With belts tightening, and gates falling, a recent phenomena has surfaced where clubs have begun offering heavily discounted season tickets to increase supporter numbers - but does it work?
Bradford and Huddersfield were the first to try it, offering £99 and £100 adult tickets to fill empty spaces at the stadia. Both sides added nearly 50% to their average home attendance on the back of the deal and, three years on, have retained significant supporter numbers despite prices returning to more normal levels.
Hartlepool's move this summer was originally supplied with strings attached. After an average attendance, including away fans, of 2,933 last term they offered a £200 ticket if sales passed 3,000. Before they even reached that figure they slashed the price to £150 - opening the floodgates to sales. They sold 5,882 eventually, dropping the price to £100 once the 4,000 mark was passed, meaning they had more than doubled their home attendance.
So would it work for the Bulls?
The three clubs to try the move had one thing the Bulls don't currently have - vast empty spaces. Both the Bantams and Terriers had some 15,000 spare seats in their grounds, while the Monkey Hangers had a more modest 5,000 spaces available. The Bulls' capacity is barely over 5,000 at present with the temporary stand.
However if the Bulls could get the vast majority of their home support onto cheap season tickets, they could do the one thing so many travelling Bulls complain of - inflict higher ticket prices onto the away support. The average ticket price in League Two is £3.54 higher than that at Edgar Street for seating, and £2.94 for terracing, while half the Conference is also more expensive.
Bulls fans have long suffered on ticket deals on the road. Regularly are they paying £20 or more on the road while those travelling on one-off deals to Edgar Street get in for £14. Bulls fans are regularly forced into seating-only areas when home fans can stand, while 'member-only' ticket offers also see home fans pay as little as half as the travelling Bulls.
So, by getting the home support onto cheap deals, the Bulls can ramp up matchday prices and catch out those that do the same to us and are used to higher prices. Put them in the temporary stand, too, let them get rained on in a stand that it's difficult to get an atmosphere from! With an average 346 away attendance at Edgar Street last season, a £3 increase in matchday prices would have generated nearly £24,000 in additional revenue.
It would be a brave move to heavily discount season tickets but it appears to be one that has, so far, greatly benefitted the clubs involved in the long term. And with three sides of Edgar Street jam packed with Bulls fans, Edgar Street can become the fortress it once was.