The Lower Grounds Matchday experience

[Galway Lion]

As a member who lives in Ireland, I manage to get over to between 5 to 8 games a season. This is ideal for me as the biggest pain is getting away from the ground after games.

To be able to go to the ground early and have a good drink with food and straight after the game is something I’ve been wanting for years. 
I know regular fans not as financially comfortable as others will be up in arms but the club needs to bring money in now if we want to keep up.

Surely once the Warehouse is built this will accommodate fans who don’t want the corporate experience.

The club really should of improved the present service available in the concourse’s before announcing this though.

[nepal_villan]

Being USA based - this is a really good deal.  I'd jump on it if my local sports teams offered this.   I know it's a different sports consumption culture in the UK.  

[choffer]

29 minutes ago, Galway Lion said:

Surely once the Warehouse is built this will accommodate fans who don’t want the corporate experience.

I wouldn’t be so sure about that. 

[Dillon66]

As a couple of people have also alluded to, I don't think this package (for want of a better word) is badly priced at all. I've had to attend similar types of hospitality 'offerings' through work, at a number of different grounds and also other sports, including football, cricket, horse racing etc. that were far more expensive for the same sort of deal.

We can debate the moralities of turning regular supporter facilities into hospitality areas all day, but the pricing of this package is very competitive and as someone who can no longer commit to going as much as I'd like due to work commitments, it would be an attractive option for me.

But in no way should that allow the club a free pass to neglect existing supporter facilities - the club should be using any meaningful profits from these kind of ventures to significantly upgrade what is currently offered to loyal, regular supporters in terms of catering and welfare facilities in the main stands and concourses.

[John]

4 hours ago, Talldarkandransome said:

It's an 8 year agreement if you buy one and you get a BJ from the owner

Whatever floats their boat I guess, but that sort of hospitality is not for me.

[John]

I guess if someone wants to pay and is able to do so then so be it, the same has been the case with executive boxes for many years. Trouble is these packages don't seem so attractive when things aren't going quite so well, we all recall the empty corporate seats in the Championship. Villa appreciated the season ticket holders and fans who were able to pay to attend individual games back then and I'm sure they do now. There is a line to be drawn between corporate customers and the fans that Tommy Docherty once claimed that, "If you hung 11 Villa shirts on a washing line five thousand fans would turn up to watch them!"

The club needs the extra seats that the new North Stand will bring to be able to accommodate these fans, alongside those with more disposable income. In the interim, as Dillon66 has said above, the club should swiftly move to "significantly upgrade what is currently offered to loyal, regular supporters in terms of catering and welfare facilities in the main stands and concourses" that way the vast majority of fans will be having their needs attended to alongside those of the club's corporate clients.

[Pongo's Socks]

I've already asked the missus for this for the match nearest my birthday. We're a family of 4, all members, me and the eldest do at least 15 games a season (including cups). I usually drive so don't have a beer, when we get the bus I usually get about 3 beers in all day due to the queues. We get a sweaty burger from outside the Social, a bag of scratchings, and a chocolate bar at half time. We sometimes leave a couple of minutes early, because if you don't, you're either stuck in a queue for an hour to get out of the car park, or you're crammed in like sardines in whichever pub you can get in after the game. We've sneaked into the holte suite a couple of times with mates who have ST's. So as a one off this seems quite appealing. 

I'm just annoyed on behalf of the ST holders. This could've been done in a marquee on the carpark, and the holte suite left as it was. Just seems another kick in the teeth after the terrace view.

They don't seem to have read the room here

[withes_shin]

22 hours ago, The Fun Factory said:

I know that I am an inconvenience to them as I just turn up and watch the football and go away again. Eventually, I suspect that I will not be able to afford to go and stop attending one day, probably in the not-too-distant future if this type of shit keeps happening. I know my place.

Feel utterly cold towards the club on this.

My feelings exactly, although you have managed to put it in writing far better than I ever could.

[soezetoc]

Im in Australia, 

Travelling with 7 buddies, willing to pay for hospitality  at Villa Park for West Ham game. 

Sent 2 emails. 1st gave me another email  address to respond to.....that email address referred me back to the original email addy. 

I've just been on hold for 30 min international call to sort out the issue and gave up. 

Villa are one of if not the worst dealings I have had. Its bloody hopeless. 

I've talked my non Villa supporting mates to go to the game but it's impossible to get anything sorted. 

 

[DaveAV1]

On 20/09/2023 at 10:08, Don_Simon said:

https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2023/september/20/Villa-launch-The-Lower-Grounds-matchday-experience/

£120 per game - are these guys on **** crack?

I’m sure they can afford heroin now!!

