PolishDave Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 2 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said: Yeah, it would run the 1st or 15th of every month. You could always have a relocation request open and there was a certain time of year that it would flip from one season to the next. People really seemed to like it and as a team we did too. You didn’t have to worry about losing a bunch of season ticket holders in a down year and they could spread the money out. There were certain guarantees too in terms of price increases. I think it was like a 5% max. Did you guys crank up prices once you went monthly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Jackson Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 1 minute ago, PolishDave said: Did you guys crank up prices once you went monthly? No, the price was set and a max after 12 months. So if you paid $100 a month after 12 months the most that it could raise to was like $105 without getting off the plan. It was the same price if you paid for it all at once but just made it easier on people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PolishDave Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 Just now, Kirby Jackson said: No, the price was set and a max after 12 months. So if you paid $100 a month after 12 months the most that it could raise to was like $105 without getting off the plan. It was the same price if you paid for it all at once but just made it easier on people. Gotcha. Can't believe the NFL isn't doing this league wide already. Seems like a no brainer. They are very used-car-salesmen-ish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Jackson Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 Just now, PolishDave said: Gotcha. Can't believe the NFL isn't doing this league wide already. Seems like a no brainer. They are very used-car-salesmen-ish It really does feel simple. Instead of $100 a month for 12 months they charge you $133 a month for 9 months and then need to try to sell you every year. It’s pretty stupid. They put a ton of man hours on renewals as well. If you had 60% of your base renewed without having to do a thing think of the money saved? At the same time the season ticket holders don’t want to have to go through the process either. “Let me talk to my group. Jim just had a kid and he may drop out. We may go from 4 to 3 but Scott may just add it...” It just works for everyone of it acts like every other bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4_kidd_4 Posted January 11, 2018 Author Share Posted January 11, 2018 19 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said: Teams have also moved renewal deadlines earlier to stretch payment plans. We started running a 12 month plan so it became like a car payment or a gym membership. It makes total sense. Every other industry makes you opt out. For some reason teams were a little late to the party and made you opt in. The question shouldn’t be “do you want to renew” it should be “do you want to quit?” See when you put it that way, extended plans and all, it makes more sense. Wait, I missed the other comments, thought the Bills were doing 12mo plans. I agree though, renew or don’t, no deposits no bologna. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PolishDave Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 17 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said: It really does feel simple. Instead of $100 a month for 12 months they charge you $133 a month for 9 months and then need to try to sell you every year. It’s pretty stupid. They put a ton of man hours on renewals as well. If you had 60% of your base renewed without having to do a thing think of the money saved? At the same time the season ticket holders don’t want to have to go through the process either. “Let me talk to my group. Jim just had a kid and he may drop out. We may go from 4 to 3 but Scott may just add it...” It just works for everyone of it acts like every other bill. Yes. Even the government employs the same technique through income taxes. If people didn't have the 7.5% of their pay taken for Social Security or the regular income tax withheld from every paycheck - there is absolutely no way in hell most people would pay their income taxes. The government would not be able to collect a five figure check from 75% of taxpayers on April 15th because a very high percentage of the population would default. Instead they collect a percentage each week - and the vast majority of people have come to accept it even though they are somewhat silently getting fiscally raped. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmotionallyUnstable Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 38 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said: Yeah, it would run the 1st or 15th of every month. You could always have a relocation request open and there was a certain time of year that it would flip from one season to the next. People really seemed to like it and as a team we did too. You didn’t have to worry about losing a bunch of season ticket holders in a down year and they could spread the money out. There were certain guarantees too in terms of price increases. I think it was like a 5% max. What team did you work for that did this? Never thought of this for ticket sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Jackson Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 (edited) 3 minutes ago, EmotionallyUnstable said: What team did you work for that did this? Never thought of this for ticket sales. In the NBA (a few teams were doing it). The Celtics were first. Edited January 11, 2018 by