Ticket Pricing

Football is not just a game for many people its a way of life nothing better than going to the game on a Saturday afternoon, I was recently looking at purchasing a ticket for an FA Cup game at my club and its £25 for Adult and £15 for Under 18's this got me thinking about the pricing of football matches and thinking about how people on low incomes can afford to go to football and are football clubs doing enough to support people and look after the community.

So my question is how would you feel if the club decide to offer people who are on benefits/lower incomes cheaper tickets to games or season tickets at prices which are based on income? Not saying I would agree with this but then surely this would help people come to the matches and help boost the clubs image in the community. I am not aware of any clubs currently doing this in the UK, I can see that this would cause issues with how do you put in places this idea and other issues, which I am sure you will mention.


Let's say a season ticket is £300 but if you household income is under £15,000 you can purchase a ticket at the reduced cost of £250. Yet if you have a high household income you would pay £325.

My question to you; Is this a workable model which could be put in place in football or is this just a mere pipe dream.... Answers on a postcard please

I think it would fail to be honest. Mr A earns 45k and Mr B earns only 15k. Why should Mr A have to pay more? Should he be penalized for having a more successful career.
I totally agree with what you say though. The prices these days are outrageous. I recently tried to purchase 2 tickets for Brighton's game against Leicester and nearly fell over when they asked for £62.50. Needless to say i'll be watching Football Focus intead.....

My season ticket is £600 and I'm well above £15k, I'd not be a fan of paying anymore when the value for money is already about £200 back

My season ticket for next season is going to cost £173 as I am under 21. That works out at about 9 quid a game for premier league football at Carrow Road!! My brother qualifies for under 16 and his season ticket costs £83 for next season.

Why should the poor and lazy beneift from cheaper stuff. I, for one, would thoroughly oppose such measures.

johnson2 wrote:Why should the poor and lazy beneift from cheaper stuff. I, for one, would thoroughly oppose such measures.

Congratulations on the most ignorant post of the year!

At Palace I was £240 for the second best seats whilst I was a student but now its £450 being an adult. I don't agree that people on lower incomes should be given a cheaper rate because what is the point of having a better job and paying more tax.

However if an adult buys a season ticket they get a free one for kids under 10 which is a great incentive in my opinon. Plus on the late kick offs in the week adults can then use that ticket so its not wasted. Brilliant in my opinion!

How do you think football can be made more affordable for people on lower incomes as you must all know that the history of football is a working class sport

Crimey wrote:

johnson2 wrote:Why should the poor and lazy beneift from cheaper stuff. I, for one, would thoroughly oppose such measures.

Congratulations on the most ignorant post of the year!

So you think lazy, benefit scrounging, wasters should be allowed cheaper stuff than those who have the ambition to actually make something of themselves. If you don't earn a good wage, try harder. You should not be given stuff for free/cheaper.

Alves wrote:How do you think football can be made more affordable for people on lower incomes as you must all know that the history of football is a working class sport

Supply and demand.

If people are willing to pay 1k for a season ticket, why would a club sell for 200 quid. I dont think it should be made cheaper. All that does is out people who have more money at a disadvantage.

johnson2 wrote:

Crimey wrote:

johnson2 wrote:Why should the poor and lazy beneift from cheaper stuff. I, for one, would thoroughly oppose such measures.

Congratulations on the most ignorant post of the year!

So you think lazy, benefit scrounging, wasters should be allowed cheaper stuff than those who have the ambition to actually make something of themselves. If you don't earn a good wage, try harder. You should not be given stuff for free/cheaper.

+1

In regards to making the sport for the masses I soon think we will reach the point where all matches will be on demand and such most people will watch from there. It is basic economics with wages going up the price will have to follow and as such demand will reduced. I think it won't be too long till salary caps will be imposed.

Such a shame that football is managed by money, I am sure if the clubs wanted to they could make it more affordable as how many clubs in premiership will sell out week in week out?

A sell out doesnt guarantee them the highest revenue.

A 60,000 seater sold out at £30 a go is £1.8m

But if they only managed to sell out 45,000 at £50 is £2.25m

Football support I think is quite inelastic in terms of pricing. My season ticket doubled owing to graduating uni but I still renewed. Would I renew if it got bumped again next year? Definately. There is always going to me a section of people who will always go regardless of the cost.

But do you not feel that every has a financial breaking point and with the way money is it clubs could be reaching it soon?

Without doubt- hence I would be a fan of a salary cap like the NFL imposes.

johnson2 wrote:

Crimey wrote:

johnson2 wrote:Why should the poor and lazy beneift from cheaper stuff. I, for one, would thoroughly oppose such measures.

Congratulations on the most ignorant post of the year!

