THST slam club over Wembley season ticket exchange

[mawspurs]

Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust (THST) has hit out at the club's handling of season ticket exchanges, accusing Spurs of "stumbling from one bad decision to another" throughout the summer.

Read the full article at Evening Standard

 

[stonecolddeanaustin]

Got to agree with the trust on this one. Hardly any games will set out as no-one is going to want to pay £30 odd quid to sit in the heavens. Meanwhile my seat on the halfway line which I'd gladly sell for £40 when i can't go is going to go unsold. They have well and truly shafted season ticket holders this summer knowing they've got the waiting list as leverage to use against them.

 

[Tiberius Gracchus]

1st time season ticket holder here (been on that list for bloody years!)

The best announcement of the summer from a ticketing perspective was to move away from Stubhub. My membership got me on to the ballot and that gave me the chance to go to 8 home PL games, but more often the application was unsuccessful, which meant buying throug. stubhub at 3 times the cost.

So while the THST is right to raise frustrations, Levy deserves credit for doing something that benefits the non-season ticket membership, even though it cuts down a potential revenue stream. A rare case of a PL club putting its support network first

 

[punky]

Got to agree with the trust on this one. Hardly any games will set out as no-one is going to want to pay £30 odd quid to sit in the heavens. Meanwhile my seat on the halfway line which I'd gladly sell for £40 when i can't go is going to go unsold. They have well and truly shafted season ticket holders this summer knowing they've got the waiting list as leverage to use against them.

I think it's a case of how optimistic the club are and pessimistic THST are. It's not in the club's interest (financially or operationally) to set the ticket exchange threshold so high it will rarely be reached.

THST have a long history at expressing indignant outrage at everything, so i'm leaning towards the club here.

The club did say they will keep the sell-out policy under constant review throughout the season.

 

[dickieven]

Surely when you buy a season ticket you know it comes with a risk you may not go to every game as there is bound to be a clash. Maybe they could just restrict people to selling a maximum of 2 or 3 games. It pisses me off when there are season ticket holders who would happily rip off a fellow Spurs fan and sell on stubhub for stupid money. Be grateful you have a season ticket, if you cant gom et a mate use it.

 

[stonecolddeanaustin]

I think it's a case of how optimistic the club are and pessimistic THST are. It's not in the club's interest (financially or operationally) to set the ticket exchange threshold so high it will rarely be reached.

THST have a long history at expressing indignant outrage at everything, so i'm leaning towards the club here.

The club did say they will keep the sell-out policy under constant review throughout the season.

Yeah they do go off on one a lot but I don't think that's a reason to side with the club in this instance.

Why do you think it's not in the club's interest for the ticket exchange to rarely be used? Surely the only thing really in the club's interest is to maximise ticket revenue, which is what they're doing by not allowing people to re-sell their ticket until the games are sold out. Ordinary fans coming at the bottom of their list of priorities once again.

 

[punky]

Why do you think it's not in the club's interest for the ticket exchange to rarely be used? Surely the only thing really in the club's interest is to maximise ticket revenue, which is what they're doing by not allowing people to re-sell their ticket until the games are sold out. Ordinary fans coming at the bottom of their list of priorities once again.

Financially:

1. The club would rather make money out of the administration fee than nothing. I'm sure they won't get the full £7.50 as Ticketmaster will need to take their cut for managing the system but I'm sure the club will make something.

2. An empty seat means no food/drink/merchandising sales. Fans who most likely to use the Ticket Exchange, the ones that can't go to many games and have to pick and choose carefully, are more likely to spend more on merch and concessions

Operationally:

1. It will encourage fans to sell/share their tickets illegally, so not only losing the funding but encourage crime/forgeries etc.

2. Empty seats are embarrassing.

3. What's the point in creating a system that won't be used? Seems expensive for a marketing gimmick.

The club obviously think they'll sell out most if not all games, and fairly quickly. They are the experts here. THST emphatically aren't.

