Sailors Season Pass worth the money?

NOTE: This article was updated at 7:30pm on 11 Feb, roughly 24 hours after it was first published. The change is in the comparison table you will see below. A reader commented very helpfully that one advantage of the Season Pass holder is that they do not need to pay a SISTIC surcharge of S$1 per ticket. This SISTIC surcharge applies whether you buy a ticket in person at the ticketing counter, or online via SISTIC’s web portal. This thus makes a slight difference to how much you save as a Season Pass holder. However, the conclusion is still the same – the Season Pass seems a tad overpriced. Please continue reading this article to see my elaboration on that.

This week saw the long-awaited release of Crew membership and Season Pass details by the club. I think it’s safe to say that there has been a lot of debate and unhappiness about the cost of the Season Pass (S$148), esp because it was priced at S$80 last year. In today’s post, I hope to be able to comprehensively present to you any and all facts that you may need to decide whether or not it’s worth it to get the Crew membership, and the Season Pass. First order of business, what is the difference?

Crew Membership v Season Pass

Crew Membership does NOT get you any tickets. It merely entitles you to a 20% discount on all home games (5 tickets per match). For popular games, you may still need to ensure you book early to secure your seat. From last year’s experience, this is not the case with the Season Pass, which guaranteed you a seat. However, to get the Season Pass, you need to first be a Crew member.

What comes with the Crew Membership?

• 20% discount on all home games (max 5 tickets per match per Crew member)
• A Crew Pack, which includes
  • Membership card, which will be needed for all the partner perks below
  • Sailors scarf
  • Sailors lanyard
  • Sailors stickers
• 5 x Shopee vouchers for use on the LCS Shopee Store (20% off vouchers)
• Eligibility to apply for a 2023 LCS Season Pass (more on this later)
• Partner perks, such as
  • 20% discount in Puma stores until the end of March 2023, 15% discount in Puma stores thereafter
  • Some discounts at a car grooming service provider (Prime Auto Care)
  • Some F&B privileges, of which two in particular stand out – #WLJK and Goodbites. These two stand out because they are situated next to Jalan Besar Stadium and Bishan Stadium, respectively, so they may be most relevant to us on matchdays.
  • Rebates at a childcare service (Star Learners)
  • For details, please refer to Memberships – Lion City Sailors FC
• Exclusive invites to unique experiences (more on this later)

What comes with the Season Pass?

• Guaranteed seat at all Home matches in the SPL calendar (12 matches)
• Guaranteed seat at all Home matches in the Singapore Cup Calendar (3 matches minimum)

What about away games and home AFC games (i.e. Champions League or AFC Cup matches)?

• Away games: I have enquired with the club and the Season Pass does not automatically include access to away games. There is no confirmation yet on how away games will be dealt with this year, and whether they will be free for fans.
  • Usually, for away games, it’s up to the clubs to negotiate with the home team as to how many tickets they will release for LCS fans. Once LCS gets the number, they then notify the fans.
  • Last year, how the club handled their away ticket allocation is they sent an e-mail to Crew members (take note, not just Season Pass holders, but all Crew members), and they were invited to reserve an away ticket for themselves. This was on a first-come-first-served basis, which sometimes meant that some Crew members were not able to get tickets for away games.
  • These tickets were free of charge.
• AFC Champions League / AFC Cup games: I have enquired with the club and the Season Pass does not include access to away games. These will be charged separately.

The Million-Dollar Question – Worth or not to sign up for Season Pass?

Well not quite a million dollars, but it’s S$148 if you’re between the ages of 17 and 54. If you are 16 and below, or 55 and above, congrats – a Season Pass will only cost you S$88.

So let’s do the math. I set out in a table below what you pay if you’re attending 10, 11, 12, or 15 games. This will hopefully provide a rough gauge for what you might want to go for, if you’re talking pure financial terms. Remember, it’s S$148 for the season pass, but I have factored in that you need to pay S$48 to be a Crew member before you can apply for the Season Pass, so the total is S$196.

