LASK fans sent an open letter criticizing LASK’s ticket policy

It was not a rush into the public, nor did they want to send messages to LASK in the new stadium using banners, according to an explanation on the Landstrassler website. The club had received a letter explaining why the current ticketing policy was disadvantageous in several ways from the fans’ point of view. It asked for a rethinking of the strategy.

However, according to Landstrassler, the club had shown no interest in a discourse and there was no reaction. It was therefore decided to publish the letter (as announced in the open letter) and to take further action in the future.

The letter verbatim:

Dear Doctor. Siegmund Gruber, dear employees of the LASK,

In just over a week our new home will finally be opened. After many years of rumours, ideas and plans, we have finally arrived where we belong: In the heart of our city, high above the roofs of Linz – on the Gugl. The gratitude we feel for the implementation of this project is huge. The anticipation as well.

Nevertheless, we are approaching you with this letter in order to clarify the views of the active fan scene regarding the ticket issue and the associated communication and to ask you to reconsider the current approach.

We would like to start with the point that we think will be most obvious on February 24th: The stadium will not be anywhere near sold out. This may be partly due to the Linz audience, but it is certainly also due to the much-cited “artificial shortage” and the sales strategy. It certainly made sense to initially rely on the sale of season tickets for as long as possible in order to lure as many subscribers as possible. This has obviously succeeded and is extremely gratifying. The double tickets for the first two games also appear to make sense, but are priced in such a way that young people and people from disadvantaged backgrounds in particular cannot afford them or can only afford them with difficulty, especially since there is neither a discount for the groups mentioned nor the possibility to buy single tickets. Also, announcing that all-day passes—if they exist at all—will be expensive doesn’t make subscribers feel valued, but rather turns off potential future subscribers because they can’t afford it. In the worst case, the football-interested audience migrates to the Donaupark or generally turns away from Linz football. Quite apart from these fears, we current subscribers would rather stand in a full stadium than in a half-empty one, we will always work to ensure that football remains affordable for all sections of the population.

Back to February 24th: A full stadium would be an exclamation mark throughout Austria. It would also be a sign to those who have always looked critically at the stadium, which is financed with taxpayers’ money, among other things. It would show: LASK has rightly built a stadium of this size. A half-empty stadium covered with sponsor strips during the opening game, on the other hand, signals the opposite, the external image would be catastrophic. Right now it is important to take the euphoria with you by all means and use it for yourself. This will probably not succeed with the current strategy, in public (including among subscribers) the image of an unsympathetic, arrogant club that does not attach great importance to its fans and spectators is created. You can’t expect everyone to buy a subscription every year. There can be a variety of reasons for this (place of residence, family, work, finances, etc.). That’s why these people are no less LASK fans than subscribers, but it makes it much more difficult for them to visit the stadium.

Speaking of the public: the stadium was financed to a large extent with tax money, while mass sport is currently being neglected politically – partly on the grounds that two top sports stadiums are currently being built in Linz. Taking this into account, we believe it is all the more the task and duty of top-class sport to create low-threshold offers that enable the general public to visit the stadium. Anyone who receives such public subsidies should not market themselves as a premium product, but also present themselves as a “club of the entire population” – as a club of Upper Austrians. A football club always has a social responsibility towards the population, all the more so with tax money behind it.

We believe that more viewers also means:

• Higher income from gastronomy and fan articles
• Greater attractiveness for sponsors
• Higher chances that more people will choose a season ticket in the future
• More positive image of LASK in public
• Better mood

We therefore remain with the following specific demands:

single tickets. At the latest from the game against Salzburg on March 12th. there must be the opportunity for all LASK fans to buy single tickets. The right of first refusal for season ticket holders was often tested in Pasching, which we believe would be a real advantage for subscribers, since they can then get tickets for their friends. After a pre-purchase phase, however, there must be an opportunity for everyone to get tickets for their desired game. LASK cannot afford to permanently make it more difficult for fans and potential future fans to visit the stadium. Many fans – often families – cannot plan their visit to the stadium weeks in advance and are dependent on spontaneous day ticket purchases. Going to the stadium on the day of the match and getting a ticket at the ticket office is not just yesterday’s football romance, it must also be possible in the future.
discounts. With the exception of a few corner sectors, there are no discounts for young people, pupils, students or pensioners anywhere in the stadium. Young people in particular, who are often not yet established fans, will in future consider whether they can afford to visit the stadium. However, it is precisely this generation of fans that needs to be lured and retained with attractive prizes. Otherwise we are exposed to the concrete risk of emigration or a general lack of interest. A visit to the stadium is also simply too expensive for many families if they have to pay more than 200 euros per game, depending on the number. We are therefore calling for significant discounts for the usual discounted population groups in all stadium areas.
price gradations. A ticket for the seats behind the goal cannot and must not cost the same as a ticket in the middle of the grandstand. Here, the basic price for seats, which is already high, should be reduced significantly in order to enable people from a socially disadvantaged background who cannot or do not want to go to the standing area to visit the stadium. Another possibility of grading would be top game surcharges. In the case of more attractive opponents, a few euros more can be charged if normal Bundesliga games become affordable for many people.
price cuts. As soon as and if possible, we would welcome a price reduction to normal Bundesliga level, sometimes we are twice as expensive as the competition in comparable places. We are aware that the new building will have to be refinanced through ticket prices, among other things. However, we are convinced that this can only happen in the long term if the focus is on increasing the number of viewers and not on supposedly favoring subscribers with high day ticket prices. The vast majority of us have a season ticket so that we don’t have to worry about tickets week after week and to give the club our trust for another season and not to feel like fans of better class compared to day ticket buyers. We would like to see more farsightedness and more fan-friendly action here.
Last but not least, we would like to point out the careless communication of the association. The LASK fan who does not have a season ticket currently feels left alone and under pressure. Left alone because spring cannot be planned for him. “When can I go to the stadium? At what price? Do I take both children with me? Can i afford that?”

Pressured into buying a subscription. The time for that is over for this half-season. If you haven’t subscribed before, you won’t do it anymore. Now the time has come to fill the stadium with (cheap) day tickets. Instead, a negative atmosphere in the LASK environment is being forced through the media by consciously accepting criticism. A week before one of the biggest days in the club’s history, we don’t think that’s a smart strategy.

We are at your disposal for goal-oriented discussions at eye level.

Best regards,
Landstrasser in February 2023

PS: We reserve the right to publish this letter promptly and to take further action on the subject if you are not willing to talk or compromise.