So you think lazy, benefit scrounging, wasters should be allowed cheaper stuff than those who have the ambition to actually make something of themselves. If you don't earn a good wage, try harder. You should not be given stuff for free/cheaper.

It's not quite as simple as that, and to suggest it is, is ignorant and you've obviously lived quite a sheltered lifestyle.

The_Essence_of_Excellence wrote:A sell out doesnt guarantee them the highest revenue.

A 60,000 seater sold out at £30 a go is £1.8m

But if they only managed to sell out 45,000 at £50 is £2.25m

Football support I think is quite inelastic in terms of pricing. My season ticket doubled owing to graduating uni but I still renewed. Would I renew if it got bumped again next year? Definately. There is always going to me a section of people who will always go regardless of the cost.

I made a similar point on a thread earlier in the season when QPR were being moaned at for high prices. I shown the figures that even thought they lowered the prices and were getting higher attendances they were in fact getting less revenue.

The_Essence_of_Excellence wrote:Without doubt- hence I would be a fan of a salary cap like the NFL imposes.

I don't like the idea of salary caps or the Uefa Financial (un)Fair Play rules. To be both are negative and don't actually make anything fairer but just benefit a few teams.

Under the new FFP rules the rich clubs are guaranteed success as the smaller clubs won't be allowed to compete. At least under the current free market football teams can take a chance. Under the FFP rules the likes of Fulham and Wigan would never have made it to the Premier League and clubs like Leeds wouldn't have been allowed to fail.

Salary caps don't help either. They only benefit the clubs currently paying the limit. Clubs above that are disadvantaged, clubs below that are disadvantaged.

Under a free market football system clubs are allowed to fail and when they do other clubs will take their place. That's why we have a pyramid system. American sports don't have that kind of system.

By means have FFP rules and salary caps but that is a slippery slope to a closed shop super league (no relegation/ promotion)

There are things that can be done currently like cut squads down to 25 players (not the current system though were top teams still have 40 odd players on their books).

Clubs with big followings and long season ticket waiting lists can pretty much charge what they like. London-based fans laughed their heads off when Man Untd supporters bemoaned the fact, a few years ago, that the Glazers' arrival would push their season tickets up to SIX HUNDRED POUNDS a year.
This is because some season tickets in the capital are now more than £1,400 a year. Effectively, clubs are telling fans "If you don't like it - tough. There's 20,000 people on the waiting list just waiting to take over your seat."
Fans moan, but then pay up. What's the alternative? Give up or support another, cheaper, club ? Hardly.

I guess following football is a hobby and money spent on it is voluntary spending of disposable income. It is the same with a golfer paying annual fees at his golf club. If you don't like the price don't go. I am sure the clubs do the maths and charge the most they can without a mass exodus from fans.

I have another theory about ticket prices linked to average attendances. Take the Spurs ground for example. It holds "only" 36,000 and it's really difficult to get a ticket. Consequently fans often end up seeing the match they hadn't applied for.
For instance, Spurs begin their season with matches against Man U and Arsenal followed by, say, Stoke and Wolves. The first two games sell out almost at once. Disappointed fans then pile in with demands for the next available game/games and Stoke and Wolves sell out. By the time the season ends all the matches are full houses.
Now the Spurs tickets are highly priced - and prized. But because of excessive demand, few non-seaon ticketholders get to see EVERY game, so it's not really possible to know whether they could AFFORD to go to every game.
If Tottenham get their new stadium they could seat as many as 56,000. But with no Harry, fewer top-class players (with Bale, Modric etc eventually going), probable higher prices, praps poorer results and with tickets becoming less hard to get, will they be able to fill it every match ?
Sunderland have a big following but do they fill the 48,000-capacity Stadium of Light every week? On the Spurs principle, it could be that Sunderland would actually have a HIGHER average attendance if they had a LOWER capacity. OK, sounds a bit daft, but I think you get my drift.

sportsville wrote:

The_Essence_of_Excellence wrote:A sell out doesnt guarantee them the highest revenue.

A 60,000 seater sold out at £30 a go is £1.8m

But if they only managed to sell out 45,000 at £50 is £2.25m

Football support I think is quite inelastic in terms of pricing. My season ticket doubled owing to graduating uni but I still renewed. Would I renew if it got bumped again next year? Definately. There is always going to me a section of people who will always go regardless of the cost.

I made a similar point on a thread earlier in the season when QPR were being moaned at for high prices. I shown the figures that even thought they lowered the prices and were getting higher attendances they were in fact getting less revenue.

they will have sold more pies ,pints and programmes!!

its all about econmies of sclae- what is gonna maximise profit, which most of the time may relate to maximising turnover- however not allways, or not allways in the basic sense of maximising ticket turnover.