Livingston 'We sell more, You pay less' scheme looks like a winner

Having bounced back into the IRN-BRU SFL First Division after successive League Championship wins and, held their own comfortably, Livingston are making plans for next season already.

Exciting young players playing an attractive attacking game under John Hughes and John Collins could be seen as reason enough to go along to watch the Livi Lions regularly come the kick off to the new campaign.  However, the Braidwood Motor Company side are also offering fans the chance to watch them at a potential cost of less than £7.00 per game.

The West Lothian club were asked to look down south at the success of English League One side Hartlepool United and their Season Ticket campaign of last season where fans were given a unique opportunity to pay less money to see their favourites in action if more tickets were sold.

Livingston’s Chief Executive, Ged Nixon, said: “One of our supporters pointed out what Hartlepool United did last season where prices were reduced as more fans bought Season Tickets.  The view amongst almost everyone is that football is too expensive to watch in this country and the Hartlepool offer was seen as a way of making it more affordable.”

Nixon added: “The season that is just ending has been a successful one as we have competed well on our return to the First Division and enjoyed continued stability off the field. We have an exciting and talented group of young players at the club, many of whom have already shown that they are capable of excelling at First Division level but we need to do more to increase crowds.”

Nixon added: “We now have John Collins directing our football operations and John Hughes looking for the first team to play attractive, passing football but we wanted to see if we could do even more to entice fans out to watch us.  We have a cracking stadium at our club but there are just too many yellow seats on display at our games.

“We took our fans' recommendation on board and looked at what Hartlepool had done.  They had 2,000 season ticket holders and fans were told that the price they would pay would be dependent on how many season tickets were sold for the new season.  They trebled their sales due to the involvement of their fans in backing the idea and tickets were sold at the lowest price.  That is a huge success and we are going to run a comparable scheme this season.”

Livi have entitled their offering as the ‘We sell more, You play less’  campaign which in simple terms, means that the more Season Tickets sold for next season’s 18 home IRN-BRU SFL First Division games, the cheaper the games will be to watch for the fans with a potential saving of £6.95 if 1,600 fans buy a Season Ticket.

The cost to a supporter could potentially drop from £250 to £125 if the magical figure of 1,600 Season Tickets are sold by 30th June with Nixon adding: “When we started again as a club three years ago with Gordon McDougall as our Chairman, our first attendance was 683 for a Third Division game against Montrose.

“Attendances at our home matches have more than doubled over the last three seasons but you cannot stop or things drop back.  You have to keep finding ways to keep your existing supporters coming and attract some more.”

Nixon explained the ‘We sell more, You pay less’ scheme by saying: “The average number of Livingston supporters at our home matches this season has been around 1,500 and this is a combination of Season Ticket holders and pay at the gate fans.  We now want to build on these foundations and the ‘We sell more, You pay less’ Season Ticket initiative is an innovative way to grow our Season Ticket base.

“Adult Season Tickets will cost £250 if less than 700 are sold but there will be a drop in price when the 700, 1,000 and 1,300 marks are passed and the price will be halved to £125 if the 1,600 figure is met.”

It is hoped that 1,500 fans coming along in different ways can become 1,600 Season Ticket holders with Nixon saying: “If we could get all the existing fans to buy a Season Ticket, and a few more, we will reach our target and a lot of people will save a bit of money as a result.  The cost for a Season Ticket holder per game would then go from £13.89 (if less than 700 are sold) to £6.94.  Pay-at the gate customers would save even more as that will be £17 per game.

"At the moment, there is very little incentive for the pay-at the gate fan who knows that they will be missing a couple of games to buy a Season Ticket as the saving was not as great.

“We believe that there is still huge potential in Livingston and West Lothian to grow our support much further.”

Nixon is right that the potential is there as he explained: “When we played our very first season in the SPL in seson 2001/02, we had over 4,000 Season Ticket holders.  That dropped as the novelty factor of high profile games waned and dropped even further when people became disenfranchised as a result of how the club was being run.

