Are price hikes the beginning of the end for the season ticket?
Towards the end of his reign as Premier League executive chairman, richard scudamore wore a look of resignation. In a meeting with fans, the man who had enough political savvy to tear up whitehall privately admitted that his currency had run out.
rail fares to away matches were — and still are — the issue. There were calls for the top flight to lobby for more flexible ticketing or suggest a subsidy system to clubs to mitigate the spiralling costs of following a team.
scudamore’s answer revealed everything about the culture of Premier League boardrooms. ‘I’m not going back to the well so soon,’ he said. Case closed.
scudamore was described as appearing exhausted after a lengthy battle with executives to cap the price of away tickets at £30. He managed it but the energy to go again, with 20 clubs all presenting different needs and varying degrees of obstinance? The answer was a resolute no.
That £30 cap is up for review next year. some clubs wanted it bumped to £35 the last time it was renewed, in 2022, but were warned about the backlash for the sake of a fiver. It is one to watch amid a war over season-ticket prices that has lit a fuse under fanbases up and down the land.
Here is one of the most critical issues in the sport: as the Premier League modernises, americanises, the feeling grows that the fans who enhance the spectacle are slowly being eased aside.
Perhaps now — as elite football moves painfully out of the reach of the working man and woman — enduring the constant rises, the chipping away at dwindling disposable incomes, stops for the next generation.
‘You look around the Kop and everybody is 40, 50, 60,’ says spirit of shankly’s Paul Khan. ‘There are hardly any kids getting into the game. This is every club. I worry about the future.’
‘THE problem is nobody controls or owns this problem,’ says an industry insider. ‘who can change the policy? one club isn’t going to. and the Premier League don’t have any interest in trying to change it on behalf of supporters. Clubs won’t think twice about giving their second- choice left winger an extra £15,000 a week, then charging fans an extra £15 a ticket to pay for it.’
Look at many clubs’ plans for next season and the fans aren’t happy. arsenal and Tottenham are not inviting any new OAP season-ticket holders — and are doing away with discounts for them. Manchester City are imposing a variety of percentage increases across the etihad stadium in a move described as ‘divide and conquer’.
a second mortgage might be handy to watch Fulham from their new stand, where the most expensive ticket in Britain will go for £3,000. Liverpool fans fear rises in the coming weeks.
Manchester United’s prices have gone up for the second year running after a long freeze. Chelsea are expected to announce hikes. aston Villa, too, amid dismay at the removal of longstanding fans from the Holte end to make room for hospitality.
Brentford tickets are going up 10 per cent, Burnley’s by more than that. The list goes on. all feeding an idea one high-profile executive was privately championing more than a decade ago.
His club did not want seasonticket holders. They could fill their 40,000- seat stadium with
those signed up to membership schemes — access to matches sold at a premium. First with a fee to join, then by making bigger mark-ups on tickets for individual games. ‘ Matchday revenue increases 30 per cent that way,’ he said. another club has told staff not to worry about ‘local’ fans and focus on global reach.
‘The number of season tickets at the etihad is 36,000 and that is only going down,’ says a spokesman for City fan group 1894. ‘The
only way City can beat arsenal for matchday revenue is if there are no season tickets; 60,000 paying £70 or £80 per ticket per game. That’s what some people at the top of the club want.’
Mail Sport has spoken to fan groups from each of the top six and the prevailing feeling is that the increases are a tax on loyalty. walking away from a season ticket for a year or two is not an option for many. with waiting lists in the thousands, those who leave may never have the chance to return. ‘You can’t look at match-going fans as a market as you would in any other business,’ says duncan drasdo of Manchester United supporters’ Trust.
‘It’s a monopoly, you haven’t got consumer choice. If you push too hard, you will damage that relationship. I don’t think it makes sense to squeeze that revenue. Following the green-and-gold protests (against the Glazers’ ownership) in 2010, we had a prolonged freeze and a lot of that was down to fan protests.’
a source at the Football supporters’ association talks of the exploitation of fans being a ‘slap in the face’ and disparages some fan advisory boards, implemented to improve communication with the clubs. ‘some clubs pay lip service and do what they want anyway. or tell the fan board 20 minutes before as a heads up. That’s not a heads up, is it? we want the dialogue beforehand.’
one fan who sits on such a board adds: ‘They call it a consultation when it’s a fait accompli.’
Listening to the anger this week, demonstrations don’t feel far away. ‘absolutely,’ says Chelsea supporters’ Trust vice- chair dominic rosso. ‘It’s happening everywhere. These are the fans who are going to be pulling you over the line when you’re up against it. Look at anfield. It isn’t as loud as it was, but how many extra points does anfield earn Liverpool a season?
‘Those extra points can be the difference between finishing seventh and fourth. That is a lot more money from broadcasting revenue than you would get from additional matchday sales. Clubs can’t seem to get their head around it. It’s causing stadiums to become lifeless and soulless.’
Tottenham fans have made their feelings clear. a protest over admission prices in august brought dialogue with the club.
