Football Ticket Prices Up Sharply

[marshbags]

BBC News 23:23 GMT, Monday, 26 May 2008 00:23 UK

Ref url :- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7417641.stm

Football ticket prices up sharply

Niall Quinn's Sunderland is increasing prices by 22 per cent

The cost of season tickets for next year at Premier League clubs has risen by 7.2%, more than twice the rate of consumer price inflation.

Research by the BBC reveals that the average cost of a mid-priced season ticket has risen to £590.

Premier League clubs are currently benefiting from television revenues which have gone up sharply.

But that has not prevented most of them from imposing substantial increases in season ticket costs.

That average hides considerable variations. Portsmouth have increased prices by 17.5% at the club's West Stand while Chelsea have again imposed no increase at all.

Season tickets - big risers:

Portsmouth - up 17.5%

Blackburn - up 12.9%

Sunderland - up 12%

Tottenham - up 10.7%

Wigan - up 10%

Some fans of champions Manchester United have complained about hefty price increases since the club was taken over by American owners.

For the next campaign a season ticket in the upper east stand will be £665, a 6% increase on last season, but still a lot less than a similar seat at the big London clubs.

Season tickets - low risers:

Middlesbrough - up 4.1%

West Ham - up 3.8%%

Man City - up 3.5%

Arsenal - up 2.6%

Chelsea- unchanged

The reasons for sharp increases vary, with Sunderland pointing to previous seasons when ticket prices have not risen at all.

A statement from Tottenham Hotspur said: "In order to progress both on and off the pitch, we need to be able to continue to raise our level of investment in the squad and all areas of the club's operations and facilities."

Bolton, Liverpool & Newcastle are yet to reveal prices for next season's matches.

The BBC compared season ticket prices in middle priced stands between the 2007/8 and 2008/9 seasons.

Unquote.

When you multiply that by x amount for families it really is getting to pricey to watch and support your team .

There will be more supporters loosing out next season due to the price of a ticket.

HTF do they expect us to keep paying these increases ????

It,s time the players started lowering their massive wages and signing on fees, say 10 % and letting it subsidize their fans who can hardly afford the continual annual increases.

The players would still get mega wages, also i,d bet it could be tax deductable and they wouldn,t even miss it.

marshbags

[Prakanong]

Watching the footie is an expensive hobby now and sadly out of the reach of a lot of families to see the Premiership - if you are not local then all the travel on top too!

By the time you have had a few pints and something to eat its a 150 GBP day out I bet for a single guy

[EastSaxCol]

Watching the footie is an expensive hobby now and sadly out of the reach of a lot of families to see the Premiership - if you are not local then all the travel on top too!

And kids too in the main. Gone are the days when the weekly paper round would pay for your Saturday's football. Probably why a lot of the atmosphere's gone as well. In ten years time the greedy <deleted> will be wondering why all grounds are like Middlesborough, Blackburn and Bolton - half empty or even worse.

There's no justifiction - except that to be taken for mugs anyone needs to be a willing to be treated as one.

[mrtoad]

Watching the footie is an expensive hobby now and sadly out of the reach of a lot of families to see the Premiership - if you are not local then all the travel on top too!

And kids too in the main. Gone are the days when the weekly paper round would pay for your Saturday's football. Probably why a lot of the atmosphere's gone as well. In ten years time the greedy <deleted> will be wondering why all grounds are like Middlesborough, Blackburn and Bolton - half empty or even worse.

There's no justifiction - except that to be taken for mugs anyone needs to be a willing to be treated as one.

Have to admit that the prices are just getting stupid. I've watched plenty of games all over the country over years mainly on comps from clubs, but the last game I went to in the UK was at Plymouth in December 2004, had a spare weekend and decided on the Friday (no time to arrange free tickets ) night to go up and watch with the misses (who complained about the cold constantly ), Old man( who normally can gets all the freebies), and a 9 year old. Plymouth v Stoke, ticket cost 110 quid . Throw in the lunch, travel, a few beers, programmes and a half time snack and it was the best part of 200 quid gone. BTW, the match was <deleted> awful, 0-0.

As PK said, gone are the days of a few quid to enjoy a good day out.

I think, in the end it will be unsustainable for a lot of clubs to rely on the loyalty of their fans to support their financial obligations.