$6.50 mandated increase?

The Hisense tickets went from $28 for GA and approx $40 for Gold, to $44 and $60 for playoffs.

Incidentally I'll be surprised if there's even 7,000 people there next Thursday.

What are the Cats prices?

"The Wildcats will not be adding the NBL's playoff levy of $6.50 to playoff tickets"

The levy will be added. I think the point was that it will be the only price increase ie the Cats won't be jacking up the prices as well.

I think it's one way that the league finance operations. It impacts the successful teams so it's not too ridiculous a concept. I think they've done it for a long time.

Sounds a bit like they're throwing the league under the bus in mentioning it though?

It's not an unreasonable move by the NBL, so it's not a surprise.

I'll be interested in seeing the numbers in Perth vs Melbourne, and see who made the smarter financial move with the ticket increases.

I've deleted the email from my computer so cant copy and paste it all but it doesn't appear like that. I think its just for info purposes. There is a levy (as there is every year) but that will be the only price increase.

My impression of the comment was that it was to appease those who complain annually about SF ticket price rises, members renewal fees increases, earlier renewal dates etc

Email for reference

As I write this email, the Perth Wildcats have secured a top-two finish for the NBL Finals. There is also a very slim chance of us finishing first. Whilst we are quite excited about out 30th straight finals appearance, our focus is very much on this season and winning it all.

This year, we have paid even more attention to our members and have acted on the feedback received on various matters. To this end, I have some important information regarding the upcoming finals and your membership for next season.

SEMI-FINALS MEMBER PRICING
All semi-finals games tickets are subject to a $6.50 levy from the NBL. However, in appreciation to you, our members, for your loyalty, we have decided to reduce our finals ticket pricing across all categories. Whilst there will be a slight increase in the price for the third semi-final (if required), please be assured that our prices will be significantly lower than in recent seasons.

Full details on finals pricing will be sent to you in a separate email shortly.

Semi-Finals dates for your diary (subject to change):
» Semi-final Game#1 - Perth Arena – Friday 19 February – 6.30pm tip-off
» Semi-final Game#2 – AWAY – Sunday 21 February – TBC
» Semi-final Game#3 – (if required) – Perth Arena – Friday 26 February – 6.30pm tip-off

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS
Once again, based on your feedback, we intend to provide you a more flexible membership payment plan. To this end we will commence our renewals in March with the option of a 10-part monthly payment plan. More importantly, we have decided to freeze our membership renewal fees for the 16/17 season. We have taken this unprecedented step to make renewing your membership affordable and easy and to reciprocate the support you have given us this year. We also have some attractive cash prizes for early bird renewals. So please renew before the deadline to take advantage of this campaign.

While it will appease those that complain - I can't help but think the real reason is because the club is seeing ticket numbers fall.

It's just my personal opinion, it's been clear to me all season there's a lot of vacant member seats and crowds have been, on average, lower than previous years.

IMO, If ticket sales were the same as last year they wouldn't have passed on this price cut for those that annually complain.

I think crowds have seen been healthy, But Im inclined to agree with you RMQ. Not as big as the crowds last year or the year before. Still some pretty health numbers and I would expect every finals game to be close to sold out.

I find the respective moves quite interesting. I would've expected them to be the other way around.

Perth seems to consistently get very good numbers every year since they moved to Perth Arena. (Even if there’s been a slight drop off this year?). It’s clearly one of the hottest tickets in town. I would’ve thought that a solid increase for playoffs (More than $6.50) would be reasonable and that they’d still get good numbers.

Whereas Melbourne’s crowds have really spiked this season. If I was managing Melbourne, I would’ve jacked up the Gold and Silver tickets substantially but still made sure there were GA tickets available for $30 or $35.

I think they’re taking a big risk- they’ve jeopardised their ability to capitalise on the increased support they’ve had over the past couple of months from the more casual fans. The types of fans who have gained a bit of interest but might still baulk at paying $45 a ticket. Especially on a Thursday night.

Semi prices are often a bit much for the public to take, and fans tend to hold out and hope for a grand final series.

Most impressive thing about the Perth email is that they have their renewals strategy well-prepared. It always seems like it's an afterthought for the 36ers. Rather than getting people to renew when they're on a post-season high and lured by early-bird pricing, they let it sit until the off-season doldrums.

Not like the club in some capacity hasn't been working through an on/off-season schedule for decades. Should be a perfectly streamlined process by now.

It reads to me that prices will be lower than those for last year's playoffs, not reduced from the cost of regular season games this year?

Have people forgotten the Wildcats finals game last year?

It was by far the worst attended game EVER at Perth Arena.

There were shirts on all the chairs everywhere. So much so that the cats workers had to scramble mid-game to retrieve as many as possible because people where just taking handfuls of them.

They have been shooting those "red hot" t-shirts out those shirt guns all this season.....

Either way - poor crowd was due to inflated ticket prices. They fell on their own sword that night.

Cash drying up out west. State government has dropped in its credit rating. Property prices and rents falling. The mining boom is over

I come for the basketball but I stay for the detailed fiscal analysis...

Money is tighter in the West.
At the end of the day, the discount given to renewing members was good.

The problem last year was the marked increase in finals tickets. IIRC the semi final was $60 (for silver) and Members $50. That was $200 for us to attend one game, which with injuries we were destined to lose. Members voted with their feet, and the game was very poorly attended.
The issue this year, with potentially a 3rd home final, then hopefully the GF series, is that people are put off by the total cost of attending a finals series.

Lol, I hope united sell out Rod Laver.
Would be good for Victorian basketball.

Not sure why the 3 game series has the Friday-Sunday games so close. Surely would make more sense to have a midweek game since they've been doing them all season, say Friday - Wednesday - Sunday.

Venue availability maybe ?

For the previous two seasons, Perth were closing in on 10,000 members. Now, that is barely mentioned, but a quick eyeball suggests that membership is well down.
Keep in mind that we have only been in the Arena for a few years, so they don't have much data to go on, but I'd say they are desperate to avoid a further slide.

I'm not even sure that I will renew.
This year we dropped from 4 seats to 2, because two of my daughters got jobs that required them to work Friday nights.
Now my remaining daughter is moving to Darwin with her partner, so I would be on my ownsome.

Captains Club/Platinum
$95 (members)
$150 (public)

Gold Adult
$75 (members)
$110 (public)
Gold Family (2+2)
$225 (members)
NA (public)

Silver Adult
$55 (members)
$75 (public)
Silver Child
$40 (members)
$60 (public)
Silver Family (2+2)
$165 (members)
$225 (public
Silver Family (2+3)
$195 (members)
NA (public)

Bronze Adult
$35 (members)
$50 (public)
Bronze Child
$20 (members)
$35 (public)

...mining boom...iron ore....housing market...Nick Marvin....

So ... the Kiwis will have to call it the SNBL for the next few weeks?

The members base price might look ok but you then have to pay $9.50 to use your membership card for entry and there's no other option to choose. So essentially bronze becomes $44.50

and a credit card fee on top of all that.

just a straight scam really. they get there money back one way or the other.

its just a sales magic trick, tell you one thing, build it into the price (so you've already paid for it), then make it out like its a discount.

load of bollocks really.

Those are fees set by Ticketek, not the club. I don't know how other clubs do it with passes but there will always be an extra charge for ezy-tickets or mail delivery, this is no different.