West Ham ticket prices

[Garawa]

Everybody is lauding this article http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32399291 about how West Ham have slashed ticket prices because of the massive TV deal signed recently. Not sure if I am being cynical or not but its very easy to slash prices when you are given what will be nearly £80m just for turning up! Not only that but they have an extra 19,000 seats to fill. They won't want a half empty stadium in their first season so can afford to cut them if it brings in a similar amount of revenue as a full Upton Park.

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

I expect it wont be long before us in Kent get leaflets through the door encouraging us to watch West Ham.

[shoutingman]

That would make sense though KFG, wouldn't it? The High Speed link from the coast through Medway and stops at Stratford, right outside the stadium. A ticket for £289 to see every Premiership team next season would appeal to a lot of people - even if one only went to see, say, 10 of those matches.
Might even consider getting one myself. Then if Gills are away in the North (many of our games will be next season) and WHU are home to Arsenal or Man U and it's only a 45 minute train journey from Rainham, that's worth thinking about....
Guess these comments may upset a few people

[Elgrande]

Not any more; I have come to realise that support and being a fan are two different things. I would not go even if the ticket and the transport was free. How you can watch a game without being involved supporting a team confuses me to say the least. I have been invited to watch games from a VIP box on a few occasions, but I always found an excuse not to go. Watching football with neutral fans is worse than going to the dentist.

[gillsfan1066]

WHU, one of the teams I liked as a kid,mainly because they also won the World Cup for England in 66, and Dad was a Bobby Moore fan. I am afraid if I lived in Gillingham it would be hard for me NOT to buy a season ticket to WHU,although I think their fans a a despicable bunch especially when they play Spurs.
To tell you the truth if it came to a toss up between Gillingham, 16th in table playing Port Vale 18th in the table at home, or WHU playing Man Utd, I would be hard pressed to go to the Gills game.
Gillingham FC has had 50+++ years of my life, give or take a couple I lost in Thailand, and apart from one brief moment when we were there playing the almost big boys and holding our own , in the 2002/3 season ( with a record almost identical to this years in win) , they have done nothing but cause me grief and heartache, well apart from making it to the final of the Kent Cup , now that is a BIG DEAL.
So Elgrande you don't watch any football on TV, no European games, no World Cup Games if England are not playing ?

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

I personally wont pay to watch another Team,but I can see quite a few taking up their offers,like they did when Charlton did a similar scheme.

[Elgrande]

Yes 1066 I watch other games, but not with any real passion and I will do other things while the games are on especially now I am in Spain and have no English TV.

[fan_of_mulligan]

I think West Ham United have a large enough fanbase and a huge waiting list for Season Tickets that West Ham will not have to entice supporters from Kent to support West Ham.

I have been The Withdean and The Don Valley Stadium and I am not a fan of athletics tracks around a football pitch, and West Ham got The Olympic Stadium on the promise that The Olympic Stadium will still have a athletics track.

The club who could suffer the most is Leyton Orient, because Leyton Orient is very close to The Olympic Stadium and reduced prices to watch Premier League Football and the possibility of Leyton Orient playing in League Two, could see some of there supporters turn there backs on Leyton Orient (especially with the way the club has been run since Barry Hearn sold the club to Francesco Becchetti).

[Garawa]

I think that's the key issue and it follows on from what Shoutingman says, the issue about "encroaching" on the territory of another club is wrong and I believe there are rules in place (that were broken in the West Ham v Leyton Orient case) to prevent it. However it won't stop people migrating that way and it would be understandable. Then you will end with what Elgrande talks about, a stadium full of non-supporters there to watch the opposition mainly. It's fine for a while but a few cold Tuesday nights will soon weed the numbers down. Then what? Something closer with more of an affiliation? That's why clubs like ours will never die. We are even seeing it with record shops that are returning in large numbers as people want the tangibility of things again rather than everything sitting anonymously on their phones.