’re really reducing the number of matchday tickets you’ve got to sell and you’ve got to be careful what you’ve got to offer for away fans.

“We’re working through that commercially because we’re setting the budgets now, but I think the pricing’s fair and I think it gives us an opportunity with the fans to pack out Portman Road again.”

Regarding capping season tickets at 20,000, he continued: “If you’re looking at it on a risk-to-reward perspective, you sell fewer season tickets because we charge more for matchday tickets than we do for season tickets, that’s the whole essence of being a season ticket holder - you’re locked in but you’ve got it at better value.

“It’s getting the blend right and we have to develop that next generation of supporters. Not everyone can afford a season ticket, some people need to pick and be selective with the games.

“It’s that blend that we’re trying to get right and there’s been a lot of debate. This isn’t a five-minute discussion, there’s been a lot of debate, a lot of analysis, a lot of benchmarking going on and I feel from what I’m hearing from staff about the fans’ reaction, it’s been fairly positive.”

The Mark Ashton Interview

Photo: Matchday Images

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BerksBlue15 added 12:55 - Mar 24 Presumably the price remains the same whichever league we're in. Personally I have no issue with this, and trust Ashton's maths. I daresay the club's expenditure has gone up more than 6%, so not like they're being greedy and just passing the extra onto the fans - they'll be getting hit hard in the pocket too. In Ashton and McKenna we trust.
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BerksBlue15 added 12:56 - Mar 24 Edit: scratch the comment about same price in both leagues. Just seen the other article linked. Apologies.
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Bert added 12:59 - Mar 24

There is a sensible logic and rationale to what Ashton has said. Every club wants bums on seats through season ticket purchases but lifestyle choices, work patterns and the cost of living means the club must make a reasonable proportion available for people who cannot commit to a ST or cannot afford to do so. Price promotions and benefits for ST holders have struck the right balance this year so no complaints from me. It will be interesting to see the accounts for this season as I would imagine the club did not budget for a revenue stream based on an average crowd in excess of 25,000. That said investment in the club will have added to our debt. The club is in safe hands. Well done.

AlanG296 added 13:54 - Mar 24 At this stage the priority must be to continue to grow the level of support and the pricing structure is appropriate to not impede the continuing growth in that support, whichever division we're in come August.
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Ipswichbusiness added 13:58 - Mar 24 Ticket pricing is not a simple matter. On the one hand the Club, quite properly, wants to maximise total revenue, which means not giving tickets away. On the other hand, the more seats it sells, the more chance of ancillary income (e.g. programmes, shirts, food, etc). Then there is income from ifollow and so on.
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Bazza8564 added 14:38 - Mar 24

Great to read this, and i love people's reactions, I'm 100% with you all.
The key thing for me is looking at the medium term. 25000 season tickets in a 37500 all seater stadium in 3-5 years time, the club pushing for a run at the PL again and the Evans era consigned to history.
I'm pretty confident we will get to 20k ST next season, because despite our possible potential not to go up this season, people get it, the youngsters are flooding in, the Dads on Facebook are talking about getting season tickets for their children for the first time, people will stick with McKenna because hes the real deal long term solution.
But im also interested to read about the rest of this interview, and how much Mark will tell us about his PR Blueprint and when we might see the capacity increase. WIth averages at 26k and away fans at PR probably only at 650, the home seats are filling up quickly.....

NthQldITFC added 15:08 - Mar 24 The average ticket price might have gone up by a modest and reasonable 6%; the quality of the product has gone up by many, many times that amount! King bargain.
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churchmans added 17:09 - Mar 24

No increase is a good thing if it cost the purchaser more!
But his explanation is spot on and I like the fact that the club are thinking of the people who probably thinking if they can afford it or not! And attracting younger(the future) supporter with unbelievably cheap prices for me us a WIN WIN for everybody!
I still harbour dreams of a European campaign within the next 5+ years lol! Great time to be a itfc fan after so many years of utter dog chit

BlueNomad added 17:55 - Mar 24 The fun I get from watching Town has increased by more than 6%!
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IpswichT62OldBoy added 18:12 - Mar 24 Churchmans, very true, once a fan always a fan, how else could you explain the fact we stuck with them. Hopefully future generations of Town fans will not have to suffer as we did.
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BurleysGloryDays added 21:48 - Mar 24 Keep going Mark! Let's get to 20k and start talking Stadium refurbs. New generations are tuning in already and older heads put off by the awful hoofball hiatus are coming back. Bringing McKenna in is the best decision at the club since the hallowed three of Alf, Bobby and George. Fantastic work.
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