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Should Season Tickets Include I-Follow?

Discussion in 'City Talk' started by Bigrod, Feb 16, 2021.

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Should City offer I-Follow as part of the Season Ticket Package

  1. Yes

    41 vote(s)
    74.5%
  2. No

    14 vote(s)
    25.5%
  1. Wolfysmith

    Wolfysmith Impact Sub

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    Just an observation - but would any change to the current iFollow broadcast rights need the agreement of all the clubs signed up to to iFollow?
     
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  2. Bigrod

    Bigrod Captain
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    Fair point. But the clubs quickly came to a consensus in respect of I-follow for this season!

    In regard to your point of ‘all the clubs’, then City and I understand one other club, voted against the salary cap. The EFL appear to have proceeded on the basis of a majority vote. No obvious reason why they couldn’t do that again.

    In the first instance the suggestion would just apply to home matches.
     
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  3. Mike Hunt

    Mike Hunt Impact Sub

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    The genie is out of the bottle a bit here, I find it hard to believe anything will be back to exactly the same as it was 12 months ago, there will inevitably be a change in the way iFollow is used.
    Virtual reality headsets, that’s the next way to watch football, when Facebook gets some PL rights they’ll charge a fortune for it.
     
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  4. ahar964

    ahar964 Squad Player
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    Here's my view for what it's worth regarding ifollow going forward. I have stated it on BT before. I don't know how it would work in practice. I go to all the home games and a few away games. Regardless of availability on ifollow that won't change (even if its raining or cold!) because it's about the match experience. However there is very little chance that I would ever go to, say, Exeter away, because I can't afford the time. But I would pay a tenner, or maybe even the price of a matchday ticket, to watch that match on ifollow. So potentially that's £20 that could be going back into the game that wouldn't otherwise. I am sure there must be hundreds of City fans and tens of thousands of fans nationwide in the same position.
     
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  5. Stafford Bantam

    Stafford Bantam Captain
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    I've 'attended' a few gigs using my VR headset; very impressed with the technology and even more excited about where it will go over the next few years.
     
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  6. Bronco

    Bronco Star Player
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    No idea whats involved with VR headsets etc, but was your gigs in real time, or do you purchase it after the event ?.
     
  7. Stafford Bantam

    Stafford Bantam Captain
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    Real time.

    As an example, I attended a few gigs at SXSW (South by South West) in Austin, Texas, all from the comfort of home. You can chat with fellow attendees (wherever in the world they may actually be) and see and hear the people who are actually physically there.

    Depending on how big an event is (i.e. how much the provider is willing to spend), you can get anything from a set viewing point, right through to the ability to pick your own seat and, if you are not happy, move seats during the event.

    Technically, it would be possible to watch a match from on the pitch and experience what it's like to have one of Danny Rowe's thunderbolts hurtle towards you.
     
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  8. Bronco

    Bronco Star Player
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    Wow that's great picking your seat etc, so your outlay is a good VR headset and then a payment for the gig.
    And to have a similar set up for football is unreal for a Silver Surfer like me
     
  9. Stafford Bantam

    Stafford Bantam Captain
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    It's early days for the technology so, for now, many events are free, a bit like the early days of Sky Sports.

    Most of the sporting events are either from the US or are of less high value sports (e.g. tennis) and, of course, everything has been hit by the pandemic so, currently, events are few and far between.

    Before, say, the EFL even considers going down the VR route, it needs to sort out the quality of its iFollow broadcasts. VR would be very unforgiving of low bandwitdth issues.
     
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  10. Stafford Bantam

    Stafford Bantam Captain
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    Whether or not VR takes off in the next few years, as @Mike Hunt@Mike Hunt states the genie is well and truly out of the bottle.

    Clubs, including City, need to plan for a world where your attendance is made up of those physically present and those watching remotely. If we try and cut off those watching remotely, then we will be damaging what is likely to develop into a huge revenue stream.

    With huge uncertainties still surrounding the game, because of the pandemic, iFollow access for all matches should be quickly agreed for the 2021/22 season. This will allow clubs to plan with a bit more certainty.

    Again, because of the uncertainties, I see little choice other than to come up with a season ticket option, for 2021/22, that again includes iFollow, as this protects the Club against having to issue refunds if supporters are unable to physically attend matches.

    Remember some clubs are facing the prospect of having to refund supporters for this season, whilst others have charged amounts way in excess of the iFollow prices, with no refund built into the terms and conditions.

    If we are expecting decent season ticket sales for 2021/22 we must have a degree of certainty, a promise that one way or another supporters will be able to watch matches. Otherwise we will have an impossible job in persuading some of our supporter base to buy the product.
     
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  11. Rogered Tart

    Rogered Tart Regular Starter
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    Like anything in football, its always one of the last sports to embrace technology in any way. We may yearn for the old days (there were things that were better years back) but we have to accept the world has moved on since the days of a pie and a pint and 90 minutes stood with your mates on terracing. The game has tried to embraced a new audience of women and families, fans from different backgrounds and with this comes new ways of watching football. My take on watching football is of a past generation and that thinking is also of the past. Clubs must take these new ways of making revenue on board as to not do so is short sighted and bad for business.
     
