Free for all

Free for all

It seems to be all the rage right now with GCU and now the Furries doing it.

Got me thinking, Nix vs. Victory on the 5th of Jan will probably be the most important game of the season, as they are the team (along with the Jest) that's we'll be battling for 5th and 6th place. Why not make it free entry for all? Would it sell out? Having a jam packed Ring of Fire would be a huge boost for the players and could be enough to get them up for the 3 points.

Of course Terry and the club will lose out on ticket revenue for approx. 8,000 people, maybe 1,000 of those would be members. But on the flip side how important is some momentum going into the business end of the season and a playoff run is worth a lot more for the rep of the Nix than 7,000 gate takings.

Discuss.

Kids are free to this match

Well with the prevailent use of kids tickets by adults, it should be a sellout! :P

i do think we wanna try pack the house for this game, but na i don't think free would b the right way to go.

I think a great initiative would be dollar tickets or something. Would that have the same draw as free?

Not enough time to get the message out, people out of town on holidays, angst from season ticket holders.

Three reasons not to for starters.
Hard News2010-12-23 11:03:37

IMHO Kids should be free for all midweek matches. Especially with the new schedule placing all midweek matches in the school holiday period from next season onwards. 

Good call News, didn't think about the holiday part.

Kids free is good, especially during school holidays there should be a good turn out in that respect.

How did GCU and NQF get around the season ticket holder angst?

they have very little supporters to worry about anyway.

Nah fury have a decent support, but its for the best of the club's survival

Not everyone love the booze like you.

At Reading they pioneered "Kids for a quid" at least twice a season. Was so popular a lot of other championship clubs took it on

If you guys want more people to a game you could just play it in Christchurch.....

Yes, a troll.

The others have done it in the hope it'll draw crowds along to future games. Or perhaps the FFA have given them a crowd average target,and theyre fudging the numbers by letting people in free.

What about Superannuintant's free. Roll out the grannies!

I think the playoff run of last year has proven that the Nix can sellout ROF with enough interest, surely free tickets would do that.

What's another game in late Jan / early Feb that would suit?

Free senior citizens might actually work pretty damn well, look how the gold card took off.

Maybe they just told season holders to get over it? As a season holder myself, i dont see what all this angst is about. I dont care if i bought a pass and then found out a couple of games might be free, its not like ive wasted money. Id still be getting in at an over all lower cost than if i bought tickets at the gate every week, even with a couple of free games.

Who here would honestly think to themselves 'ah f**k ive wasted money'? Youve got your pass and your seat, even if the crowd was 35k. You havent lost anything, youve got what you paid for at the start of the season - access to every home game.

In fact your experience would be better having another 30k in attendance.

And you would be in the majority, but it's always the 4 or 5 idiots who complain the loudest that get heard. Just like the people who complain to the broadcasting standards authority.

It's a big gamble for Terry. Obviously it comes out of his pocket if he opens up the gates. He'd be hoping a big part of those that come for free will come back and pay a couple of times. Which the majority won't because most people come running at the hint of a freebie. Clive Palmer has that money to throw around, unlike Terry.

went from 2,000-2,500 to 10,000 at skilled park.

Right. Good in percentage terms, but hardly capacity. Not even 50% of capacity. If that's a guide, we'd get a crowd of 15,000. Be nice to get that level again, but is it worth it to the club? How many will come back?

I think the lure of free tickets would be huge here. The stadium is ideally located,Wellington always turns up for an event (especially a free one),and out of towners would think they may as well make the travel for it (which is something other A league sides don't really have)

They had 'sold' about 21k tickets. the sh*tty weather kept a lot away.

Yikes. 21k tickets taken, of which 11k didn't turn up? Not encouraging - was that the rained off game though? If so, then the 11k no shows is probably exceptional.

yep was the rained off game.

sorry correction, 25k had registered for the free tickets. They have offered $5 off the price of the ticket for GCU's game against Perth on 3 January if they show their ticket from the abandoned game.

http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=37621

Gold Coast crowd encouraging

Hyundai A-League chief Lyall Gorman and Gold Coast United CEO Clive Mensink have both praised the 10,146 fans who braved miserable conditions to see Sunday afternoon's match against the Central Coast Mariners called off after 19 minutes.

Days of torrential rain on the Gold Coast turned the Skilled Park pitch into more of a mudbath than a football ground, prompting referee Chris Beath to declare the game over, ruining what was meant to be Clive Palmer's celebration of the efforts made by Frank Lowy and the FFA in their bid for the 2022 World Cup.

The fact that so many redeemed their free tickets in such abhorrent weather showed there is still life in football on the Gold Coast, but Gorman said the ball is now in the community's court to show their support once more, with Palmer offering $5 off the price for January 3's match against Perth Glory if fans show their ticket from today's abandoned game.

"It's super, there's no doubt about that. There were 25,000 (tickets registered) off the system which is awesome and it tells you there's still a bit of oxygen up here, there's still people who believe in the game and they've got to come and prove that now," Gorman said.

"There are two telling home games coming up where they have to come back and really show Clive Palmer that it's worthwhile from his point of view. I think it's very encouraging."

Gorman also declared that Beath made the only decision he could in the conditions.

"The referee is the sole arbitrator and if he thinks it's unsafe, that's it. It's their job to look after players. If the ball stops and players are still anticipating it you start to get collisions and you risk injury," he said.

"It's not fair to risk careers, let alone a week or two of injury, for a bad decision just to force a game. It's disappointing for the fans, it was a costly exercise for the club, it's frustrating, but what do you do? We move on."

Mensink said that despite a disappointing end to what was set to be an historic afternoon, the club was satisfied with the attendance, now the club's record A-League home crowd, and delighted with the build-up to the free admission extravaganza.

"Even though we didn't play, football is really the winner today. The whole lead-up this week has been very supportive and we had great support from the local community, local businesses and local media outlets," Mensink said. "They've all really gotten behind this week and it's just been a great effort all round from the Gold Coast."

"We're satisfied to get over 10,000 and it's great for the supporters to get out here and show the boys their support for the Gold Coast. There were people still coming in as the game was called off and it's very heartening. We've just got to wait and see when it'll be rescheduled."

Are we really as desperate as GCU and NQF? the 'Nix are worth the cash and don't need a free day, and it is ridiculous to ask Terry to cough up for one.

I agree. But I think free kids is a good idea.

I still think a Dollar game would be interesting.

Sell out and they still take in at least 30 grand?

vs 5,000 people @$20 (complete guess at price,think it may even be more) = $100,000

exactly, so the club still generates interest but dosent make as big of a loss

depends what stadium rental is

How about every kid that plays football on a Saturday morning gets a free ticket as long as they are accompanied by an adult? Both would enjoy the experience and want to return, and next time perhaps invite more friends. Additionally the kid would be inspired to follow local footballers and would be a Nix fan for life.

I agree that the Nix don't need to do a free-for-all, but kids free, particularly kids who play football, would be a great way to increase thee fan base.

I don't think copying the actions of GCU & NQF is such a great idea considering both those teams are going bust.
The Phoenix have already shown they can fill the stadium with actual paying customers by winning games and making the finals.

If we're going to throw money away we'd be better off throwing it on a goalscorer who will bring us the hype and the goals to take us to the finals.  Then we'll get those crowds back. 

With Melbourne, Adelaide and Gold Coast all going hard at the market to try and catch Brisbane (and you have to think the Reinaldo money is burning a hole in their pockets as well) we need to find that vital ingrediant to turn games like Sydney away in to wins.

Either a gun striker or a true playmaker