Business Advantages of Supporter Community ... - Supporters Direct

8 Match Day SpendingKey Question:Does supporter community ownership help generate greater levelsof match day spending?Top Three Findingsi) Clubs felt that fans were more minded to spend money on a matchday at club owned facilities (where they existed) because they owned atangible stake in the club.ii) Most clubs did not have any figures to substantiate this feeling, however.iii) Some clubs had developed innovative ways for supporters to contributemore whilst also maintaining affordability.Match day ‘second spend’ is a keyMatch day ‘second spend’ is a key element of income for all the clubselement of club income for all surveyed. However, ensuring thatthe clubs concerned. However, spending was far more achievablecapturing that spending was far when clubs owned their own facilities.more effective when clubs owned For those that did not own theirtheir own facilities.facilities, securing that spending was amajor motivation for developing them.Facilities permitting, many of the clubs interviewed felt that supporterswould be more likely to spend a greater amount of money within theground because they knew it would benefit the club directly.However, the ‘added value’ of community supporter ownership in thisregard is very difficult to quantify in any meaningful sense, because it isalmost impossible to compare like with like, although a few of the clubs hadsupporting statistics.One club who have calculated current match day spending is AFC TelfordUnited, whose current second spend is about £2 per head. They are alsodeveloping ways in which they can monitor this more effectively, includingadoption of practices seen at much larger clubs, such as an AFC TelfordUnited club card. AFC Wimbledon estimate their match day secondspend at around £2.00 per head, which on crowds of 3,000 is a significantrevenue stream.34 Supporters Direct Briefing Paper No.4