The document summarizes the results of a survey of Sheffield Wednesday FC matchday attendees from March to June 2010. It provides details on the survey methodology and demographics of respondents. It then outlines key feedback on areas like ticketing, retail services, facilities, and entertainment. Finally, it summarizes the club's responses to issues raised and plans to make improvements based on supporter feedback.

1. Sheffield Wednesday FCMatchday Experience SurveyMarch – June 2010

2. What’s it all about? Survey Details Feedback so far Ticketing & Seat details Owls Megastore & Retail Services Access, Egress & Stewarding Inside the ground Overall Perceptions Main Issues Highlighted Club Feedback Agenda

3. What’s it all about? “ Allowing supporters a mechanism to feedback on all areas of their matchday experience to enable the club to make improvements wherever possible, thus further strengthening the relationship between the club and its supporters. By engaging with supporters, listening to what they have to say and acting on their feedback we will continue to grow as a true Community club. “

4. Survey Details The Matchday Experience survey was launched after the game against Derby County on 20th March. It was then emailed to around 1500 attendees after every home game for the remainder of the season. It has also been promoted via www.swfc.co.uk, Facebook and OurWednesday. The survey asks supporters questions about their whole experience on a matchday at Hillsborough including Ticketing & Seat Details, Megastore & Retail services, Entering & Exiting Hillsborough, Catering, Entertainment and Overall Perceptions. This gives the club valuable feedback from supporters which can be used to improve the experience for supporters watching Sheffield Wednesday.

5. Respondent demographics

6. Who filled the survey in? How? Who? 1574 respondents since survey launched in March.

7. Ticketing and Seat details Which stand? Ticket Purchasing

8. Why? Drivers for Stand selection

9. Supporter Feedback:Owls Megastore and Retail Services

10. Owls Megastore 53% of respondents visited the Owls Megastore

11. Matchday Programme 42% of respondents bought a programme

12. Supporter Feedback:Access, Egress and Stewarding

13. Entering Hillsborough Turnstile Service Locating correct entrance

14. Stewarding and Exiting the stadium Ease of exit How did you rate the stewarding?

15. Supporter Feedback:Overall perceptions

16. Satisfaction & Value for Money 69% Satisfaction Rating 72% Value for money

17. Supporter Feedback:Main issues highlighted

18. If you didn’t receive value for money – why not? 444 respondents completed this section with their individual views. In summary: 25% listed the team or product on the pitch 35% listed ticket price – it’s important to note many respondents cited the prices for football in general and not specifically Hillsborough 20% cited the quality or pricing of catering kiosks 10% cited facilities within the ground 10% cited either the atmosphere, entertainment or service they received.

19. Additional comments or recommendations 982 respondents completed this section with their individual views. Of those who suggested improvements (606) the most prevalent topics were: Improvements to half time entertainment 14% Cheaper food and drink at kiosks 12% Improve quality of service at kiosks 10% Change location / remove smoking areas 7% PA system is rubbish 7% More TVs on concourses 7%

20. Further comments and suggestions Poor experience with stewarding Incorrect gangway details on some e-tickets Improvements needed to ladies toilets Reduce ticket prices Draft beer on North Stand Band divides opinion New inspiring entrance music New scoreboard or video screen Lack of car parking close to stadium

21. Club feedback

22. Club feedback Heads of Department and Senior Managers at the club reviewed the feedback from the Matchday Experience survey and were asked to comment on issues / concerns and other comments applicable to their department. The following comments summarise plans which have been / will be put in place in response to supporter feedback from the survey. Further details will be published regarding these plans individually when appropriate.

23. Club Feedback:Owls Megastore

24. Owls Megastore I was pleased to see that the fans who completed the survey generally had a good experience in store and it was encouraging to see the feedback. We are aware that pricing is one of the most important factors when customers are choosing purchases and we intend to concentrate on this when selecting new products for the store. It is always our aim to produce quality leisurewear and souvenirs at a price to suit every pocket. We also strive to bring in new and innovative products wherever possible and, are constantly looking to our suppliers for new ideas. Suggestions from fans as to what they would like to see in store are always welcome also. We are always looking at ways to improve the queuing system and overall customer experience and this is one area we will be reviewing over the Summer. Sue Evans – Retail Manager

25. Club Feedback:Ticketing

26. Ticket Pricing Ticket Prices are reviewed every year in line with club budgets, we need to price accordingly to maintain a strong footballing budget. Offer matches will be kept to a minimum to ensure that a Season Tickets remain the best value way of coming to every game. All 2010/11 Junior prices have been significantly reduced for Junior club members to make attending for families as affordable as possible. We have introduced reduced matchday pricing for low income, unemployed, student and forces supporters for Community Members as well as the Sheffield Children’s Hospital Community Season Ticket. We had one of the lowest starting prices for adults for match tickets in the championship, but this results in us being the cheapest to away supporters under football league rules. Tickets will remain cheaper to buy online as costs in store reduce and this provides convenience and ease of purchase for supporters. Carol Axe – Chief Operating Officer

27. Club Feedback:Catering

28. Catering kiosks We always strive for the very best quality of service and anything we can do to improve this will be implemented – including additional staff training. Hopefully we will retain a large percentage of our kiosk staff from last season, which will obviously be preferable to new starters. Inevitably when we employ approx. 130 staff each game, some will be below par. These people are not used again. At the moment our prices are the cheapest compared to other local venues. Barnsley and Sheffield United charge £2.70 for a pie, and we charge £2.20. I feel that we don’t really have any way to drop prices at the current time. We were actually considering raising prices on hot food to try and increase our GP margins. Unfortunately it isn’t possible to compete with high street outlets on price as we only operate for a very small part of the year, unlike supermarkets etc which are open 7 days a week.

