Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[Tomaszk]

6 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

To be fair though he's right isn't he, Hecks job is to increase revenue 

It's not to give us all a fuzzy feeling in our tummies 

Villa are a business, we are customers, when the money we are willing to spend on them plateaus they will go out and find new customers who will spend more 

We all want football to be something it's simply not anymore 

Well he's not doing a great job is he?

Put all the tickets at £100, that'll be even more money.

Season tickets £1,500 each.

Am I hired?

[villa4europe]

27 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Well he's not doing a great job is he?

Put all the tickets at £100, that'll be even more money.

Season tickets £1,500 each.

Am I hired?

No because you need to find the sweet spot where you still have enough demand to fill the stadium 

Will be interesting to see if these price points fail or succeed, Heck obviously thinks the latter and I'd guess he's based that on a fair bit of research and revenue calculations 

It will also be interesting to see where we sit with the rest of football cos something tells me we won't be far off everyone else 

The proof will be in the pudding but it will be the numbers and the accountants that decide if he's achieved his purpose or not, not us fans opinion of him 

[Tomaszk]

Just now, villa4europe said:

No because you need to find the sweet spot where you still have enough demand to fill the stadium 

Will be interesting to see if these price points fail or succeed, Heck obviously thinks the latter and I'd guess he's based that on a fair bit of research and revenue calculations 

It will also be interesting to see where we sit with the rest of football cos something tells me we won't be far off everyone else 

The proof will be in the pudding but it will be the numbers and the accountants that decide if he's achieved his purpose or not, not us fans opinion of him 

He's not good at his job because he puts ticket prices up, is my point.

You don't have to do that. But he did, and lied saying they were going up 5% when they're up much more. 

As I said. This will affect the team negatively before long.

[sne]

He'll be fine as long as Emery keeps the team (over) performing. Non of the things Heck are signing off on would be possible without the on the pitch stuff. If that stops Heck will be public enemy numero uno. Fair or not.

Edited Tuesday at 10:24 by sne

[thabucks]

On 19/06/2024 at 08:04, OutByEaster? said:

Heck is doing well in terms of his commercial deals and his absolute focus on increasing revenues - but he has some way to go before he matches Purslow's record in terms of the deals that Purslow made for Liverpool and Chelsea.

 

Well given some wouldn’t give credit to Heck for increasing our commercial deals because of on field success means it’s an easy task for him. You cannot then credit Purlsow for those great deals he secured Liverpool & Chelsea as it was the in field success and nothing to do with him, if you use the same  reasoning - but some won’t and they’ll find some way  to change the goal posts to criticise him. 

I get some don’t like his decisions to date and he's  the public face of this unpopular move to become more commercially savvy. I think some fans would rather we were stuck in the past and perhaps would even enjoy mid table mediocrity more than striving to break into and stay with the established elite given the stick he gets for trying to archive that. We need to make more money - simple. He’s doing just that. But the same few cry about the North stand and the badge change and it’s just **** tiresome now as they also want us to sign big players and these star names  but will moan to high heaven when costs rise so we actually can… 
 

Edited Monday at 22:25 by thabucks

[villa4europe]

4 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

He's not good at his job because he puts ticket prices up, is my point.

You don't have to do that. But he did, and lied saying they were going up 5% when they're up much more. 

As I said. This will affect the team negatively before long.

He'll be good at his job of he gets us to £400m annual revenue, if that's what he is here to do

How he does it is up to him, again if that is his remit

If he increases the ticket prices, someone will pay it

The new shirt will have a £130 version, someone will pay it

The lounges will start charging £2k a game, someone will pay it

With all these changes he's making as long as the market and the demand is there the prices for everything is going to go up, you can argue that old traditional fans are being priced out of the game but as long as they are replaced by new fans who are willing to pay it then the sad reality is that Aston Villa as a business (and every other PL club, as several have shown over the years and several will show this summer with similar prices hikes and new corporate areas) will not care 

We're customers, football has gone and it's not coming back 

[Anything11]

1 hour ago, Tomaszk said:

He's not good at his job because he puts ticket prices up, is my point.

You don't have to do that. But he did, and lied saying they were going up 5% when they're up much more. 

As I said. This will affect the team negatively before long.

Affect the team negatively how? Cool it with the drama.

We get it - you don't like him. Unfortunately he happens to be good at his job (increase commercial revenue) which is what we hired him to do.

[Tomaszk]

38 minutes ago, Anything11 said:

Affect the team negatively how? Cool it with the drama.

Atmosphere.

