EVZ fans call for more affordable tickets

Anyone driving below this huge banner straddling a main road in the city last week will have realised how angry some EVZ fans are at planned higher ticket prices.

It is the CEO of the EVZ club, Patrick Lengwiler, who wants to assure more tickets are sold at the Bossard Arena and to this end he wants to introduce a dynamic pricing system as used by airlines and hotels. At present, a standing place at a home match costs CHF 28.00 but under the new system it could cost as much as CHF 31.00.

It is the so-called “Herti Northern Curve Zug” fans who are against the introduction of this new pricing system for home games, a fan club statement saying how even now the season tickets were barely affordable. They said that some fans, those with limited resources, would only be able to afford a ticket if they booked and paid months in advance.

As can be seen in the photograph, banners were hung across the road which said, “Hockey must remain affordable. No to dynamic pricing,” with another one saying, “Top-game surcharge and arbitrary pricing, an indication of lack of feeling,” hoardings which were soon removed by the police.

For his part, Lengwiler had mentioned on the Zentralplus news platform that the idea behind dynamic pricing was not to raise prices but to make sure there were also sufficient spectators at matches where opponents were not known as crowd-pullers, recognising too, that season-ticket prices for home matches must be among the cheapest, the price for an individual ticket never undercutting them. “Those who book early can always benefit from a cheaper individual ticket,” he said.

For its part, the fan club doubted whether there would be no overall price increase. What happens with dynamic ticket pricing, apparently, is that, if properly applied, turnover increases by between 10 and 30 per cent and that, once introduced, entry prices can be adjusted accordingly. However, fans feel a two-class system is being introduced.

What is more, the HNK is calling for CHF 25.00 for a standing ticket or CHF 20.00 for students, apprentices and pensioners, which they feel could also lead to greater degree of attendance levels.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the fan club is hoping the board will reconsider its pricing policies, pointing out, too, the great support it has had on social media, one person on Facebook writing, “It is increasingly the case that more and more certain pleasures are being made available only to those who can pay. The main thing is the tills must ring, it seems.”

At present, the EVZ has declined to comment on the fans’ objections.