As manager David Holdsworth begins to prepare his squad for the coming season the Board’s attention remains on generating the finances required to ensure the impact of the loss of central funding is minimised.
Season ticket sales were close to 800 at the end of June and the Board are grateful for supporters' continued backing of the Club in such numbers. It really makes a significant difference. Season ticket income has already passed our budget estimate and if sales continue to grow this will help alleviate some of the financial pressure we continue to face. The challenge now must be to see if we can beat last year’s total season ticket sales figure of 1,020. That would be a tremendous achievement by the Club’s supporters and will allow the Board to plan for the season with more certainty.
The Board has implemented CEO Steve Prescott’s CityFLEXIPack initiative as it allows supporters to buy tickets in advance of the season for the number of games they believe they will want to attend. The scheme recognises that there are a number of evening home fixtures which are not always convenient for some of our supporters. Feedback so far has shown that the scheme has been well-received and sales are already growing. If you do not feel a season ticket is the right option for you please consider the value of a CityFLEXIPack.
We will include CityFLEXIPack sales in our ‘Target Ten Twenty-one’ (3Ts) challenge to top last year’s season ticket sales of 1,020. Every 23 tickets sold in CityFLEXIPacks will be classed as a season ticket sale. Please help us reach Target Ten Twenty-one.
The Board is pleased with the success of the season ticket cash-back offer. Already 30 supporters have helped themselves and the Club by introducing a new or returning season ticket holder and have received £20 cash-back for each introduction. With 800 season ticket holders already that means another 740 fans can help themselves to £20 or more and contribute to Target Ten Twenty-one.
The Board are very grateful to the supporter groups Lincoln City Banter and Vital 12th Imp for the terrific fundraising efforts each has been making in recent weeks. Both Name Our Stadium and shirt sponsorships have benefitted considerably from their endeavours.
The Board is immensely grateful to everyone who has supported the Name Our Stadium initiative; fans, supporters groups, charities, local and national businesses. It has been a worthwhile exercise which to date has raised in excess of £15,000 for the Club; a sum which it would otherwise not have had. However, with less than three weeks to go before the closing date we are asking for one final push to take us to our budget estimate of £25,000.
The aspirational target of £50,000 the Board set itself when planning Name Our Stadium may now be out of reach but we will continue to work hard to maximise sales over the final couple of weeks. If you are one of many who have pledged but not yet entered, please do so as soon as possible. Also, if you know of any individual or business who you believe may be interested in Name Our Stadium please do all you can to persuade them to buy a ticket?
In our last blog we mentioned a Directors’ Forum was to be arranged. This will take place on August 2nd and more details will be announced shortly. If supporters wish to submit questions ahead of the forum these can be emailed to CEO Steve Prescott at steve.prescott@redimps.com.
We also made an offer to meet with any supporter representative groups who would like to discuss with the Board any aspects of the Football Club in greater detail. We have not received any requests to date but the offer remains.
