season pass – SailorFanTalk

[Specials] The Deck – A Bold Initiative Aimed at Drawing New Fans

I know, I know. You are a little angry about the underwhelming kit launch, especially for the white kit. First thing I’ll say is there will be a video and article dealing with that in due course, but not yet, I need to talk about membership first because the club hasn’t announced full details yet, and I am hoping somehow that this article will give them some food for thought. Also – don’t buy the shirts yet, if you were planning to. Let’s wait and see if membership brings with it any other discounts. If you wanna buy a shirt and you can’t wait, may I suggest you just buy last season’s kit instead. It’s so similar – and it is a whole S$15 cheaper. Do the smart thing haha. The Deck Some weeks back, the club announced that they are doing away with season passes, and instead would be launching a whole new membership program. Four main features of the new membership program are that 1) it’s free to join, 2) the first match ticket for a home game is free, 3) tickets thereafter are permanently 50% off, and 4) you scale up the membership tiers as you attend more and more home games – in the process “unlocking a treasure trove of rewards“. There has been no release of details on what these rewards may be, or what other stuff this membership program entails. The club has said that come May, they will be revealing more details. Crucially, and back on the topic of jerseys – the kit launch has happened but we still do not know if there will be discounts on the shirts. Hopefully this is addressed quickly, but my advice is don’t buy first, adopt a wait-and-see approach. The Benefits of this Radical New Approach When I first heard of this new approach, I thought it was certainly a bold one. It does a few things – Allow me to elaborate. More People in the Stadium Last season, games cost S$16 including the Sistic charge for non-members, and S$13 for members. Assuming ticket prices do not go above S$22 (it is rumoured to be S$20), then we are looking at a saving for all members. Given that membership is free, it would be somewhat odd that you wouldn’t sign up for membership, so I think we can assume there will be a lot of “members” who are actually neutral, or even support other clubs. (Kinda like the time I signed up to be a Spurs member just so I could watch the Champions League game between FC Barcelona and Spurs, and witness first-hand Messi destroying the team I hate so much. All while sat in their stands pretending to be their fan. Oh, memories.) But therein lies a chance to convert these people. Assuming that the away fans are gonna prefer to sit on the away end, what we might end up having is neutrals curious to watch a game, especially with the first ticket being absolutely free. What is key now is thus the matchday experience for these fans. Is the club confident that these fans will like what they see? Not just on the pitch but off it as well? I hope the Crew can do its part to create an atmosphere that everyone can be proud of. If you are reading this and you’d like to be part of the Crew, roaring on our boys week in week out, do drop me a DM on Instagram or Twitter, and we’d love to have you on board! More Targetted Benefits and Perks Fans have said that they feel the Sailors can do more for their fans. If you haven’t read it yet, please read Chin Heng’s wishlist for this season, and he perfectly encapsulates the thoughts of some fans – basically better fan engagement, and more peripheral activities for fans. However, for this to happen, I agree with the way the club has done it – it needs an accurate way to identify who are the hardcore fans. It is easy to point to people like myself and Joseph as “hardcore fans”, because we are loud, we set up a fan media channel, and we are always front and centre – interviewing players, interviewing fans, shouting our lungs out week in week out. But that’s not all the hardcore fans. Some fans prefer to support the club in a more understated way. Currently, it is harder to identify people like that, because they might come every week, but they might be tucked away in the corners of the ground, sitting near the back. Unless they come forward and make friends with the Crew, or with club staff, they might feel a bit neglected when it comes to club-organised events. So with the new structure, there will be objective proof of how “hardcore” you are. If the club wants to organise an intimate BBQ party featuring some players and some fans, but they only have 50 slots, the club will then have a list on their hands, and sort out who may be most “deserving” of a slot in the party. This is not foolproof by the way. If it comes down to a drummer for the Crew who has attended 15 games that season, and drummed non-stop for 90min on each occasion, but missed some games due to work, and someone who quietly sits in a corner with his family but has attended 16 games that season, who is more deserving of a slot at the BBQ party? There is no correct answer here I guess. Other Cons of this New Approach As for the cons – I immediately thought of one when I first assessed this new initiative. I can be quite busy at work sometimes, and the last thing I want to worry about is whether or not I am assured a seat at the game. Last season, having a season pass meant that I never needed to worry about

Sailors Season Pass worth the money?

5 Comments / Daily Musings / Eddy Hirono

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? What comes with the Season Pass? What about away games and home AFC games (i.e. Champions League or AFC Cup matches)? 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

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