www.thetimes.co.uk/article/eaa112f8-0cdc-11e7-9efc-104ca844d0d4As the former finance director of one of the world’s biggest companies, Bradford City’s co-owner Edin Rahic knows a thing or two about economics. So, when he promises that tickets will cost £1 should the League One club reach the Premier League, it is no idle boast.
Rahic arrived in English football last year fired with a missionary zeal. The first German to have taken the plunge into ownership in the English league, he is spreading the gospel of affordable tickets and the economies of scale that accompany it.
AVERAGE COST OF CHEAPEST SEASON TICKETPremier League £480
Championship £322
League 1 £283
League 2 £273
Bradford City £149
(Source: BBC’s Price of Football, 2016)
In some ways the approach is blindingly obvious: he has targeted 20,000 fans paying the current £149 to watch the Bantams next year and that would bring in the same money as 15,000 paying £199. However, the extra 5,000 people will have money in their pocket to spend on shirts, beer and burgers — and there is a spin-off for the team in terms of creating an intimidating atmosphere.
“Even with season tickets of £149 we can build a good team and compete if we sell more than 18,000 tickets,” Rahic says, sitting in his office in the Valley Parade stadium with a view towards the east of the city. Fans of rival clubs have been in touch, offering their praise for the £6.50 a game tariff.
“More people in the stadium means the atmosphere is better and is more scary for the visiting team,” he said. “The fans have more money to spend on beer and food. We have sold 12,000 shirts. For League One, that’s massive.
“At Bradford we decided to keep one price for adults wherever it is in the stadium. You have to have season tickets which are affordable. You see when you go to other clubs and they have 3,000-4,000 and it’s just not an atmosphere. I also went to a Premier League match in Manchester and it was like a theatre.
“Bradford is a working-class city, we are a working-class club and we want to encourage working-class supporters who give everything for the club. That’s a bit like our image. We are underdogs and we want to fight against the big boys. Therefore we need 18,000 to 20,000 supporters to have the atmosphere.”
The approach appears to be working: Bradford have not lost at home in more than a year and Saturday’s 2-1 win over Swindon Town keeps them in the play-off positions in the League One table. Their away following is impressive, too — sell-outs of their away allocation are regular occurrences and, when 4,300 travelled to Bolton Wanderers, it was the biggest away contingent anywhere in English football that weekend.
Bradford were already committed to affordable tickets before Rahic, 43, and his co-owner, Stefan Rupp, 47, bought the club — indeed it was one of the elements that attracted them last year. Originally, Rahic had targeted Glasgow Rangers and had put together a German consortium but that takeover failed to materialise.
He turned his attention to England and commissioned a detailed analysis of all 72 league clubs outside the top flight. Transport facilities, squad size and average age, manager turnover, history, hooliganism record, potential fan-base and ticket prices were all covered, and Bradford, who were already on the way up after a couple of cup runs, ticked all the boxes.
Rahic had been financial director for Bosch, the German engineering and electronics multi-national, before becoming a private investor. A talented youth player who appeared for Yugoslavia Under-16 before serious injuries ended his hopes of a career, he joined the board of Stuttgarter Kickers as well as gaining coaching and refereeing licences.
Bradford is the perfect place because we don’t care if someone is black or white or any colour — everyone is welcome Since the takeover, he has moved his family over from Germany to demonstrate his commitment and aims to bring some elements of the German game to Bradford. He adds: “In Germany it is possible to buy really cheap tickets because of safe standing. It is maybe only £110 for a season ticket even at Dortmund or Bayern.
“When you look at ticket prices in the Premier League, when even the bottom of the table gets £100 million in TV money, I think it’s a shame to charge so much. There are a lot of average players in English football who are far too overpaid. You can pay the superstars good money but the rest should not get nearly the same.
“It’s our dream, of course, to be in the Premier League and, if we get there, the tickets will be £1 per game, because you already get at least £100 million from the TV money. The income of the ticketing would be a small percentage compared to TV money.
“So why would you not give something back to the fans? I want to have the best atmosphere in England.” Rahic’s parents moved to Germany before the civil war in Yugoslavia erupted and the country broke up. Their original home was a Muslim enclave in Serbia but he does not follow a particular religion. “As my father said, just judge between good and bad,” Rahic says.
“Bradford is the perfect place because we don’t care if someone is black or white or any colour — everyone is welcome.”
Rahic has noticed, however, that the make-up of the crowd at Valley Parade does not reflect that of the city itself, which has significant communities of British Asians and more recent arrivals from eastern Europe. “My strategy at first was to understand why we don’t have the citizen mix of the city in the stadium. I asked the question and had 20 answers, or more accurately 20 excuses, from everyone.
“We have to find a way to be more interesting for the Asian and other communities. I was playing football in the park with my boys and started playing with some Asian kids, and scored a goal and said, ‘Yeah come on Bradford City!’
CURRENT UNBEATEN HOME RUNS IN ENGLISH LEAGUEBradford City 20
Doncaster Rovers 19
Tottenham Hotspur 15
Manchester United 12
Chelsea, Bristol Rovers, Millwall (all 10)
“They were saying, ‘No . . . Bradford Shitty, we support Arsenal, we support Manchester City’. I think they are more focused on the top leagues and the best teams, which is fine but the community loves football. Something like 90 per cent of people on the stadium tours we have are Asians, so we have to win over the young generation — we give out free tickets to community centres and we have the Bangla Bantams fan club.
“In two or three years our aim is to have a sold-out stadium which reflects more the citizen mix that is in the city.”
The Edin Project is well under way at Bradford and the rest of English football may learn a thing or two along the way.
I robbed this completely from r/soccer btw, but a fascinating read!