‘They met us and said they didn’t want to be in that position again,’ said Tottenham Hotspur
Supporters’ trust chair Martin Buhagiar, now bemused by the decision to scrap OAP concessions. ‘ there was almost an acknowledgement they’d got it wrong. So to act like this now feels odd. With the concessions, there is this belief within clubs that all retired people are rich! It’s so strange.’
SPURS upped their seasonticket prices by an average of six per cent, the same as Arsenal and City. the OAP debacle sparked a display of banners during the defeat at Fulham — ‘Save Our Seniors’ — and more are expected when Luton visit tomorrow. ‘their business model creates criticism,’ Buhagiar adds. ‘It’s a step backwards. We’ve worked out the six per cent makes them between £3m and £4m a year. they make that three or four times from one Beyonce concert. Stop exploiting loyalty.’
the margins at other clubs are even smaller, raising the question of why clubs appear determined to alienate fans. City and Arsenal earned £2.4m for each Champions League group stage win this year, more per match than their ticket hikes for an entire season.
Asked about City’s 100 per cent record in the competition, Pep Guardiola replied: ‘For (CEO) Ferran Soriano, for the money: he’s so happy, that’s for sure!’
Buhagiar suspects Spurs saw Arsenal’s strategy on concessions and followed it. While there are good things done by clubs — Spurs are among those who have scrapped booking fees — they become less significant when placed alongside the headline figures.
A ticket-share system, whereby a fan not attending can receive a refund for the seat when it is sold on, has its merits and is working at some clubs, including United. Across the road, City supporters groups are encouraging a boycott of theirs.
Old trafford’s occupancy has risen from 85 per cent to 94 per cent since the introduction of their scheme in a division full of clubs whose crowds are based on tickets distributed rather than attendees. A growing number say a supporter’s ticket must be used a certain number of times a season or they risk losing it. that can create anxiety for fans.
ALL this comes against the backdrop of the cost of living crisis. Statistics from the Joseph rowntree Foundation show more than 7million households are at risk of being unable to afford enough food. More than 4million children are living in poverty.
Several Premier League clubs have fan-led foodbank initiatives outside their stadiums before home matches. ‘there’s a disparity between the community around Villa Park and the riches inside,’ says Aston & Nechells Foodbank’s Kerry Lenihan.
‘It’s poverty-ridden, one of the highest in the country. A lot more people are struggling than we realise. I have a lot of fans who come to me privately, who don’t want to speak to their family about it, but are worried about affording heating and food.
‘Football is an escape from that reality but if people are priced out there is nothing to fall back on.’
Lenihan says Villa have dropped the number of price bands from six to four, scrapping the two cheapest. She expresses annoyance at how holte enders are being ‘forced out of their seats’ for hospitality.
‘My mum and dad sit behind the dugouts and are expecting to be moved along for premium seats,’ she adds. ‘My dad’s said he won’t go if that happens and he’s been going for 50 years. It’s forcing people out to chase the money. I’ve got friends who can’t afford it now.’
Profit and sustainability rules have been front and centre this season and matchday revenue is somewhere executives can make gains to stay within the spending limits. this is supplemented by a booming ‘tourist’ market, which in the cases of tottenham’s South Korean groups — the club sell an estimated 2,000 Son heung-min shirts a game — should be celebrated. Brighton can hardly print enough Kaoru Mitoma shirts.
‘ We love the overseas fans,’ Buhagiar says. ‘But when Son goes, they’re going to go too. the club takes advantage of them without a strategy. What happens when Son leaves?’
AStUDY by Visit Britain five years ago found that 1.5m tourist trips were football-related, adding £1.4billion to the economy. the etihad recorded 87,000 of those visits and that figure will have doubled or trebled now as the club’s global appeal rockets. Anfield and Old trafford racked up more than 200,000 each.
Yet compared to the influx of cash from broadcasters, it’s small change. Which only adds to fans’ frustration with the likes of Arsenal as they scrap concessionary tickets for future seasons.
‘What are they doing?’ says Arsenal Supporters’ trust spokesman tim Payton. ‘Where’s the custodianship and recognition of lifetime loyalty? the club are doing a lot to reconnect with the fans but is this filtering through to the decision-makers?
‘they’re just trying to squeeze more money from us. A free marketeer would say it’s because of demand. But the Government has decided (with the independent regulator) that there is a social fabric, a golden thread that recognises supporters need to be looked after.’
In what is being framed as an attempt to offer choice to fans, City have introduced a flexi-gold ticket, which preserves a seat for a £150 membership fee, then gives the option of picking matches, paying full general admission prices. ‘the premium seems like it’s taking advantage of people,’ City Matters chair Alex howell says. ‘At what point does the success on and off the pitch get passed to supporters?’
the treble winners posted record revenue and profits this year. ‘What a great opportunity it would have been to reward our loyal, long-standing season ticket holders with no increase,’ Official Supporters Club chair Kevin Parker says. ‘Instead, City have decided to ignore that — knowing that the same fan base are so loyal they will renew despite the increase. this one leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.’