29. Catering kiosks (...cont) The main factor for queuing is staff levels and the kiosk facilities on offer. We actually reduced the number of staff on each kiosk around halfway through the season to cut staffing costs. This did lead to an increase in queuing times. If staff levels are increased then this will reduce the queuing times. Improvement to the layout of the kiosks and the facilities present in them would also reduce the queuing times experienced. David Smith Head of Catering and Hospitality

30. Club Feedback:Pre-match & half time entertainment

31. Pre-match & half time entertainment We are completely reviewing our matchday entertainment for the 2010/11 season. We are investigating the possibilities of a pre-match ‘Seat Draw’ where one lucky fan will win a cash prize if their seat number is drawn out. They will need to be in the seat to win the prize. This will then be rolled over in the event of the fan not being present. We are also in discussion with both Universities in the city regarding their Cheerleading teams. We may use their teams for select games next season. We will also be introducing at least one ‘Football Challenge’ where fans will be selected or apply to take part. The exact details are yet to be confirmed but this will be along the lines of previous fan participation events such as The Crossbar Challenge or Penalty Shootout. We will be retaining the Owls Foundation draw and introduction of Legends at every game. We’ll also be reviewing all matchday music choices before next season. Martin Bouchier – Partnership & Events Manager

32. Club Feedback:Stadium Operations and Facilities

33. Smoking areas The Club has agreed with the local NHS Trust that the smoking areas in the Stadium will be phased out over the coming years. Last season we had smoking areas on the North Stand and on the Kop. There were two smoking areas on the North Stand on the ramps, and smoking is allowed in the open air areas at the back of the Kop. Smoking will be phased out over the coming season’s and from 2010 /11 the smoking on the ramp at the Kop end of the North Stand will no longer be allowed. Smoking on the ramp at the West end will be phased out when the North Stand is re-developed as phase 2 of the Stadium developments. This will leave the Kop as the only stand with a smoking area, and this will be phased out when the Kop is re-developed as phase 3 of the Stadium developments.

34. PA System and Concourse TVs The poor sound quality of announcements experienced by some fans in the stadium is not due to an inadequate PA system being in place. It is not the PA system which is faulty, but the roving mike which has a small fault and intermittently cuts out. This can be a little annoying, and we will be replacing the mike when finances allow (cost in the region of £5,000). We have installed TV’s on the South Stand and Grandstand concourses and subject to SAG approval and financing will install more if possible. We introduced some TV’s on the North Stand Lower concourse last season as a trial to see how they performed. The problem with the North Stand concourses is that they are exposed to the outside elements and TV’s fail when damp and frost penetrates. We will seek to introduce more when the North Stand is re-developed and the concourses are widened and improved.

35. Stewarding We must advise all spectators to report any poor experience (and any good experience) with club stewards so that specific incidents can be investigated and appropriate disciplinary action / further training can be offered. Those that are reported for positive reasons can then be rewarded. All stewards working within the stadium have numbered jackets. Any spectator who needs to report anything should note the location, and time of the incident and the jacket number and send an e-mail to stadiumops@sheffieldwednesday.com or call 0871 900 9721 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday to report an incident. Alternatively they can report an incident on matchday by sending a text message to 07963 138580. All reported incidents will be investigated.

36. Stadium facilities Incorrect gangway & seat details on some e-tickets We acknowledge that some errors were made when seat details were programmed into the new ticket system last summer . A full review has been undertaken and this issue will be resolved before the start of the 2010/11 campaign. Improvements needed to the female toilets. We are aware of the problems with the numbers, size and location of the ladies toilets on the Kop, North and West stands, and this is due to the design of these stands some years ago when there were not so many female supporters attending matches. These issues will be addressed when the Stadium developments take place when additional and larger ladies facilities will be added.

37. Stadium facilities (...cont) Draft beer on North Stand The kiosks on the North Stand were designed in the 1960’s and they are not big enough to install draft beer pumps and cellar facilities. This issue will be addressed when the North Stand is redeveloped and larger wider concourses are installed and new food outlets are created.

38. Scoreboard New scoreboard or video screen The Club has been investigating the possibility of installing a new scoreboard / video screen, but at the present time this is cost prohibitive. However we are still working with partners to put a package together as soon as possible to replace the existing scoreboard. Again, with the Stadium developments the plan is to install two video screens, one in the South West corner (where the existing scoreboard is) and one in the North East Corner (where the DJ box is). These will be suspended from the Stadium roof. John Rutherford – Stadium Operations Manager

39. Club Feedback:Matchday Programme

40. Matchday Programme The programme team at both Sheffield Wednesday and our partners, CRE8 Publishing, are extremely pleased with the positive feedback received from our supporters. This sits extremely well with the national award the programme received at the end of last season. We have no intention to sit on our laurels, though, and intend to go from strength to strength next term in producing what we feel is already one of the best publications in the country. As a footnote, we are aware of the feedback regarding the cover price, to which it should be noted that we were the last club in the top two tiers of English football to raise the price to £3. To counter this rise, we increased the pagination to 78 pages to increase the value for money factor. Trevor Braithwait – Communications Manager

41. Thank you! “ Thanks to every supporter who took the time to complete the Matchday Experience survey. The survey is now closed although we will be re-launching it at the beginning of the 2010/11 season to ensure we are continually making improvements to the experience at Hillsborough. If you have any feedback in the meantime please contact the club at enquiries@sheffieldwednesday.com “