Birmingham City’s season ticket prices for the 2024/25 season will be winging their way to you very soon.
Now that relegation to League One has been confirmed, Blues’ hierarchy can put a line through the Championship package which had been drawn up and release prices for third tier football.
While we can all agree that this relegation was entirely avoidable, there does still seem to be a large helping of goodwill towards owners Knighthead Capital Management. Blues fans recognise that short-term pain is part of a long-term game.
They have witnessed the transformation of St Andrew’s in the last 12 months and have the promise of a Sports Quarter. Tom Wagner isn’t in any danger of angry fans launching their season tickets at him on his next visit to B9. Far from it.
READ: I think the Birmingham City board will acknowledge they made a massive mistake
READ: Our writers agree to keep or release Blues' eight out-of-contract players
Even when the football product was substandard at various points last season, supporters continued to flood through the gates. Blues’ average crowd of 21,180 put them 14th in the final standings of the Championship’s attendance table. No team that will be playing in League One next season matched that.
There is a feeling that there won’t be a great decline in season ticket sales. Judging by the mood swing on social media in the past few days, anger has turned to anticipation. The fact Blues *should* be able to compete at the right end of a league table for once is at least something.
If the season goes to plan and Blues are right at the top of the pile, there is a good chance we will see more full houses at St Andrew’s. But, first, Blues have to do right by their regulars and hit an appropriate price point.
Wagner has previously said that he doesn’t want to hit supporters in the pocket. Speaking last month, he said: “For us it’s not about driving ticket prices up. That’s not the way that you develop revenue. If you look at the best clubs in the world, ticket prices are not a giant component of their overall revenue.”
The way supporters’ cash can make a tangible difference to a club’s revenue is if they spend money while they are at the stadium. Will they attend one of the two new fan parks Knighthead are creating? Will they visit the club shop? Will they enjoy an afternoon in one of the club’s upmarket hospitality suites?
You have to get them there first. Huddersfield Town, another team relegated from the Championship alongside Blues, have the right idea. In a world where almost every cost is going up, the Terriers have frozen their season ticket prices.
An adult season ticket at the John Smith’s Stadium costs £249. That is just £10.82 per League One match. Huddersfield are charging under-23s £159, under-18s £129, under-16s £109 and under-11s just £49.
Those prices seem more than fair and Huddersfield have been praised by supporters far and wide. Blues’ cheapest adult season ticket last year was £300 in the Main Stand lower. In more desired seats, Blues charged north of £450.
Nobody is asking Blues to copy Huddersfield’s prices but there should be a drive to get people, young and old, on board at the start of ‘the comeback’. As Wagner said himself, fans don’t fund football clubs in the way they used to.
It would be nice to see a realisation that League One football is not the Championship, and a reward for those who have stuck by Blues and been patient with Knighthead during what was a difficult season to say the least.
