Based on past history, and on noise coming out of the club, TFC season ticket prices will be announced next Monday (or no. Moments after publishing this TFC announced that they were waiting until the end of October to announce prices). As CSN has suggested in the past, the club needs to make a significant gesture to re-gain trust from many fans.
Whereas there was talk of a simple freeze being enough a few months ago, now it’s clear that a rollback is needed.
Additionally, there should be some additional gesture to those fans that have made a significant financial commitment -- in the form of buying season tickets -- to the club over the six seasons. That is not to say that you are only a “real fan” if you have season tickets, but it is an acknowledgement that being a season ticket holder does demonstrate a certain level of support. Also, it stands to reason that when devising a season ticket price it’s fair to look at how long someone has been a seat holder and rewarding those that have been around the longest.
Indeed, the club told the Toronto Sun last week that loyalty rewards will be a part of the pricing point for 2013. In the past, CSN advocated for a 5 percent discount being applied for each year a fan as been a SSH, up to a 25 percent discount.
In an ideal world a complete rollback to 2007 prices would be done. However, there needs to be some acknowledgment that the 2007 prices were set with a different market – a market that even current TFC crowds are stronger than -- in mind.
Still, some kind of symbolism is needed.
With that in mind CSN looked at prices in 2007 and 2008, as well as prices across the league, to come up with a pricing structure that we believe to be fair.
Below the jump:
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
[TABLE=width: 500]
[TR]
[TD]Section[/TD]
[TD]single[/TD]
[TD]New price[/TD]
[TD]Max 25% discount[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Club[/TD]
[TD]$70[/TD]
[TD]$1,197[/TD]
[TD]$967.25[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Red[/TD]
[TD]$60[/TD]
[TD]$1,026[/TD]
[TD]$769.50[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Dark blue[/TD]
[TD]$50[/TD]
[TD]$855[/TD]
[TD]$641.45[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Dark grey[/TD]
[TD]$45[/TD]
[TD]$769.50[/TD]
[TD]$577.13[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Medium grey[/TD]
[TD]$35[/TD]
[TD]$598.50[/TD]
[TD]$448.88[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Light blue[/TD]
[TD]$25[/TD]
[TD]$427.50[/TD]
[TD]$320.60[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Light grey[/TD]
[TD]$18[/TD]
[TD]$307.80[/TD]
[TD]$230.80[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Yellow[/TD]
[TD]$12[/TD]
[TD]$202.50[/TD]
[TD]$153.90[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
This would represent a significant reduction, but based on 2006 projections these prices will allow the club to be profitable at an average attendance of just 14,000.
Thus, we feel it’s more than fair when you consider how poor the product has been over the last six years.