Club budgets 2014

[gufc2000]

http://www.dundalkfc.com/2014-season-ticket-details/

Dundalk have announced season ticket and admission prices for the 2014 season. Ground ticket prices increasing by 50% to E15, and stand ticket prices increasing by 33% to E20.

If Dundalk can hold attendance levels, this should give the club the opportunity to increase the budget by around 40%.

€20 is a bit high at this day in age, €15 would be more than adequate. I appreciate ye want to increase the budget but that seems over-priced for a game.

Increasing prices isn't a big selling point for fans, expectations are going to be far higher from now on. No disrespect, but €20 to watch UCD & Bray isn't very appealing. You'll get the regulars but it'd be hard to attract the floating fans

[White Horse]

It makes sense to bring the minimum price up to €15 but €20 is too high for a lOI match. The old Drogs board tried to pull that one after we won the league and it did serious damage. Hopefully the Dundalk board see sense.

I agree. €20 is too high.

The season ticket prices for the stand are only going up by 5% to €200 but expecting a casual fan to pay €20 to see a LOI game is too much.

[Conroy]

What a balls up!

[oriel]

Season ticket general stand at €200 is great value.

€15 into ground, just ok

€20 into stand. Bad move.

[Ezeikial]

I don't know what Richie Towell or any other player is on, but from a clubs perspective €500 a week over 52 weeks is the same outlay as €650 over 40 weeks

That's right...
I don't understand your point, are you saying that a player on €650 would drop his wage to €500 pw on the condition that he got that amount for 52 weeks? Unlikely. It's much more likely that he'd want the €650pw for 52 weeks.

The point is very straightforward - it's the cost of the contract that impacts on the clubs budget, not whether it is 40 / 44 / 52 weeks

It wouldn't make sense from either the club or player's perspective to spread the same amount of money over 52 weeks when it can be transferred in 40 weeks. Of course if the offer is much higher than what he can get elsewhere, than it's not a problem.

While it makes little, if any difference to club, it can be significant to the player involved. In most cases the player would be better off drawing social welfare for 12 weeks and take up a 40 week contract. That said I know of some specific cases where the lower amount over the longer period was the player's preferred option

[Acer]

The point is very straightforward - it's the cost of the contract that impacts on the clubs budget, not whether it is 40 / 44 / 52 weeks

Of course.

While it makes little, if any difference to club, it can be significant to the player involved. In most cases the player would be better off drawing social welfare for 12 weeks and take up a 40 week contract. That said I know of some specific cases where the lower amount over the longer period was the player's preferred option

Exactly, that's my point. If Richie Towell (example) was offered €650 pw for 40 weeks, than it's highly unlikely that he'd opt for the €500 pw over 52 weeks. The 52 week wage would have to result in a much higher total to justify him not taking the amount over 40 weeks and, as you point out, claim the social welfare for the remaining 12 weeks. That's why changing to 52 week contracts impact so heavily on a club's budget because it obviously results in an increase in wages.

[Ezeikial]

Exactly, that's my point. If Richie Towell (example) was offered €650 pw for 40 weeks, than it's highly unlikely that he'd opt for the €500 pw over 52 weeks. The 52 week wage would have to result in a much higher total to justify him not taking the amount over 40 weeks and, as you point out, claim the social welfare for the remaining 12 weeks. That's why changing to 52 week contracts impact so heavily on a club's budget because it obviously results in an increase in wages.

You are making the dangerous assumption that all players are sensible and logical.

[Charlie Darwin]

While it makes little, if any difference to club, it can be significant to the player involved. In most cases the player would be better off drawing social welfare for 12 weeks and take up a 40 week contract. That said I know of some specific cases where the lower amount over the longer period was the player's preferred option

I'd imagine it makes a difference to the clubs too, as they'd be paying social insurance for 52 weeks rather than 40. It wouldn't be a huge amount of money in the grand scheme, but the margins are small in this league.

[Neish]

€20 is very steep. €15 should be the very most even that is a bit steep if an adult is bringing 2 or 3 kids to the game.

It will be very hard to attract new fans to the club if they are paying €20.