Kirby Jackson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 1 hour ago, 4_kidd_4 said: So do you attend any or just try to flip all tix for a profit? When I bought my seasons in 2007 I was living in Montreal. At the time I was going to about 50% of the games and was selling the rest to my friends/family members. I moved to Vancouver in 2010 and I no longer can attend games (1 per season at the most). I rely on my friends/family members but they take only my September and October games. Selling the rest on the secondary market is not easy. There is no good reason for me to keep my seasons other than feeling a bond with my team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misterbluesky Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 2 hours ago, 4_kidd_4 said: Curious if any STH have received a sales pitch/invoice to renew for 2018 yet. Reason being, last year. The body wasn’t even cold on the ‘16 season and I received an email invoice on 1/3/17 for a deposit to renew(which I admittedly disregarded, based on the previous 14 years of having until around may to decide). It was pretty off putting, but the real kicker was receiving a snail-mail invoice with “FINAL NOTICE” in big red letters about a week later, and a voicemail from my rep saying ‘no guarantee we can hold your seat without that deposit!’. Felt like a real hustle to me. Had never been badgered that quickly after a season before. I certainly gave them bad feedback about the whole deal when they asked, and I know I wasn’t the only dissatisfied customer. Then I had to laugh when I heard tix numbers were down considerably, because the “hustle” made sense. Act like demand is up and supply is down. Had ol’ Russ written all over it. Anyways, I’m assuming the tix office will be a bit more gentle in their approach this offseason, just wondering if anyone’s heard anything as far as renewal/price increases etc. Bet your boots..they are working up new numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punching Bag Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 21 minutes ago, PolishDave said: Even the government employs the same technique through income taxes. If people didn't have the 7.5% of their pay taken for Social Security or the regular income tax withheld from every paycheck - there is absolutely no way in hell most people would pay their income taxes. The government would not be able to collect a five figure check from 75% of taxpayers on April 15th because a very high percentage of the population would default. Instead they collect a percentage each week - and the vast majority of people have come to accept it even though they are somewhat silently getting fiscally raped. Governments are experts at fiscally raping and as in all crimes rich people get laywers/accountants and get off time for good behavior. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacobo Peterman Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 (edited) I usually hope to break even or make a small profit by selling at least one game .I don't see a strong market for the non conference home games, Jax, Det, LA Charg,Chi, Tenn, the away games might have been more marketable Green Bay, Minn, Houston , Indy Balt. Even with th team in the hunt late season tickets were dirt cheap that might have to come up something below the Bronze for market prricng., Tin? I just hope they don't back load the schedule again. Edited January 11, 2018 by Jacobo Peterman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy10 Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 Still quiet on the season to ticket renewal front. Assume the same for everyone else? Makes me wonder if it’s in response to a backlash against the very early renewal push last year, OR if they’re waiting to make some kind of splash in free agency first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4_kidd_4 Posted February 5, 2018 Author Share Posted February 5, 2018 7 minutes ago, jimmy10 said: Still quiet on the season to ticket renewal front. Assume the same for everyone else? Makes me wonder if it’s in response to a backlash against the very early renewal push last year, OR if they’re waiting to make some kind of splash in free agency first. Couple guys in a different seat group told me they got calls last week. Nothing on my end yet. I’m guessing they’re raising prices, otherwise they would have been immediately all over our emotional high after the drought was broken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
May Day 10 Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 On 1/10/2018 at 5:45 PM, PromoTheRobot said: Fan support is an illusion right now because season ticket holders are dumping tickets for the minimum $6 StubHub price. Next year watch a bunch of us drop our seats. Then you'll see crowds of under-5,000. (Of course that's when they'll suddenly get good.) They had a captive ticket base due to the playoff runs of 06 and 07, tickets being very cheap vs box office, and the existence of the waiting list. It has created a false demand. They have had routine and harsh price increases throughout the decade, along with a disregard for fans, which (people here will cry) has gotten even worse since Russ "marketing genius" Brandon has been brought in as president. Last year's fan appreciation 5-cent Key Bank sunglasses for the first 10,000 fans was a slap in the face. It sounds petty, but I nearly tossed my season tickets for that final straw, but talked myself into hanging on for a new coach and possible success. The bubble is going to burst this offseason, and its going to be ugly. They have avoided the bubble in the past a few