The club said they will keep the policy under constant review so i'm sure it won't take long to see who's right. If Chelsea doesn't sell out, it would be a very clear indicator.

 

[chico]

If the tickets are priced right they will sell.
We could play Forest Green in the League Cup, and if tickets were a fiver plenty of people who cant afford to go ordinarily would have that chance.
A season at Wembley will at times be frustrating, but we've just got to be positive, huge crowds for the big games, and a fab WHL mk2 to look forward to.

 

[stonecolddeanaustin]

Financially:

1. The club would rather make money out of the administration fee than nothing. I'm sure they won't get the full £7.50 as Ticketmaster will need to take their cut for managing the system but I'm sure the club will make something.

2. An empty seat means no food/drink/merchandising sales. Fans who most likely to use the Ticket Exchange, the ones that can't go to many games and have to pick and choose carefully, are more likely to spend more on merch and concessions

Operationally:

1. It will encourage fans to sell/share their tickets illegally, so not only losing the funding but encourage crime/forgeries etc.

2. Empty seats are embarrassing.

3. What's the point in creating a system that won't be used? Seems expensive for a marketing gimmick.

The club obviously think they'll sell out most if not all games, and fairly quickly. They are the experts here. THST emphatically aren't.

The club said they will keep the policy under constant review so i'm sure it won't take long to see who's right. If Chelsea doesn't sell out, it would be a very clear indicator.

Some good points there but I think if the club valued those above maximising ticket revenue then they'd already be letting fans resell tickets with the games not sold out.

The Chelsea match looks like going on general sale tomorrow with thousands of tickets still left to go and when you consider how many members we now have it's gonna be push to sell all of those, and this is for one of our biggest games of the season.

Call me a cynic but I find it highly unlikely the club will change the policy when they see the games are not selling out. As you say though, time will tell.

 

[Josiebyar]

Surely when you buy a season ticket you know it comes with a risk you may not go to every game as there is bound to be a clash. Maybe they could just restrict people to selling a maximum of 2 or 3 games. It pisses me off when there are season ticket holders who would happily rip off a fellow Spurs fan and sell on stubhub for stupid money. Be grateful you have a season ticket, if you cant gom et a mate use it.

What are you on about? Every ticket resold gives 1/19th of the season ticket price back to the STH. That’s hardly a rip off of fellow Spurs fans nor gives a profit to the STH

 

[Finchyid]

1st time season ticket holder here (been on that list for bloody years!)

The best announcement of the summer from a ticketing perspective was to move away from Stubhub. My membership got me on to the ballot and that gave me the chance to go to 8 home PL games, but more often the application was unsuccessful, which meant buying throug. stubhub at 3 times the cost.

So while the THST is right to raise frustrations, Levy deserves credit for doing something that benefits the non-season ticket membership, even though it cuts down a potential revenue stream. A rare case of a PL club putting its support network first

I agree the club should be applauded for ditching stubhub, but they have offset that plus point with a real home defeat!! The new system is only going to work if demand is high

Last season was a special case because of the reduced capacity and i too was unsuccessful because of the ballot which was fair but i didnt care because i was guaranteed cat A

This season i have two season tickets but are unlikely to get to every game, i fully understand thats the price i pay for having a season ticket. I am comfortable with the 1/19th i think thats a great idea but why not give members the opportunity to buy this ticket? The club have had the money! If its a sell out then we all win if not the club wont have lost out

 

[TottenhamMattSpur]

I'm a new season ticket holder and I think it's a load of old bollocks.

I'll happily give my ticket away if I can't go and can't sell it.

 

[dave5150]

I think the real moaners I've seen on social media are the ones who cover the cost of their season ticket by selling a few of the category A games each year.
I bought my season ticket this year knowing I probably won't be able to go to all games but will happily offer it to my brother, friends, etc.

 

[TottenhamMattSpur]

I think the real moaners I've seen on social media are the ones who cover the cost of their season ticket by selling a few of the category A games each year.
I bought my season ticket this year knowing I probably won't be able to go to all games but will happily offer it to my brother, friends, etc.