  12. fredm

    fredm Emergency Backup
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    Well, thankfully we have a young sprog in charge of the day to day running of the club, one who is well versed in modern communications etc. so hopefully we will not be left behind as things change going forwards.
     
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  13. NorthernMonkey

    NorthernMonkey Squad Player
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    I'd understand more where there are covid or health concerns but for anyone else, if they want to watch their team on TV, go support a PL club.

    Taking fans away from the stadium is the fastest way to kill a lower league club.

    TV streaming = Far less admission money from both home and away fans as the atmosphere dwindles due to the lower crowds.

    Less revenue taken at the ground through food and drink plus the lost revenue for the club shop.

    Less commercial and sponsorship income stemming from the broadcasting of ever increasing numbers of empty seats.

    A poorer matchday experience, especially for floating fans and children, many who may then not return.

    Without fans football is nothing and lost league fans wanting more of their games broadcast live is like Turkeys voting for Christmas.
     
  14. Bigrod

    Bigrod Captain
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    There are some on here (probably in the crowd), who don’t like to move forward. They always refer backwards. Nostalgia. It was always better ‘back in the day’.

    Well moving forward, meant that supporters no longer have to stand in the open, exposed to the elements. Fine in August and May, but right now the last place I would want to be is on the old kop!
    upload_2021-2-18_14-53-22.png

    Times change and society constantly moves forward. For sure preserve your heritage, but don’t get stuck in a ‘no can do’ mentality.

    A versatile approach, preserving elements of the past, but embracing change, is surely the way forward.

    My oldest is now out in California. She has the i-follow international package (home and away games), watches every match (long lunchtimes over there for midweek games). Without I-follow she would be lost to City. With this facility she remains up to date, she puts something into the club and we share whatsap views on how the games are progressing. My youngest is down in London, again she is seeing far more of City now than she would had it been a ‘normal’ season.
     
  15. Stafford Bantam

    Stafford Bantam Captain
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    And that's exactly it.

    With careful planning, packages can be developed that keep the ground relatively full and yet achieve home 'attendances' far in excess of 25,000.

    I remember how the big players in the music industry fought the internet in its early days; eventually new players came along, who embraced the internet and the music scene was changes forever, with many of the old players being squeezed out.

    iFollow is still in the embryonic stage, but even now we are starting to see away support of 2,731 at Cambridge United, 2,502 at Southend United and 3,095 at Exeter City, all far in excess of any physical following we could have taken.

    The trick will be to find the right balance to ensure that matches retain that special atmosphere that only the presence of fans can bring.

    Embrace the technology, but don't abandon tradition. Over to you Ryan.
     
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  16. Rogered Tart

    Rogered Tart Regular Starter
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    I think its a problem generally in football where its fan base hankers for the past a bit too much. There is stuff i miss about the old days of football, the atmosphere which generally had died over in this country. But other stuff such as using phones to enter stadia and pay for food and drink should be a given these days as should general facilities such as toilets and wash basins. I'd not really used ifollow much due to being able to get to a lot of the games but have seen its benefits during the pandemic. Despite what some say, its here to stay and should be used to its full potential.
     
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  17. Offcomedun

    Offcomedun Important Player
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    I've watched nearly every game on iFollow this season. It's been a godsend in these crazy days. When we are all back in grounds safely I'll certainly attend every home game I can in person. But the routine established this season means I'll almost certainly pay for many more away games on iFollow than I used to do. But that won't stop me enjoying a few proper away trips each season - there's nothing quite like the experience of a winning away trip.
    What I would hope though, is that iFollow ups it's game technically. One static camera isn't really acceptable in this day and age. I wouldn't expect Sky/BBC level coverage but at least one other angle for replays surely isn't asking too much.
     
  18. Bigrod

    Bigrod Captain
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    Like you I like an away day. The London ones mean we often see people who can’t readily get back up to Bradford.

    Another factor for having I-follow, is to allow those who cannot readily get to matches for health or mobility issues, yet are ardent City fans. A lot of supporters are getting older, as I have said several times before, a lot live a fair distance away. As you get older, you are probably not as resilient as in the past, yet you still want to follow your team, something which some on here have been doing since the 1950’s! I-follow would help to facilitate that.
     
  19. A64 Bantam

    A64 Bantam Emergency Backup

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    Agree entirely. You can’t beat being there in person but ifollow has been the next best thing. This could be the first season ever where I will have seen every game thanks to ifollow.
     
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  20. Petrov

    Petrov Squad Player

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    And that is the crux of the matter - you can't beat being there in person. Everyone that is suggesting a continuation of ifollow will lead to lower attendances at the ground would do well to remember that the vast majority of fans hold the view that being there is far superior to watching on ifollow. I think continuing with it is a real opportunity to increase revenue, not lose it, for all of the reasons already mentioned by others in this thread.
    I wonder how many that are calling for season tickets to be increased are also the ones saying no to ifollow still being an option going forward? I would argue that the former runs the risk of lowering attendences far more than the latter does, yet plenty are saying it should happen.
     
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