Aston Villa’s business operations head Chris Heck gives insight to club’s financial strategy
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Aston Villa
Tickets for Aston Villa’s first home Champions League game against Bayern Munich sold out in record time, but seats for Bologna’s trip to Villa Park have now gone on general sale. General admission tickets will probably soon sell out, but it speaks volumes that it hasn’t happened yet, less than a week before kick-off. The reason for this is, of course, the ludicrous pricing strategy which was implemented for each of the four league phase games. In this cost of living crisis, many supporters wouldn’t have entertained the idea of purchasing a ticket even if Villa are playing in the Champions League, also knowing the cost and hassle of traveling to the stadium, while food and drink are hardly cheap in and around the ground either.
For example, a family of four non-season ticket holders, two adults and two U18s, would have to pay £230 to sit in either zone three or zone four before splashing out on other matchday costs. The cost for those four tickets for one Champions League league phase fixture would rise to £248 in zone two and a staggering £376 in zone one. The club deserves some credit for capping U18 season holders prices to £20, but it rises to £30 for U18 non-season ticket holders. That’s how many fell in love with Villa in the first place.
Chris Heck told Crossing Broad Sports, “It’s part of the culture of like everything is just so critically important to them. Everything. To be fair to them, they don’t have four other sports to dive into. They don’t have college sports – that doesn’t exist. It’s European football that’s it. That’s what matters. It really is more than lifestyle. It’s their family, it’s generational, and everyone takes it really personally. I respect that and you have to be very careful with it, but I also want to win. I was reading something last night and every once in a while, and I’ve been pretty good about getting off social media, but I was getting destroyed yesterday for something. I can’t even remember what it was, but it was something that has been wildly successful and I’m getting just destroyed on the whole thing. It’s like 20 or 30 people killing you. You’re kind of like this is the game, this is the deal. But what I’ve been saying to everybody is that I’m not claiming to be the expert on the sporting side. I’m an expert on the business side and I’m not apologising for that. I do believe that I surround myself with really good people and I do believe that I will deliver results and I do believe that they’ll be happy in the end.”
He also talked about the club’s financial strategy,
Chris Heck said “I think that everything affects one another and this affects positivity for our fans. Our plan is to go out with renewals for our general admission adult ticket at a five per cent increase which is fairly modest. We recognise and understand the depth of passion felt amongst fans and their recent frustration around ticket pricing. Here in the Premier League, you could have the richest owners in the world and it doesn’t matter, it’s how much you actually generate. So how do you do that without ticking off your most loyal fans? Far from it. If Villa do achieve that, will the price of tickets dramatically decrease? It’s highly unlikely.”
Despite the wealth behind V Sports, Villa are unable to continue spending what they would like to due to financial restrictions related to the amount of money which they currently make. This season’s Champions League pricing strategy must be amended at the next possible opportunity because these are the years which fans must have the opportunity to cherish together. But by then, many fans who simply cannot afford the prices of tickets will have missed out on those big nights at Villa Park that provide experiences like no other.
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