“The club is run properly now and this season’s average attendance is the highest since we dropped out of the SPL at the end of season 2005/06.  We are winning fans back slowly, which is great as our supporters have a key role to play in helping us to achieve our ambitions.”

The Season Ticket offer is a test of the born again relationship between the club and their fans with Nixon saying: “We have two great characters in charge on the pitch and have high hopes for next season.  We expect John and John to develop our team with the support of the right experienced players and by introducing members of our Under-19 and Under-17 youth sides that both won their respective SFL Youth Divisions this season.

“By offering out the chance to get more supporters on board at a reduced cost shows how much we believe in it and hopefully, they will too.  We want our existing supporters, new supporters, or those who have perhaps gotten out of the habit of watching the Lions play to buy into this.”

Nixon wants to bring supporters back watching live action as he explained: “We are an ideal club for people to come and watch us play as we are situated in the heart of Scotland with a good road network supporting us. Hopefully, we can even reverse the trend of some fans that are going on supporters' buses out of the town on a Saturday to watch other teams.  We are on a lot of people’s doorsteps and hopefully, we can bring them back to live football.”

The Chief Executive knows that it is a tough market as he added: “We do recognise that these are tough economic times and that for many people in our area, attending football matches can become an expensive luxury when prices go up, wages are frozen and jobs are lost.

“In a lot of ways, this Season Ticket offer helps combat the cost as family groups will benefit if the adult price decreases, as we hope it will increase the volume of sales.  We have also devised a guaranteed low price for senior citizens, full-time students and children, now classified as anyone under 18, to attend our games with a Season Ticket for people in these categories costing just £100.”

He added: “That represents a 20% cut in the 2011/12 price for senior citizens and supporters in full-time education.”

After living beyond their means in the past, both Nixon and McDougall are determined that everything is balanced at Livingston.

Nixon explained: “Our approach to Season Tickets in season 2012/13 balances the need for the club to pay its way, whilst making live football as affordable as we can to a greater number of fans.

“By buying Season Tickets, fans are also playing their part in keeping the club on an even financial keel.  We are absolutely committed to our football club operating in a financially sustainable way, avoiding the damaging problems which have threatened its very existence in the past.”

The Braidwood Motor Company Stadium is not just targeting families as Nixon explained: “By working together, we can hit our targets and our Commercial Manager, Charles Burnett, is working hard with local companies seeing what they can do to purchase Season Tickets that perhaps can be used by employees.”

Nixon rallied the Livingston troops by saying: “I would ask the fans to speak to their friends, family, work colleagues or neighbours and persuading just one or two to come along to watch Livingston regularly.  Fans can help other fans reduce the cost of watching live football in Livingston whilst increasing matchday support for our exciting young team.”

Nixon was asked how fans would know how much their Season Ticket will cost and he explained: “The final price will be determined by the total number of tickets we sell up to 30th June.  For example, if we sell 1,600 Season Tickets or more, all adult season tickets will be half price at £125.

“Fans will pay £125 as a non-refundable deposit when booking their Season Ticket before 30th June and any balance, if we don’t sell 1,600, will be due before 31st July when we will issue Season Ticket books in time for our first home League game.”

The energy behind the scheme will see fans kept up to date with Nixon advising: “We will announce the Season Ticket sales via a totaliser on our official website - ww.livingstonfc.co.uk - which will be updated regularly.

“We started selling the 2012/13 Season Tickets on Monday and made a positive start with a good number of fans coming in.  Just as encouraging has been the positive messages we have been receiving from our own fans and fans of other clubs about trying to do something different.”

As for keeping things fresh, Nixon said: “Hartlepool have just announced their plans for next season and have built on their great campaign for next season.  I will keep an eye on it and you never know, we may just come up with something even better than them this time next year.”

Pricing Structure

Nixon added: “We have discontinued the integrated 'Gold Membership' package that we have offered in the last two seasons but season long car park passes and ROAR subscriptions can be purchased separately when fans book their Season Ticket.”

Car Park Supplement - £50

ROAR Magazine Subscription - £30