Japanese women's football powerhouse INAC Kobe Leonessa has taken the surprising step of letting spectators decide how much to pay for tickets after a match.
Each paid a minimum of 100 yen (67 cents) depending on their "level of satisfaction" under the club's "Shall We Pay?" campaign after they defeated Chifure AS Elfen Saitama 1-0 at home in a WE League Cup group-stage match on Sept. 10.
For the match, 1,298 spectators turned out, and ticket sales, including from advance tickets with set prices, came to 887,001 yen ($5,900). Ticket and merchandise sales totaled about 1.5 million yen, which was 1.5 times more than usual.
"I wanted to find out the appropriate price we should charge for tickets," said Takashi Yasumoto, president of the club.
One fan paid as much as 10,000 yen, according to a club official. "I'll come to watch again when I get a chance," said a woman in her 60s, who paid 1,000 yen for her first women's football match at a stadium.
Compared with men's football in Japan, the women's game struggles to draw fans and turn a profit.
"The women's game has a different kind of appeal to the men's," said Kobe captain Mina Tanaka, one of several current and former internationals playing for the club. "We need to have people come see us first."
Kobe plans to run the campaign again.
