Wembley lose £15m a year as VIP seats are axed

A PLUNGE in demand for costly ‘prawn sandwich brigade’ tickets at Wembley Stadium will see 5,000 hospitality places axed from next season, an embarrassing move likely to cost the FA £15million a year.

There are currently 15,000 Club Wembley seats at the home of English football, which give holders VIP seats and hospitality for all England home games, the FA Cup final and semi-finals, the EFL Cup final, Community Shield, and priority booking for other events. But there has been an alarming fall in demand, perhaps driven by the mediocre national team and the fall in status of the FA Cup.

Club Wembley seats were sold mostly in 10-year packages when the redeveloped stadium opened in 2007 and those deals end this year. The reselling process has exposed the drop-off in interest.

The FA’s latest accounts, just published for the 2015-16 season, show Club Wembley revenues made up 15 per cent of the FA’s £369.7m turnover, or £55.5m.

Based on those numbers, the loss of 5,000 VIP seats will cost the FA £18.5m a year. Sales of the ‘stripped back’ option will mitigate that but probably only by about £3.5m. An official involved in the sales process, which begins next week, said: ‘The 5,000 (downgraded) seats will become a stripped back ticket option. They will be segregated from the rest of Club Wembley and will have no access to restaurants or the other main benefits.’

Club Wembley packages were on sale for as much as £10,800 per person per year, but are currently on offer for between £1,750 and £9,000, with a range of further discounts potentially available.

The accounts also reveal the true cost of the new Wembley is about to pass £1billion, and continues to rise. The FA have paid £238.4m in finance costs on loans since the venue was built for £757m. Debt linked to the stadium stands at £195m. Figures also show the FA paid £481,000 in severance pay, believed to be for sacking Wembley’s former managing director Roger Maslin as part of cost-cutting measures.

A section in the FA accounts celebrating refereeing excellence in England singles out ‘world class’ Mark Clattenburg for taking charge of the finals of the FA Cup, Champions League and Euro 2016.

Unfortunately it was printed before the referee announced he was quitting England for Saudi Arabia.