An update from CEO, Karl Evans.
As most of you will already know, there is an opportunity to watch all Latics’ home and away games through the EFL’s live streaming platform, iFollow, which has been around for a few years now.
Improved over time, this season has meant the service has become a vital part of how the club can function with increased revenues generated.
Season ticket holders have benefited from watching all home league games to date, free of charge, on receipt of a viewing code from the club as part of their package in good faith due to games still being classed as behind-closed-doors.
For clarity, and to show how your support is helping, below are details on our recent fixtures where the EFL have given a large proportion of the fee charged straight to its clubs.
To start, 692 season ticket holders took advantage of the code received for the opening game at Boundary Park against Leyton Orient, with 574 fans paying the £10 match pass fee to watch the game.
In total, the home support was 1,266. Additionally, home clubs retain the revenue of sales up to a maximum of 500 from the away side, which in this case was achieved. Orient kept the extra balance due to additional subscriptions through their service.
With regards to Crawley Town, 771 season ticket holders watched the game with 360 passes being sold totalling 1,131 home fans. The away side managed to sell 161 which we retained in full.
For away numbers, we sold 527 for Stevenage resulting in the football club receiving the revenue from 27 sales, but unfortunately we only got to 469 against Colchester at the weekend so the home club this time retained all of that revenue.
In addition, you will also be aware that cup fixtures whether that be the Carabao Cup or EFL Trophy so far are all paid for, with a 50/50 split of the total between the two competing clubs.
An example from each competition can be found below:
Oldham - 716
Carlisle - 622
Oldham - 293
Doncaster - 373
These figures are always subject to slight changes, but it gives an insight into how your support via iFollow can help clubs like ourselves in League One and Two to ensure their short-term financial safety is secured. This is because for most, iFollow has become the main source of direct income until fans can return.
All that is left to say for the time being is to thank you for the continued backing by purchasing a season ticket or paying the £10 fee for any of the upcoming games.