38 minutes ago, Anything11 said:

We get it - you don't like him. Unfortunately he happens to be good at his job (increase commercial revenue) which is what we hired him to do.

He's not good at his job because he puts ticket prices up.

[thunderball]

3 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

He's not good at his job because he puts ticket prices up.

This clearly demonstrates your position on this.

Further - “Atmosphere”, that’s such an intangible, how is that measured: loudness, frequency of cheering, originality of chants, vigour of flag waving, Are you suggesting that only the most atmospheric fans will be deterred by higher prices, are fans with a higher tolerance for ticket prices lesser fans, not true fans or quieter less excitable supporters? 

[CVByrne]

We're a Champions League club now and we need to grow our revenue to be competing with the top sides. On top of the inflation we have had in general life you just need to accept ticket prices will go up and we'll be priced against both our peers and the supply/demand. 

Yes all of you who go regularly to games want to pay less for tickets and season tickets who doesn't. Directing your complaints about the price of tickets in football to Chris Heck is pointless. Complain if we are pricing tickets wildly outside of the expected level of Villa relative to the other clubs. 

 

[sidcow]

8 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Well he's not doing a great job is he?

Put all the tickets at £100, that'll be even more money.

Season tickets £1,500 each.

Am I hired?

Nope. You've also got to alienate the staff and use a lot of rude words. 

[Tomaszk]

37 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Nope. You've also got to alienate the staff and use a lot of rude words. 

The "cocksuckers" thing is actually so funny. I hope it's real.

[CVByrne]

11 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Funnily enough. I knew you'd think this.

I care about Aston Villas success on the football pitch which in this game is down to how much money we can consistently bring in. Heck is a the best thing that's happened to this club ever on the revenue front imo. 

You care about how much it costs you to go to Villa games. To a degree what you want is at odds with what I want. You want the club to have lower revenue so you pay lower ticket prices. I want the club to price tickets at the level which is competitive with our peers so in contributes to increased revenue. 

We have different views on this subject because of those differences which is totally expected. 

It's the same on the Badge, a rebrand with the new crest would "cost the same as a senior players salary for a season" in a period where we are scrambling to sell Luiz to get under PSR it's the best decision for the club to keep a variation of the old crest. The decision is clearly in best interest of the club. 

The complaints on this has been around the similar group of fans who feel Heck was shit on messaging of this to the Fan Advisory Committee or whatever. He's hardly going to come out and say "we're **** with PSR we can't afford to rebrand to a new crest". Cue more complaining.

So in a nutshell I see Aston Villa FC as a business that needs to compete in a highly competitive market with a set of financial constraints which curb investment into the club. Others just see their local football club and view decisions through the lense of almost "owning" the club to a degree.

Edited Tuesday at 07:01 by CVByrne

[S-Platt]

Heck is all about the here and now.  You need a balance with that and the future of the club.  You cannot price out future customers. The parents and kids that can't afford these prices will be lost to other things and that revenue will go.

It's a balancing act hopefully he has it right if he hasn't then long term we could be scuppered.

Unai is key to this all the little shits in Liverpool and Utd tops around the Midlands could ask their parents for a Villa shirt if we keep being successful.

Heck is banking on that I think and the treat of a trip to Villa Park once a season.

Also the corporate is an easier sell with a successful team.

Ride the Unai gravy train is his motto but then after that is the question.

[villa4europe]

1 hour ago, S-Platt said:

Heck is all about the here and now.  You need a balance with that and the future of the club.  You cannot price out future customers. The parents and kids that can't afford these prices will be lost to other things and that revenue will go.

It's a balancing act hopefully he has it right if he hasn't then long term we could be scuppered.

Unai is key to this all the little shits in Liverpool and Utd tops around the Midlands could ask their parents for a Villa shirt if we keep being successful.

Heck is banking on that I think and the treat of a trip to Villa Park once a season.

Also the corporate is an easier sell with a successful team.

Ride the Unai gravy train is his motto but then after that is the question.

That's the problem with modern football

Say we get Real Madrid in the CL and heck says **** it, the demand is there, £200 a ticket

The old guys who have been going since the 60s can't afford it, the mom with kids can't afford it, they love local, turn up at kick off, eat before the game at home, they dont buy tickets 

The youngster at Brum uni fancies it, doesn't even support villa but wants to see to real Madrid, he does buy a ticket, he has a great time, spends some money up there, even gets himself a training top, enjoyed it so much that he's planning to go again next month 

Who do you think Aston villa want more? That's the crux of all of this and again what modern football now is and it's not a villa problem it's a general football problem, I don't think us as long term "die hard" fans are on the same page as to who exactly the club are targeting with these prices 

When you say he can't price our future customers does he necessarily thing that future customers are the kids of Aston? 

