Everton may have to introduce season ticket cap to cope with demand
The Blues have introduced changes to their ticketing structure which will come into effect next season
Everton are still exploring the possibility of leaving Goodison Park in the coming years
Bournemouth's visit to Goodison Park next Saturday is already sold out -
Everton's 11th straight home sell-out in a row.
And with season ticket sales records having been broken in each of the last two campaigns Everton are already making plans for next season's sales.
The most significant change is the introduction of a ‘register your interest’ list.
For the first time next term Blues fans must register their interest in buying seats vacated by any fans choosing not to renew.
Club officials insist that it is still too early to tell whether supply could outstrip demand, but with the feelgood factor generated by Farhad Moshiri’s positive and ambitious statements at the recent General Meeting, the run of recent league form and the announcement of prices freezes and reductions for 2017/18, they are encouraging all non-season ticket holders who wish to be considered for a season ticket for next season to register their interest early.
Richard Kenyon, Director of Marketing and Communications, said, “Although it’s too early to start making predictions, the early signs based on the renewal numbers in the first week are good.
"This has been driven by fans taking advantage of the new 12-month Direct Debit option – an option that is available until the last day of this month.
"To date, three in every four supporters renewing have signed up for the 12 month Direct Debit option, so it’s clearly been well-received.
"The numbers of fans registering their interest has also been strong. Over the coming weeks we will be contacting each fan who has registered to discuss their options regarding seat locations. The earlier fans register, the better chance we will have of being able to match them to their preferred area, so I would encourage all fans who have specific requests to register as early as possible so our fan services team can work through their options with them.”
Everton's commitment to making football affordable at Goodison has seen the club effectively give back £2million to their supporters in potential gate receipts.
Chief Executive Robert Elstone explained: "Prior to this season we were making £22 after VAT on every seat.
"This year our budget is dropping to £19, so that is £3 per seat per game, £100,000 per game and almost £2m per season. We are giving that back to our season ticket holders, giving that back to younger supporters and to our visitors through the £30 cap on away tickets.
"It is, however, something we are very comfortable doing. It is something we are proud to do and something we think our fans will appreciate."
Mr Elstone added: "We are about to enter into the second year of a new Premier League TV deal, an amazing TV deal.
"It’s not long ago that the club were budgeting on receiving about £50 million worth of TV money, a phenomenal figure. In the season ahead that is more likely to be £130 million, with the club receiving £2m per league place and over a million pounds for every time we are on a live TV appearance either home or away.
"The club is undoubtedly benefitting from a fantastic new TV deal so last season we made the decision to give some of that money back to our fans.
"Season Ticket holders will remember reduced ticket prices last season. Moving forward into 2017/18 it seemed to make no sense to even consider a price rise, we are still in that great new TV deal. So we think the absolute right thing to do was to freeze.
"But not only have we frozen all season ticket prices, we have actually taken the decision to introduce a new cheaper price point for some of our younger fans.
"We are full for every game this season and we’re very confident that will be the case for every game next season.
"We didn’t put any cap on total season ticket numbers but there is a probability we might have to do that for 2017/18.
"We’re not scaremongering. It is genuinely our aspiration that we will probably end up stopping season ticket sales so please fans should get in early."
Supporters wishing to take advantage of the 12-month Direct Debit scheme to renew their season ticket have until Tuesday, January 31 to secure their seat by this payment method.