[DaveAV1]

The holly grail seems to be playing in the PL and ultimately the CL to maximise Television income. So perhaps there are grounds to suggest that despite the demand, revenue from match day attendance is less important financially than it is to the atmosphere and therefore winning football matches. Didn’t televising NFL games used to be dependent on them selling out and providing the TV spectacle for the sofa based, real fans to enjoy?

Edited September 21, 2023 by DaveAV1

[DaveAV1]

2 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

The holly grail seems to be playing in the PL and ultimately the CL to maximise Television income. So perhaps there are grounds to suggest that despite the demand, revenue from match day attendance is less important financially than it is to the atmosphere and therefore winning football matches. Didn’t televising NFL games used to be dependent on them selling out and providing the TV spectacle for the sofa based, real fans to enjoy?

Obviously that could be a problem for the blue half of Manchester, who can’t sell out no matter how successful the team is but they’ve side stepped that problem by not worrying about FFP providing the oil price remains high. 

[cheltenham_villa]

for a bit of comparison. Im attending an NFL game at Wembley in a couple of weeks £100 a ticket. I recently bought england t20 tickets for next year, £75. Neither include food.

My local cineworld has a VIP option with unlimited food. Thats about £25 (so £15 on top of the ticket).

Still trying to work out if this represents value? I think its probably bang in the middle and will offer a decent return for the club.

 

[PeterSw]

My email said 'An opening offer for the Brighton game is as follows..'

Meaning you can bet your life that £60/£120 will not be the regular price 

[MrBlack]

51 minutes ago, soezetoc said:

Im in Australia, 

Travelling with 7 buddies, willing to pay for hospitality  at Villa Park for West Ham game. 

Sent 2 emails. 1st gave me another email  address to respond to.....that email address referred me back to the original email addy. 

I've just been on hold for 30 min international call to sort out the issue and gave up. 

Villa are one of if not the worst dealings I have had. Its bloody hopeless. 

I've talked my non Villa supporting mates to go to the game but it's impossible to get anything sorted. 

 

Didn't know whether to react with a laugh at how bad the customer service is, confusion at how unbelievable the cross referring of email addresses was, or cry at the fact you couldn't get this sorted. 

I went with confused as this service, which they're clearly only doing in order to make money, is surely something they'd have got the infrastructure in place for to take the money when it's being offered to them. Utterly bizarre. 

[tinker]

8 minutes ago, PeterSw said:

My email said 'An opening offer for the Brighton game is as follows..'

Meaning you can bet your life that £60/£120 will not be the regular price 

Depends on how popular it is, supply and demand, if it sells out at £120 then they will probably raise the price. 

[hogso]

19 hours ago, Mark Albrighton said:

“Access to player arrival” (Chelsea’s dugout package)

What does that mean exactly? You can stand in the corridor and watch as 20+ blokes walk past you wearing headphones as they head into the changing room?

I don't actually know the answer for Chelsea, but Man City's equivalent ticket (around £1.5k for a match) includes the 3 course meal, post match cheese board, fancy seat, pre match pitch side spot to watch the warm up, etc. - and then they have a huge glass wall along side the tunnel, indoors and downstairs from the hospitality spot, where you can stand and watch the players come and go before the match, at half time, and at full time too. Before the match though, they kind of just get to stand in a little area after the players get off the coach and kind of...clap...as they all walk past.  

[Steero113]

32 minutes ago, hogso said:

I don't actually know the answer for Chelsea, but Man City's equivalent ticket (around £1.5k for a match) includes the 3 course meal, post match cheese board, fancy seat, pre match pitch side spot to watch the warm up, etc. - and then they have a huge glass wall along side the tunnel, indoors and downstairs from the hospitality spot, where you can stand and watch the players come and go before the match, at half time, and at full time too. Before the match though, they kind of just get to stand in a little area after the players get off the coach and kind of...clap...as they all walk past.  

Do they get heckled by their own fans whilst they do all that?

[chappy]

40 minutes ago, hogso said:

I don't actually know the answer for Chelsea, but Man City's equivalent ticket (around £1.5k for a match) includes the 3 course meal, post match cheese board, fancy seat, pre match pitch side spot to watch the warm up, etc. - and then they have a huge glass wall along side the tunnel, indoors and downstairs from the hospitality spot, where you can stand and watch the players come and go before the match, at half time, and at full time too. Before the match though, they kind of just get to stand in a little area after the players get off the coach and kind of...clap...as they all walk past.  

For balance, I’m going to the equivalent at Stenhousemuir (long story!) next year and it’s £75 for match ticket (premium seat), 3 course meal, open bar 1 hr 45 mins before game and 30 mins after, half time tea coffee biscuits and a post match pie.

[jim]

Can’t believe Purslow has done this!