The incredible approval ratings for the new stadium could be taken as indicating that the long conversation over ticket pricing has finally been settled. Our survey results suggest taking that view would be foolish at best.
The survey is now in its sixth year, and over 4,300 fans contributed, making it the largest regular survey of fan opinion at Spurs.
The survey is now in its sixth year, and over 4,300 fans contributed, making it the largest regular survey of fan opinion at Spurs.
Ticketing remains an area of work seen as a top priority by everyone who filled in the survey. Unsurprisingly, the higher the price of the ticket, the more dissatisfied fans were. The Club has said it does not believe price affects demand – prompting the question of why it has to push the prices up so much, perhaps – but levels of dissatisfaction of around 40% would tell a prescient board that there may be trouble ahead, particularly if performances on the pitch dip.
We’ll continue to make this point, and to emphasise the high levels of dissatisfaction with the removal of the two cup credits from the Season Ticket package (83%). We will certainly be arguing strongly for the Club to offer discounted package tickets for Champions League group games, something backed by the vast majority of those who responded (86%).
The fans who filled in our survey were from across the spread of membership types at Spurs, and we were particularly interested in getting the view of One Hotspur members at a time of great change for them. Of those who responded, the vast majority had renewed their membership (93%). But there are some important trends underneath this top line that we will be urging the Club to take seriously.
While only a small proportion did not renew, just over 1 in 4 of those who didn’t said they could no longer see the value of membership. Even among those who renewed, only just over half felt their membership was value for money, with over a third expressly disagreeing that they had value for money.
One Hotspur membership
It’s easy to see why when we look at the reason why people said they took out One Hotspur memberships. A staggering 93% said it was to get access to match tickets. We have been telling the Club it needs to define its membership proposition much more precisely, and this underlines the need to do so. Because the fact is that, with roughly 8,000 tickets available to members for any given game, being in a club with over 100,000 other members trying to get the same thing is going to lead to a lot of disappointed members. We continue to question why the Club is selling memberships on the basis this will bring access to tickets.
When we asked One Hotspur members if they would take up a Season Ticket if offered one, 42% said yes and 49% said no, with 64% saying price would be the biggest influencing factor. Again, this underlines the importance of price despite the Club’s refusal to concede this is the case.
Nearly half (47%) of our respondents said they were dissatisfied with Ticketmaster, underlining why we urged the Club not to bring in a potentially problematic new ticketing system until an improved system was in place. The satisfaction rate with the Ticket Office itself was 58%, which is good considering the sheer volume and complexity of the ticketing operation in the past 12 months.
The new Spurs app is being taking up by a large proportion of fans (74%), and the Ticket Exchange and Ticket Share (73%) options are very popular. Some work needs to be done on raising awareness of Share and how to use it.
Playing away
The context for our questions on away tickets has changed dramatically. Put simply, with a maximum of 3,000 away tickets available for league games for 42,000 season ticket holders, 8,000 premium members, and over 100,000 One Hotspur members, the vast majority of fans are going to be disappointed. There are almost as many suggestions for alternative systems as there are fans making them, but whichever one was introduced, there would still only be 3,000 tickets and still the same number of disappointed fans.
Overall, half of those who said they were aware of the away ticket allocation process were dissatisfied with it. But most of the answers, somewhat inevitably, came from people who had been to very few games. In that context, the 50% who were either satisfied or neutral is perhaps more of a surprise.
We found one in five fans who attended away games had attended fewer than in the season before. About 30% had been to the same number. Of those who went to fewer away games, lack of available tickets was the reason for 67% of respondents. So we asked what influenced people’s decision to apply for tickets. Time and day of kick-off was the most ticked box here, followed by availability, with location not far behind. So there’s something for match schedulers and TV companies to think about here.
However, when asked to name just one reason why they didn’t apply for tickets – and we need to emphasise we asked about application, not attendance – most (37%) said ticket availability. So the perceived lack of available tickets means more people are not even applying for some games.
All the findings from our survey are used to inform the work we do during the year. That work can be done more effectively if more people join. If you’re not a member, joining is one click away. If you are, please pass the link on to at least one non-member.
Look out for more stories in the coming days. You can read the full survey below.
THST Board
1 August 2019
We’ll continue to make this point, and to emphasise the high levels of dissatisfaction with the removal of the two cup credits from the Season Ticket package (83%). We will certainly be arguing strongly for the Club to offer discounted package tickets for Champions League group games, something backed by the vast majority of those who responded (86%).
The fans who filled in our survey were from across the spread of membership types at Spurs, and we were particularly interested in getting the view of One Hotspur members at a time of great change for them. Of those who responded, the vast majority had renewed their membership (93%). But there are some important trends underneath this top line that we will be urging the Club to take seriously.
While only a small proportion did not renew, just over 1 in 4 of those who didn’t said they could no longer see the value of membership. Even among those who renewed, only just over half felt their membership was value for money, with over a third expressly disagreeing that they had value for money.
One Hotspur membership
It’s easy to see why when we look at the reason why people said they took out One Hotspur memberships. A staggering 93% said it was to get access to match tickets. We have been telling the Club it needs to define its membership proposition much more precisely, and this underlines the need to do so. Because the fact is that, with roughly 8,000 tickets available to members for any given game, being in a club with over 100,000 other members trying to get the same thing is going to lead to a lot of disappointed members. We continue to question why the Club is selling memberships on the basis this will bring access to tickets.
When we asked One Hotspur members if they would take up a Season Ticket if offered one, 42% said yes and 49% said no, with 64% saying price would be the biggest influencing factor. Again, this underlines the importance of price despite the Club’s refusal to concede this is the case.
Nearly half (47%) of our respondents said they were dissatisfied with Ticketmaster, underlining why we urged the Club not to bring in a potentially problematic new ticketing system until an improved system was in place. The satisfaction rate with the Ticket Office itself was 58%, which is good considering the sheer volume and complexity of the ticketing operation in the past 12 months.
The new Spurs app is being taking up by a large proportion of fans (74%), and the Ticket Exchange and Ticket Share (73%) options are very popular. Some work needs to be done on raising awareness of Share and how to use it.
Playing away
The context for our questions on away tickets has changed dramatically. Put simply, with a maximum of 3,000 away tickets available for league games for 42,000 season ticket holders, 8,000 premium members, and over 100,000 One Hotspur members, the vast majority of fans are going to be disappointed. There are almost as many suggestions for alternative systems as there are fans making them, but whichever one was introduced, there would still only be 3,000 tickets and still the same number of disappointed fans.
Overall, half of those who said they were aware of the away ticket allocation process were dissatisfied with it. But most of the answers, somewhat inevitably, came from people who had been to very few games. In that context, the 50% who were either satisfied or neutral is perhaps more of a surprise.
We found one in five fans who attended away games had attended fewer than in the season before. About 30% had been to the same number. Of those who went to fewer away games, lack of available tickets was the reason for 67% of respondents. So we asked what influenced people’s decision to apply for tickets. Time and day of kick-off was the most ticked box here, followed by availability, with location not far behind. So there’s something for match schedulers and TV companies to think about here.
However, when asked to name just one reason why they didn’t apply for tickets – and we need to emphasise we asked about application, not attendance – most (37%) said ticket availability. So the perceived lack of available tickets means more people are not even applying for some games.
All the findings from our survey are used to inform the work we do during the year. That work can be done more effectively if more people join. If you’re not a member, joining is one click away. If you are, please pass the link on to at least one non-member.
Look out for more stories in the coming days. You can read the full survey below.
THST Board
1 August 2019
| thst_annual_fans_survey_2019.pdf |