From the above tables, you can see how clear it is that being a Season Pass holder only makes sense if you are confident that you will be able to attend close to all of the games. It is a pretty high price and leaves very little “margin” for you to miss games. As we know, sometimes life gets busy, and you may have a work dinner, or someone’s birthday party to attend, and then have to miss a game or two. The most you can miss is 3 games, before it would be cheaper for you to just get the Crew membership.

As for SISTIC, as mentioned above, this S$1 charge applies to tickets, even if you don’t use the SISTIC online portal. Tickets bought at the counter on matchday are also subject to this S$1 surcharge,

Given that the financial incentive to sign up as a Season Pass holder is not the best, one difference I can think of is that Season Pass holders are assured a seat. They do not have to rush with the rest of the Crew members, or members of the public when seats are released. It’s not first-come-first-served basis for them, they get a guaranteed seat in the house. However, given that very few games sell out, this may or may not be something that features a lot in your thinking.

How about sharing of Crew membership?

Some ingenious ones among us have come up with the idea of sharing memberships. Since each Crew membership is allowed to purchase 5 tickets, how about we just share memberships, and buy tickets for each other? In theory, this is a brilliant idea. You still get discounted tickets, and you are still able to enjoy the merchandise discounts (just not as many vouchers for yourself since you are sharing with your friends). You and your friends can share a membership and still watch games together. Let me talk you through the down-side to ensure you are comfortable with this.

Take note that Season Pass holders and Crew Members are registered individually. One Season Pass holder is one person – one Crew Member is also one person. On the website, you can see that part of being a Crew member is the privilege of receiving invites to “unique experiences that will bring you closer to the players and club that you love“. In the past few years in the teething stages of implementing the Crew membership, when it was cheaper (and for some, free), it was perhaps not easy for the club to receive a clear signal that the Crew members were fully onboard and passionate about the club.

With the Crew membership being priced at S$48 now, you can be sure only true fans will sign up. True fans who intend on watching as many games as they can, who will check the scores of LCS matches even if they’re overseas, etc. This is the group of fans that surely the club will want to “reward” with the unique experiences. From previous years’ experience, the club has organised exclusive events for the bigger fans, such as player meet-and-greets, friendly games with other fans and staff, watch-along sessions in a booked-out theatre when the team was playing in the Champions League in Buriram, merchandise launch pop-up events, etc.

Moving forward, the club will probably use the same model to invite true fans to such exclusive events. By sharing a membership, you run the very real risk of not being able to attend an event that you might want to go for. For example, if there is an event to launch a potential 3rd kit, or if there is a player meet-and-greet session, you will most likely not be able to sign up as 5 people sharing one membership – only one of you can attend. That’s gonna be sad.

My further views on Season Pass and why I am getting one

Let me first state this loud and clear – I think the Season Pass is overpriced. As stated above, there is too little margin for me to not attend games, and if I miss 4 games, I immediately “rugi“. And then if you compare it to Albirex and what you can get, the difference is stark.

Albirex get a jersey along with a season pass for S$200. A rather unfavourable comparison when you realise that for S$196, we don’t get a jersey (or at least a jersey voucher).

However, I think the club isn’t naive. And I am sure they’ll already have noticed all the online rumblings (including this article). Building on from what I have said above about how becoming a Crew member is a signal to the club that you’re a true fan, because you’re setting aside S$48 to get discounted tickets in future, I think setting aside a total of S$196 for a Season Pass is then a signal to the club that you’re a super fan.

I am sure that the club will notice that as of now, there’s not much difference between being a Crew member and being a Season Pass holder. Does that potentially mean that the club will think of ways and means to make their Season Pass fans, their super fans, feel a little bit special? Perhaps. Maybe these fans will be first in line when it comes to away ticket allocation. Maybe they get double the chance in a lucky draw to watch LCS play overseas. Maybe these fans get to bring along a partner to a meet-and-greet event while other Crew members can only go by themselves. I don’t know, and the club has made no such promises. I am just thinking out loud and the optimist in me believes that this group of fans will somehow get a few privileges that others don’t.

Whatever you choose to do, I, and all of us at SailorFanTalk can’t wait for the season to get started, and can’t wait to see all of you in the stands.

For more details, please visit Memberships – Lion City Sailors FC

Written by Eddy Hirono