Harps increased price an adult terrace ticket from €10 - €15 a few years back and I saw many people turn and walk away when asked for €15

[nigel-harps1954]

Awful form from Dundalk to increase the prices so highly. Terrible prices. Can't imagine many neutrals wanting to pay 20 quid into a League of Ireland game. You'll get into many English Premier League grounds much cheaper.

[A face]

Awful form from Dundalk to increase the prices so highly. Terrible prices. Can't imagine many neutrals wanting to pay 20 quid into a League of Ireland game. You'll get into many English Premier League grounds much cheaper.

Agreed, €20 is just a non-runner for most clubs. You would have to question the value, and the problem is .... undecided fans wont tell you when they make their mind up, they just wont be there. And its too late at that stage.

[Yossarian]

Awful form from Dundalk to increase the prices so highly. Terrible prices. Can't imagine many neutrals wanting to pay 20 quid into a League of Ireland game. You'll get into many English Premier League grounds much cheaper.

I agree that €20 for the stand is too much but I'd love to know what English premier league ground you can get in to for less than €20.

[Ezeikial]

€20 is very steep. €15 should be the very most even that is a bit steep if an adult is bringing 2 or 3 kids to the game.

It will be very hard to attract new fans to the club if they are paying €20.

Harps increased price an adult terrace ticket from €10 - €15 a few years back and I saw many people turn and walk away when asked for €15

Although I think that the €20 Adult Stand price may be counter productive, it is worth remembering that €15 is the standard ground admission price.

An adult bringing 3 kids under 12 will either get free admission for the kids (if they are Junior Supporter Club Members) or will pay €5 each for them into the ground. Total cost for Family Group of 4 that you mentioned- either €15 to €30. (I pay €22 for 1 adult and 1 child in most grounds as a visiting fan)

It will be very hard to attract new fans to the club if they are paying €20.

On-pitch success is the no 1 attraction of new fans (although price is obviously an important factor)

[micls]

20 euro is madness. Even 15euro without access to the stand is high. Surely 15 euro is pricey enough to get into a stand in the LOI?

I think 15 euro is a bit high for us to go to, though I understand the reasoning, and that gains you entry into whichever stand you'd like.

[Mr A]

I agree that €20 for the stand is too much but I'd love to know what English premier league ground you can get in to for less than €20.

According to this from early this year: Newcastle at 15, while Wigan's cheapest ticket was 20. Edit: just realised those figures are obviously £ not €. So Newcastle is actually at ~€18 and Wigan at ~€24.

On the other hand you could get into any Bundesliga ground for less than €15. And most from Serie A.

[Dodge]

That's why changing to 52 week contracts impact so heavily on a club's budget because it obviously results in an increase in wages.

The biggest reason clubs don't offer many 52 weeks contracts is cash flow. Most clubs live week to week and, more specifically, game to game. With little income between November and March, they don't want to *have* to pay wages in that same time frame.

We all know it's not ideal and shows poor planning etc etc but it is what it is

[MiniMourinho]

I dont think it shows poor planning. I think it shows how poorly supported and thus financially succesful the league is. Clubs simply cannot afford to pay players when they cannot generate income themselves. The only way around it is for all players and staff to accept a lesser equivalent weekly salary and spread it over 52 weeks. But the problem is that because clubs have zero cash, they cannot afford to sign a contract for longer than 12 months because next year the budget might be massively slashed again and they cannot slash the salary of a player on a 2 year contract going into the second year. Hence, why would they sign a player for 52 weeks when after 40 weeks he wont be playing or providing a service to the club.

Very different scenario if you have 10,000 coming to games every week.

[oriel]

The prices announced by Dundalk can be dressed up as much as they like, the prices for the ST's in general are good value, most agree on that.

€20 into the stand is MADNESS.

I just hope the club will listen to fans on this.

[nigel-harps1954]

Sligo season ticket prices. Are they gearing up for 20 euro tickets too?

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Same prices as last season I'm pretty sure (certainly the aduly one is) except for the Gold ticket, which wasn't there last season, to enable people to have their own seat in the ground