Not easy running a Rugby Club but its easy to criticise.

Lower prices giving bigger gates meaning more people to buy programmes, shirts, burgers etc. looks good but if the product on the field is poor and gates don't go up you have shot yourself in the foot.

Difficult balancing act. I think you are probably right at £17.00

its obvious that traditionally we have relied on season ticket sales to take us up to the start of the season, therefore the price of those is critical, and wil fluctuate based on what people judge to be value for money, the current squad coupled with performances last year has lessened this figure sustantially i would guess, the loan was the plan to cover this problem, the ground falls through, no loan, we're stuffed. All eggs in one basket simple, it has nothing do do with running a rugby club but has everything to do with running a business, and cash flow management, and yes its easy to criticise, very very easy.

While on the other hand lower prices mean more people and therefore more security and higher game staging costs.

So you probably need a tipping point of, say, 1,000 extra to provide the buffer of the cost of extra security. Surely the aim shouldn't be to screw as much cash from the smallest gate possible.

Health and Safety rules will dictate the number of stewards per head of spectators with someone somewhere making a judgement call on how many are expected.

Things like historical averages between two clubs, the form of both home and visiting teamsm the weather, the time of day, competing attractions etc...

The other consideration is the away support, are they going to be 'put off' from travelling because of an additional £2 - personally I don't think so; its more the facilities, which remain the same whether it's 20p or £20 entrance fee. If it is not going to deter away supporters then by reducing the gate price for a team that brings 3 or 4 thousand is not economic good sense. Also, the different colour 'memberships' does mean that WT supporters can buy tickets at a reduced rate whilst 'away' fans pay the full whack - which seems reasonable to me.

sorry I was talking about the friendly games. We have four in January which is a big ask for folk to fork out for straight after Christmas , especially for families. We want fans to get into the habit NOW of coming to Belle Vue so we need to get as many people as possible through the turnstiles early doors , so £12 adults and £5 kids seems reasonable , as Sandal says then they may have extra available to spend in shop , buy shirts and then wear shirts in town etc so rest of the City want to belong to our growing gang

I'm not sure the key to long-term survival is to rely on the occasional visit of 3 or 4 thousand away fans, because the effect of that is negated by the games against Catalan, Quins, Crusaders, Salford, Huddersfield. The key to survival is to get 3 or 4 thousand extra to every game. Pricing must go some way towards that.

Indeed and we were greedy last year asking forlk for £20 , setting it at £17 or £18 seems so much less that £20. The mere fact it was £20 last season put people off from day one the club then had to play catch up by offereing discounted tickets etc so why not start from a lower base to start with and of course make sure when folk come the players do their bit by at least competing . Its easy to say bring an extra person and then we serve up a 52 nil drubbing

it does make me laugh that they asking people who would not pay an extra £2 a week to watch a game to pay £1000 in 3 weeks not to bother!!
barmy, all of it

What about categorising games, a bit like some football teams do?
Leeds Wigan Saints- cat A £20
Cas Hoods Hulls Warrington- cat B £18
Bulls Catalan Salford- cat C £17
Quins Celtic- cat D £15

Now received the shareholders letter and the last paragraph is particularly galling, for those who have not received the letter it reads as follows :

"The question is are there 500 people out there who have the club at heart. Words are easy, actions are hard, we know we have stood up over the years and been counted. Right or wrong, good or bad, the decisions we have made have been right for the club, now its your chance. What does this club mean to you?"

TR, should hang his head in shame at putting his name to a document including this paragraph. Not only does it repeat the offensive suggestion that if you don't put up a grand you don't care, it jokingly tries to justify his and the fellow board members actions. How can bad decisions have been right for the club?

I wondered why the BOD had not apologised for the situation they have put the club in, now I realise, its because none of it is their fault. Its WDMC, RFL, the fans, basically anyone but them.

hardly churchill!!
would look great as a quote on a t-shirt though, ill look in to it

We already do, if you look at the silver membership that's how it works

I suggested it as a general pricing policy for all matchday tickets, not just for silver members.

Slugger, (I can't do the paste of your quote thingy) I'm in agreement with you regarding pricing being an important aspect of trying to attract additional fans, but my concern is the protection of the revenue we already get. We can't take the risk of reducing the gate price because we don't have a wealthy backer ala the Wire and Huddersfield (I think this is where we started) for if the new strategy fails - this would put us even deeper in the 'brown stuff'.
However I think the club do go someway towards your point of view with the membership scheme (silver?) costs £30 up front and the ground admission to the games versus Catalans, the Welsh club, Quins and Salford is £10, with reduced admission also for the Hudds game.
(PS Don't quote me on the exact detail because I'm going from memory and at my age ..... ). However I'm in agreement that the marketing of the schemes could have been better as there was confusing detail and I can't find it on the official website!

I'm literally speechless...

look
we have sold approx 500 season tickets on the back of the worst collapse of a season in memory

you could have made them 100 quid each with a free kebab and it would have made no difference to our current plight

the fans were not there at theend of last season, this years squad is not as good..........therefore no upfront cash...QED

It does go some way to explaining though why with Ted at the helm, we don't appear to have paid a tax bill on time for years. He obviously lives in a different world to the rest of us.

Not worded very well is it, will do more harm than good.

I'll not offer any excuses for the wording on the letter and I'm anything but an appologist for the current board but we need to keep sight of the fact that the share offer is a method by which we can safeguard the future of OUR club.

I know its hard but we have to be able to seperate Ted and the board from Wakefield Trinity they are not one and the same. Every fan or potential investor has a right to ask questions and if its a question you need answering before feeling confident enougth to back the share scheme then ask away.

If the money isn't raised by Jan 31st will we go into admin, fact?

clan
genuine respect for you as i hope you know, but the questions are already out there, you yourself have put them very simply as about 4/5 points, and yet almost a week on.....nothing.

and on a couple of points you are incorrect
1 at this point it is not an investment, even the letter to shareholders more or less says that.
2 at this point ted and the board own wtrlc so they are one and the same, especially with regards to debt, owed money, the sale of the ground and any proceeds from further payment from that sale.
please dont think im having a dig and ill return to crap jokes soon, but stand back for a minute as i did and ask if this wasnt a club i loved, would i give a penny??

In terms of what the share offer is intended for I don't think they are, the money will not help Ted & the BoD in any way shape or form unless you include (aiding and abetting their escape) getting them out, It will however help WTRLFC to survive and recover.

I agree Slugger with reducing prices you could just end up reducing revenues with no extra fans.
Re memberships on the websites there is a big button in the top right that says memberships, details are here