The Football News Thread 2014/15 - Everything not Wolves News Related

[Tony Towner]

Aye, should have thought about that.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there an NFL rule that states a game cannot be shown live on tele in the town it's taking place in unless it's a sell out?

 

[Alan]

The Blackout Rule, yes. Still, barring that, every game is televised.

 

[wanderer89]

Josie Barton has made himself available for England again after previously retiring from international football.

"After reviewing England's performance at the WC, I have decided to renounce my international retirement," he said.
"Having seen the standard, I believe it's possible. Having played at the level before I feel I am a better player now than when I was capped."

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Yeah, we don't need someone with the technical abilities of Ramires combined with the physical attributes of Javi Garcia and the discipline of Mario Balotelli, thanks all the same.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

The Blackout Rule, yes. Still, barring that, every game is televised.

But remember - we have 92 clubs. How much would say, Charlton lose off their gate every week if Chelsea and Arsenal could be watched every Saturday at 3pm?

It isn't just about Chelsea fans not going if Chelsea are on TV. Check Wolves' midweek gates when there's a big Champions League game on the same night.

 

[Alan]

But remember - we have 92 clubs. How much would say, Charlton lose off their gate every week if Chelsea and Arsenal could be watched every Saturday at 3pm?

It isn't just about Chelsea fans not going if Chelsea are on TV. Check Wolves' midweek gates when there's a big Champions League game on the same night.

No, you're definitely right. It just strikes me as odd in theory; there's almost certainly less interest over here (even by gross numbers) and MLS is hardly televised at all.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

That's really a cultural thing though, isn't it. Having never lived here then yes, I imagine it is tough for you to get your head around. But the norm has always been for NBA, MLB, NHL etc to be mass televised I think? If you grow up knowing that and you know no different...

Sky Deutschland televise every Bundesliga game live and they were doing that 12-13 years ago when I lived there. But then it isn't £40 to get into HSV's ground. It was, as I say, a fair while back but I was paying €10 to get into St Pauli every other week in the top flight and it isn't that much more expensive now, allowing for inflation it might even be cheaper these days.

In this country the fans suck it up and take it. It is wrong. But what can we do.

 

[Tony Towner]

When we were in the Prem, Jez reckoned that dodgy pub streams cost us 2500 fans per game. Personally I think the "entertainment" on the pitch coupled with the novelty of being in that league wearing off were more valid reasons and he used it as a smokescreen

http://www.expressandstar.com/sport...-blames-pub-tv-for-fall-in-wolves-attendance/

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Jez knows dick, as proven by him increasing walk up prices this season. Our ticketing approach is woefully lacking in imagination. It really annoys me.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I'd be interested in how Alan (as a complete outsider) would price match tickets. Both under the current system where 3pm Saturday kickoffs are uncontested, and in a system whereby all top flight games were televised.

For reference it's £23 now for a seat behind the goal at Molineux, for second tier football.

For all the bluster that we'll get 16-18k in for a friendly in a couple of weeks, we won't. If we average over 23k for the season I would be very surprised. Might well be a good deal lower than that.

 

[Tony Towner]

I think the Young Wolves membership scheme which gets you 3 free games, ticket cash and assorted club tat (but not seen like that when you are 6) is decent value for £17.50, as is a Season ticket for £23, although you need an adult with you to take advantage of that. So if you are U11 I think the deals are Ok, agree entirely with you above that and am angered that an adult ticket in the Family Enclosure has gone up by 20%

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Yes, I think we do a reasonable job (albeit appropriated many years on from other clubs who did it long before we did) of pricing for young fans.

However, without wishing to be a selfish knobrot about it, I am 33, am unlikely to ever have kids, and have been watching us for 26 years come August. I want to know what's in it for me, beyond being squeezed as hard as I can by Uncle Jez, which is not really on top of my agenda.

And of course I'm not even the issue, because I'll just pay it and bitch about it in the pub and on the internet (lucky you lot, hey ). What about the people who don't go because they resent being treated like that? Or worse still, simply can't afford to go because of that?

I said it on a thread when the increases were announced, we will get a MAXIMUM of £500-600k revenue over an entire year through putting these prices up by what might seem to them a nominal £3 here or there, but in percentage terms is a ludicrous increase for us to watch football at the same level we've been watching for most of the last 20+ years. This is a club that still receives nearly £10m a year off the Premier League for not being in the Premier League. They need to have a fucking word with themselves sometimes.

 

[Alan]

23 pounds is ~$40 if my math is right. That's ridiculously cheap by American standards. Having been to American football games in Bryant-Denny Stadium's nosebleeds (capacity 100,000+), those can run in the hundreds. When you start looking around the 50 yardline (considered the best seats), it can push $1000. Professional games aren't quite as bad but still usually more than $100 for the lowest standard seating.

In short, those prices sound very reasonable to me.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Isn't an NFL season 16 games though? So eight at home. We have 23.

So you need to multiply the match by match price somewhat.

 

[Tony Towner]

Isn't an NFL season 16 games though? So eight at home. We have 23.

So you need to multiply the match by match price somewhat.

and the number of teams in the league coupled with population, for example Houston has a population of 2.2m, Wolverhampton 250k (I appreciate both have surrounding conurbations, but you take my point.) The nearest professional team to Wolves is Walsall about 7 miles away. Houston's nearest NFL team I presume is Dallas at about 250.

 

[Alan]

Perhaps, but I'm not operating under the assumption that I'm going to every home match. Mostly because I could never dream of doing that for the NFL.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Remember as well that we have a 30,000+ stadium that we struggle to fill. And eventually we want to make it 40,000+. You would think we would want people to attend wherever possible.

 

[Alan]

It's a difficult thing to wrap my mind around, to be clear. I've never had to truly budget for such things.

 

[Alan]

Remember as well that we have a 30,000+ stadium that we struggle to fill. And eventually we want to make it 40,000+. You would think we would want people to attend wherever possible.

What price point would you suggest?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I'd have said £20 was reasonable. As it was last season. It's a round number, it's affordable enough. No need to put it up by 15% for some arbitrary reason. What's that £500k over a year paying for?

Like I say, I pay it anyway. I have nothing else to spend my money on, I lead a very simple, some would say joyless life. I am single, I have no dependents, I go out maybe twice a week and hardly go wild then, I haven't been on holiday since 2008, I don't smoke any more, I no longer drink in the house, I don't buy clothes to any great degree, I have literally no extravagant tastes. I spend most of my time watching sport, chatting shit on here, reading obscure books and trying to educate myself further. I earn more money than I can spend unless I suddenly decide to drastically change what I do (or decide for whatever reason to stop working). I am not someone affected by a ludicrous price rise. But plenty of people will be.