times. Almost hit it in 2010, but we had the Miller/Myers miracle run to the Division title. When they regressed again the following season, people were again fed up, but Pegula mania took over in the Spring and the future looked limitless. Then again in 2013, but there was a lockout, and everyone had like half their tickets paid in advance so it was easy to stick it out. Then, the following year when the theory of tank started and everyone expected a guaranteed Pittsburgh/Chicago run. But now I dont see anything thats going to prevent the STH bailing like rats off a sinking ship. This team is pretty far off, Tim Murray messed up bad and salted the earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zow2 Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 (edited) Since i live out of town and can only attend 1-2 games per season, I decided to finally opt out on Bills season tix. I've had these seats since 2000. It's just become too difficult to sell the tix for what i paid for them. I figure i can cherry pick the game(s) i want to attend and buy great seats on Ticket Exchange or Seat Geek. It's a less expensive way to go. Edited February 5, 2018 by zow2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corta765 Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 4 minutes ago, May Day 10 said: They had a captive ticket base due to the playoff runs of 06 and 07, tickets being very cheap vs box office, and the existence of the waiting list. It has created a false demand. They have had routine and harsh price increases throughout the decade, along with a disregard for fans, which (people here will cry) has gotten even worse since Russ "marketing genius" Brandon has been brought in as president. Last year's fan appreciation 5-cent Key Bank sunglasses for the first 10,000 fans was a slap in the face. It sounds petty, but I nearly tossed my season tickets for that final straw, but talked myself into hanging on for a new coach and possible success. The bubble is going to burst this offseason, and its going to be ugly. They have avoided the bubble in the past a few times. Almost hit it in 2010, but we had the Miller/Myers miracle run to the Division title. When they regressed again the following season, people were again fed up, but Pegula mania took over in the Spring and the future looked limitless. Then again in 2013, but there was a lockout, and everyone had like half their tickets paid in advance so it was easy to stick it out. Then, the following year when the theory of tank started and everyone expected a guaranteed Pittsburgh/Chicago run. But now I dont see anything thats going to prevent the STH bailing like rats off a sinking ship. This team is pretty far off, Tim Murray messed up bad and salted the earth. I have been waiting for the Sabres bubble to burst for years and I really hope this is the season it happens. Fans have invested too much and expected frankly success too fast IMO not that is their fault either from the product for far too long. On the other hand the team has done zilch for the fans in terms of experience, give aways, food, presentations, and the team itself is a tire fire. If it takes a year to ground zero expectations and the Sabres Org has to realize they need to do more then so be it things will long term be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 On 1/10/2018 at 6:33 PM, JohnC said: The requirement to buy preseason tickets at regular season pricing in the season ticket package is a league wide scam. No matter how good the Bills are late season games will always be available at severely discounted prices in the secondary market. I understand why people want to be assured of particular seating at most regular season games but having to swallow those preseason games at regular prices is a bridge too far, at least for me. Being a victim of theft is one thing but allowing yourself to be a willing victim is another thing. My complaint isn't about the cost of regular season games. It is the inclusion of unappealing preseason/practice games at regular prices in the season ticket package. This issue isn't a Bills'problem as it is a league directive. I always look at the price of the entire season and divide by eight. So if I paid $800 for my season ticket, i would just look at it as $100 per game, and they throw in the two preseasons for free. And that is 100% how the teams should market it. How you package things can make a huge difference. On the Washington Metro, you no longer pay a premium at rush hour, you get a discount at non peak hours. Price is the same as it ever was, but getting a discount sounds way more palatable than paying a premium. On 1/10/2018 at 6:47 PM, Kirby Jackson said: Teams have also moved renewal deadlines earlier to stretch payment plans. We started running a 12 month plan so it became like a car payment or a gym membership. It makes total sense. Every other industry makes you opt out. For some reason teams were a little late to the party and made you opt in. The question shouldn’t be “do you want to renew” it should be “do you want to quit?” that makes sense to me. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMF2006 Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 I went to my account on the Bills website and my invoice is there. Payment is due on March 1st. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 5 hours ago, JMF2006 said: I went to my account on the Bills website and my invoice is there. Payment is due on March 1st. Me too. No increase in my case. Exact same amount as 2017. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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