It's grim but that's what I think football is 

[S-Platt]

6 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

That's the problem with modern football

Say we get Real Madrid in the CL and heck says **** it, the demand is there, £200 a ticket

The old guys who have been going since the 60s can't afford it, the mom with kids can't afford it, they love local, turn up at kick off, eat before the game at home, they dont buy tickets 

The youngster at Brum uni fancies it, doesn't even support villa but wants to see to real Madrid, he does buy a ticket, he has a great time, spends some money up there, even gets himself a training top, enjoyed it so much that he's planning to go again next month 

Who do you think Aston villa want more? That's the crux of all of this and again what modern football now is and it's not a villa problem it's a general football problem, I don't think us as long term "die hard" fans are on the same page as to who exactly the club are targeting with these prices 

When you say he can't price our future customers does he necessarily thing that future customers are the kids of Aston? 

It's grim but that's what I think football is 

I think it will be a 2 tiered system really the League Cup early rounds and the Category B league game for the majority.  Champions League and Category A games for the those that can afford it.

As long as there are enough people that want to do one or the other the money will be rolling in.

The problem comes if you alienate the older fan base as they are the ones that are there through thick or thin.  Well used to be until football ate itself.

We are at the tipping point so we will see if Hecks plan works.

[AndyM3000]

I've seen the City celebrations over the last few years and it should be a warning sign. Their atmosphere is dead, they have parts of their stadium just for tourists.

While it will take a long time to get to that level things are heading that way, the corporate seating in the Holte, ticket prices in general is worrying. We might finally get somewhere and the core fanbase won't see it.

He can do what he wants with the pricing at the moment, but it won't always be this good, a bad season or back to the conference league and them prices aren't selling out the ground IMO.

[DaveAV1]

1 hour ago, villa4europe said:

That's the problem with modern football

Say we get Real Madrid in the CL and heck says **** it, the demand is there, £200 a ticket

The old guys who have been going since the 60s can't afford it, the mom with kids can't afford it, they love local, turn up at kick off, eat before the game at home, they dont buy tickets 

The youngster at Brum uni fancies it, doesn't even support villa but wants to see to real Madrid, he does buy a ticket, he has a great time, spends some money up there, even gets himself a training top, enjoyed it so much that he's planning to go again next month 

Who do you think Aston villa want more? That's the crux of all of this and again what modern football now is and it's not a villa problem it's a general football problem, I don't think us as long term "die hard" fans are on the same page as to who exactly the club are targeting with these prices 

When you say he can't price our future customers does he necessarily thing that future customers are the kids of Aston? 

It's grim but that's what I think football is 

Sadly this is all true. We want to compete in the real modern world with the likes of Man City etc amd so we have to compete financially with them too, the system is rigged against us and our drop to the Championship with the additional help of Xia etc didn’t help either along with decisions made by his predecessor particularly the appointment of his best pal from his favourite team who also added to our financial difficulties which continue to hurt us now, Coutinho is I’m sure a lovely bloke but getting him off the books continues to be a major amd costly problem, which hopefully is nearing some sort of resolution but has meant we have had to sell some talented players and play very clever to strengthen the squad. Thanks Monchi and Unai, Chris Heck gets the less enjoyable part of the process, perhaps we should view his job as cleaning the toilets while Unai and Monchi serve the drinks?  

[tomav84]

1 hour ago, S-Platt said:

I think it will be a 2 tiered system really the League Cup early rounds and the Category B league game for the majority.  Champions League and Category A games for the those that can afford it.

As long as there are enough people that want to do one or the other the money will be rolling in.

The problem comes if you alienate the older fan base as they are the ones that are there through thick or thin.  Well used to be until football ate itself.

We are at the tipping point so we will see if Hecks plan works.

the drawback of this statement is that heck's remit isn't to appease the older fan who's been a season ticket holder since 1964. in fact, the fewer of these fans the better to make room for the tourist that drops £100 in the club shop on match day.

2 hours ago, villa4europe said:

Say we get Real Madrid in the CL and heck says **** it, the demand is there, £200 a ticket

pretty sure there's a UEFA imposed cap on ticket prices and it's much less than £200...don't quote me on it though

[nepal_villan]

Went to a Los Angeles Dodgers game last night.  It was the most commercial sporting event I've ever been to.  Sponsor logos everywhere. Tons of food, hospitality and merchandise options in every corner of the stadium. Price traps galore. Probably 35% of the attendees were tourists.  I was thinking - "This must be Heck's dream for Villa".