Firstly, I want to thank you all for your immense support of the men’s and women’s teams this season – at home and on the road; I know how much it means to the players and staff.
I also want to thank you for the warm welcome since I joined mid-March, including the event last week in the Phoenix Pub.
The immediate business priority when I joined was to review proposals for season tickets, tickets and membership pricing for next season, and I must thank Kris Stewart, Bal Srai, Marc Jones and Laurie Hill for their efforts in pulling the plan together which has been refined in recent weeks ahead of going on sale next week, before the Walsall game.
Ahead of the launch, I thought it may be helpful to provide some background information – as we have made some changes.
With regards season tickets, there is a balance to strike between:
- ensuring there is revenue growth to positively impact the playing budget,
- covering increasing costs of running and maintaining our fabulous stadium,
- ensuring we remain affordable for newcomers – especially at a time of cost of living pressures, and crucially,
- ensuring a season ticket represents outstanding value for money for our most loyal and committed supporters.
In a nutshell, we’ve chosen to freeze early bird season ticket pricing in the Ry Stand (Family areas and Standard areas) at last season’s rates. At £350 and £395 respectively for adults, our cheapest season ticket is a shade over £15 a game based on a 23 league match season, and with children’s season tickets beginning at £35, or £1.52 a game, we are confident this is an attractive offer for families and prospective supporters.
Supporters in all other areas of the Cherry Red Records stadium will notice an increase in their season ticket renewal price, but this is capped at less than £2 per game.
I very much hope that supporters feel that season tickets represent excellent value for money and intend to renew for next season.
We are also going to amend the ticket resale process so season ticket holders who cannot attend games are incentivised to resell their ticket for specific matches. The most important thing for us is to ensure that every seat is filled to maximise support for Johnnie’s team. The last thing we want to see is unused blue and yellow seats – no-one wins in this scenario.
Currently, supporters receive 20 per cent of their match ticket value in the event of a successful re-sale. We are going to increase this to 70 per cent.
To bring this to life, if your Season Ticket costs £460, you are effectively paying £20 per match for your seat. If you can’t attend a match that is sold out, we are on hand to help resell your ticket – and if we are successful in doing so you’d receive £14 as credit on your account. This season you would have received just £4 in credit. My hope is that this extra incentive will encourage more supporters to take advantage of the scheme.
I’m aware that the process of re-sale is a little fiddly, and we will do everything in our control to simplify it. Please also remember we can only offer this service for games that are sold-out or approaching a sell-out, but we will make a conscious effort to give you advance warning of games that are likely to be eligible for ticket resale.
I ask for your support in this matter – if you’re unable to join us for a game, please offer it to a friend, inform our Ticketing team you aren’t using it so we can try to resell it, or list it for resale, should it be made available for that game.
Elsewhere, we have worked closely with the Dons Trust Board to alter and further enhance the ‘membership’ package for next season.
Essentially we are simplifying membership and making it more inclusive. From next season, members will receive benefits and rights. The benefits will be provided by the Club including shop discounts and ticket priority, whilst the right to vote on important matters and stand for election will be provided by the Dons Trust, the owners of our Club.
And we fundamentally believe that all season ticket holders should be members of the Dons Trust, the owners of the Club, because they are committed to supporting the team week-in week-out. So we are assigning membership automatically to season ticket holders. This gives them a voice and a vote on the future of the Club and enables them to enjoy other Club benefits.
This will come at no extra cost to season ticket holders.
Together with the Trust we will also make this membership, with rights and benefits, available to non-season ticket holders to buy for £50 (adults), £35 (concessions). We believe that this approach makes joining our Club simple, compelling, and attractive for all our supporters. And with our brilliant Junior Dons membership for children and young people, we have products to cater for everyone.
One of the main reasons I wanted to join AFC Wimbledon was its unique fan ownership model, and I believe this change is a major step towards maximising this opportunity, which in turn will help us write the next chapter of our club’s extraordinary story.
Elsewhere, we are finalising our plans for matchday hospitality for next season – and if you are interested in joining us in one of our outstanding premium areas I encourage you to contact my colleagues via hospitality@afcwimbledon.ltd.uk.
All the details around season tickets and memberships will be outlined in more detail on the website soon.
I hope this update has been useful; I intend to issue similar updates when we have important news and projects to share with you. Thanks again for your immense and continued support, and I very much hope you choose to join us next season.
Come on you Dons.
James
In the latest episode of our Official AFC Wimbledon Podcast, James Woodroof discussed his first month or so at Plough Lane.
