Play-offs will boost income

Although attendance figures at Edgar Street are down compared with last season, the income from the play-off games will once again boost the balances of Hereford United.

The total attendance for Conference games at Hereford this season was 64429 giving an average figure of 3068. This is 636 down on last years excellent figure of 3704, of a drop of just over 17%. Added to these figures is the attendance at cup games which in total, both home and away, is 20263. These gates are shared so income to the club will be based on just over 10,000 fans.

However, according to the Non-League Paper, both the games at Hereford and Stevenage are expected to gross around £60,000 each with the bonus of £5,000 per club assuming Sky televises one of the two games. They also suggest the club will make extra profit merchandising sales.

For Hereford they project an attendance of around 7,000. That figure is probably realistic as last season 7044 watched the Aldershot play-off game. With ticket prices from £15 down to £6, it is thought that £10 is an average entrance price, so may be their £60,000 will be exceeded.

Sales of programmes can be added to that figure, but it seems highly unlikely that club shops sales would rise to anything like the £20,000 Doncaster reportly made when they gained promotion from the Conference. In any case the club doesn't stock the shop with that much merchandise.

Meanwhile using figures either supplied by the home team or using best estimates, the average away following of Hereford United supporters for this season is 404.

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