Different Press Approaches to QPR's Ticket Price Reduction

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Besides the regular reporting in some media such as Bloomberg (see below)...From the ever-concerned-about-QPR, Daily Mail...and updated: The Telegraph blogger:

Daily Mail - HATCHET MAN: Shock horror - QPR realise they won't sell any £50 tickets in the Championship
QPR, whose owners are among the richest in the world, have decided they cannot get away with £50 tickets for bigger games and have announced they are to be scrapped.
Apparently it is the economic climate which has persuaded them to do away with the idea - not the backlash from fans.
Look at all those empty seats: QPR co-owner Flavio Briatore has wisely decided to scrap £50 seats at Loftus Road in fear of a fan backlash.
Hatchet Man suspects the club actually recognised a serious PR own goal eventually and feared rows of empty seats.
Either that or one of their owners, Lakshmi Mittal, now believes he can sympathise with Rangers’ supporters after reportedly losing £20billion, half his fortune, in the credit crunch. Hmmm, you decide..." (Daily Mail)



TELEGRAPH Blog of Huw Turbervill
"Deflation at Charlton, intrigue at QPR...QPR fans do not have the same money worries, though supporters' devotion to their foreign owners is far from unquestioning.
The soaring price of tickets is one sore subject for fans, and vice-chairman Amit Bhatia has pledged to scrap the controversial £50 and £40 category A and B tickets for matches at Loftus Road, controversially introduced earlier this season, with immediate effect in an open letter to fans.
It is being interpreted that the actions of Bhatia, son-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal, the world's fourth richest man, who owns a 20 per cent stake in QPR, have undermined the authority of the chairman, Flavio Briatore. The Renault managing director is reportedly furious and is seeking clear-the-air talks.
QPR's sporting director, Gianni Paladini, an ally of Briatore, is said to be fearful he might lose his job. Manager Iain Dowie is also coming under increasing pressure, with Briatore demanding results improve.
If QPR fans thought all their worries were over when Briatore and Co arrived, they are probably thinking again now .It's quieter at the other Championship clubs in the Capital..."
Telegraph Blog


Bloomberg/Christopher Elser -Queens Park Rangers Reduce Ticket Prices Because of Downturn
Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Queens Park Rangers, the west London soccer club bought last year by Formula One tycoons Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, will cut ticket prices because of the slowing economy.
- The most expensive tickets will now go for 35 pounds ($56.75) a match, the club said in a statement on its Web site. That's down from as much as 50 pounds a game.
- ``We live in tough economic times and many of you don't need the added burden of higher ticket prices,'' Vice Chairman Amit Bhatia said in a statement. ``Your despair was warranted and justified.''
- QPR supporters had approached club officials to complain about the prices, Bhatia said. The team, which sits ninth in the 24-member Championship, is trying to move up to England's top- tier Premier League at the end of the season. Ecclestone, fellow billionaire Lakshmi Mittal and Briatore, managing director of the Renault F-1 outfit, are in their first full season in charge.
- The British pound fell to its lowest level in five years yesterday after Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said the country's worst banking crisis since World War I is likely to push the economy into a recession.
- Spending on sports by fans and sponsors is suffering as banks and other businesses cut back on staffing and costs. Three baseball teams -- the Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres -- have lowered tickets by as much as 25 percent for 2009. The San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds are freezing the cost of tickets.
- The National Basketball Association is firing about 9 percent of its U.S. workforce, cutting back because of the overall economic slump, which has slowed season-ticket renewals. Bloomberg