Hippo's Evening Times Supplement

KILLIE FANS WIN HALF PRICE
SEASON TICKET CAMPAIGN

It all started at the start of the season in the Killie Hippo fanzine as a wee idea to start a "Killie 125" campaign for half price season tickets. Six months down the line the club have made the fans an amazing offer that will soon be the topic of discussion in boardrooms all over the country.

Last season I paid £250 for a full adult season ticket however only another 1,500 or so joined me, plus around 1,500 took up OAP's, students & kids tickets making a very disappointing 3000 season ticket holders. It was time to try and get fans back to Rugby Park at affordable prices and so our campaign was born.

We met the club directors, mostly Chief Executive David Heath on numerous occasions putting our case forward. In turn David fought our corner at the board meetings and ultimately came up with an offer that the full board now supports. The deal is that next season an adult ticket costs £270 however if you buy one you get another free. The same applies to OAP's £135, Students £175, Kids 16-17 £110, Kids 13-15 £75 and Kids under 13 £55.

The main condition attached is that the "free" ticket cannot go to another current season ticket holder therefore the onus is on everyone to pair-up with a non season ticket holder and in the case of adults it would cost them £135 each. We know that our average crowd has dropped by over 4,000 in the last four seasons therefore there are plenty of fans out there to tempt back.

The deal applies to non season ticket holders as well so absolutely everyone is getting the same deal. My mate jokingly claimed we had failed to get "125" however the deal on the table is better than what we were campaigning for in two respects:

1. We were looking for lower prices for the concession tickets but the club have gone one step further and made everyone Buy One Get One Free.

2. We were not including Cup games in our "125" package. The club are saying that anyone who takes up the offer before the end of the season will get two "cup" vouchers. This will entitle them to get into the first League Cup game and UEFA Cup game (hopefully) for £5 therefore overall this will work out cheaper for fans.

Of course the success of the campaign will be judged on the numbers that take it up so the hard work is still ahead of us. We're urging Killie fans to find a friend to join them in the offer however we will hold a "bank" of names and pair up individuals to ensure nobody has to pay the full amount. I'm convinced that we can get around 8,000 ticket holders next season and genuinely hope other clubs will follow our lead. The basic structure can be used and tailored to suit the needs of individual clubs. It may just take some dedicated fans to start the ball rolling. 

CONTACT - Killiehippo@aol.com