They should be banned from matches IMO.

 

[ERO]

What the hell are they complaining about? Is it just for the sake of complaining?

You don't buy a season ticket to sell it on and only go to a select few matches.

The improvement from last seasons is vast, and THST are just being embarrassing here.

 

[TottenhamMattSpur]

What the hell are they complaining about? Is it just for the sake of complaining?

You don't buy a season ticket to sell it on and only go to a select few matches.

The improvement from last seasons is vast, and THST are just being embarrassing here.

I just hope I don't end up in the same block as them. I bet they're the ones that moan for 20 minutes non stop whe its 0-0 then have fuck all to say when we smash the opposition.

 

[Mattspur]

I've been a season ticket holder for over 15 years and in that time I've never sold my ticket to anyone. There's been plenty of matches I can't go to but I've always given it to my mate who I sit with, so he can take a person of his choice, and he does the same with me. We will continue in this vein.

I never used stubhub but I'm aware of the controversy surrounding it.

The current situation doesn't seem very fair though. Members should be able to buy better seats than people buying general sale tickets. Members put their hand in their pocket to pay for an advantage over the general public and the main advantage is first opportunity to buy a ticket, thereby getting the better seats on sale. Why should they be limited to row 45 of the top tier when someone in the lower tier with seats on the halfway line won't be using their ticket. How is that good for either the member or season ticket holder?

It also makes buying a ticket a difficult decision. Should you buy as quickly as possible so you're as close to the front of the upper tier as possible or do you wait a bit and see if it sells out and the lower tier tickets become available, but run the risk of only having seats in the heavens available if it doesn't sell out.

A system that rewards the first come with the best selection of available seats has to be the fairest scenario.

 

[ERO]

I've been a season ticket holder for over 15 years and in that time I've never sold my ticket to anyone. There's been plenty of matches I can't go to but I've always given it to my mate who I sit with, so he can take a person of his choice, and he does the same with me. We will continue in this vein.

I never used stubhub but I'm aware of the controversy surrounding it.

The current situation doesn't seem very fair though. Members should be able to buy better seats than people buying general sale tickets. Members put their hand in their pocket to pay for an advantage over the general public and the main advantage is first opportunity to buy a ticket, thereby getting the better seats on sale. Why should they be limited to row 45 of the top tier when someone in the lower tier with seats on the halfway line won't be using their ticket. How is that good for either the member or season ticket holder?

It also makes buying a ticket a difficult decision. Should you buy as quickly as possible so you're as close to the front of the upper tier as possible or do you wait a bit and see if it sells out and the lower tier tickets become available, but run the risk of only having seats in the heavens available if it doesn't sell out.

A system that rewards the first come with the best selection of available seats has to be the fairest scenario.

Where does the row 45 piece come from?

Have all seats below this gone to season ticket holders? Surely not?

Anyway, not selling tickets as a STH before stadium is sold out is completely logical, and you can't have THFC competing with its season ticket holders to sell tickets.

 

[Buggsy61]

I can't see what the fuss is about to be honest.
I think a lot of people had got spoilt with the option of being able to sell on their tickets in a 36,500 stadium, but Wembley is a completely different ball game, so what did they expect to happen.
There was talk of having a season ticket amnesty for this season but the risks were that we would not be able to maximise revenue and people would just go to the category A games and most of the rest would be in front of sparse crowds.
I paid my £695 expecting this all along as I saw it as in effect buying an option in the new stadium. When we get to our shiny new place (which I am really looking forward to) we will all know where we stand so its just a matter of getting through the next 12 months until then.

 

[Lilbaz]

I don't know why people are suprised that the club wants to sell their tickets first? They don't want to have competition from season ticket holders that can't go and may undercut them.
Most of the games i go to are from a season ticket holder mate who can't go. Especially the european away games as he's disabled, i take his allocation. I give him a few quid and everyone's happy.