A piece of research

[The_Charm]

Hi all,

I'm currently researching ticket prices in football and costs of the day out in relationship with the numbers of fans attending live games.

Having recently seen the article in The Sun about Mansfield Town charging more than Barcelona and FC Schalke for a ticket, it has encouraged me to carry out some more in-depth study.

I am sure the above issue is a case of the highest price at Mansfield and the lowest price at the European grounds, however, I have written to Mansfield Town asking for an explanation of their prices.

My interest in this area has come about because of my love for the game. I do not want to see fans being driven away because of high prices.

Over the last 5/10 years there has been a major increase in the games that are shown live on TV and also with internet streaming I feel there may be some correlation with levels of attendance in the Professional leagues.

This is a private study, and I am more than happy to publish my results if anyone is interested once I have completed my research.

For now, if you would like to help,I would like to hear your opinions on ticket prices at the grounds you have been to, how the prices compare to other sporting events, your thoughts on price differentiation over the last 5 - 10 seasons and finally your views on premplus... convenience, cost etc.

Thanks in advance for any contribution that you make, and I will be sincerely grateful for your comments. I look forward to hearing your views.

Discuss.

The Charm.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

i don't think our prices are that bad really. £20 per game £22 on the day. was £16 last season but being promoted you expect a bit of a increase. only went up when we played man u and it went to £30 which i was a bit surprised that they raised prices for this game. but pretty happy though. have to wait until we get new stadium though, thats when we will find out

 

[Tilly hates yellow boots]

Well happy with £50 odd season ticket in the family :)

 

[Ricey]

What annoys me most about Prem plus is you have to pay extra on top of your monthly fee. So we are paying extra a month to have the sports package then on top have to pay extra to watch football! Its an absolute disgrace!

Although I recently went to Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea in the League Cup against Wycombe and the ticket only cost £20!

Its nice that the cup games are cheaper but when you get the Premiership league games some of the prices are ridiculous! £50 to watch 90 mins of football is outrageous!!! £50 to possibly watch a 0-0 bore draw.

I would love for one day Southend United to play in the Premiership but on the other hand I wouldn't! Because I know that the prices would rocket! And with my current job not being a massive earner I would not be able to afford to go ever week like I try to now!

Football in the higher leagues is no longer about out beloved game on the pitch its about the money! Its a business and we found that out during the transfer window when we could not sign a load of players due to high asking prices and players wanting silly Wages!!!


Something needs to be done soon to stop people like Beckham earning 80p per second! And these stupid amount of wages and high asking prices for players!

This mainly reflects on the high ticket prices and is ruining our game! Its time for the fans to start boycotting the clubs.

ITS TIME FOR US TO MAKE A STAND!

 

[Dept36]

Took my 8 year old too his first game last week and felt that 9 euros for me and 4.5 euros for him was very fair for a 2nd div game.Not that it helps your research but hey i tried.

 

[Uncle Leo]

Best value I've ever got at a football stadium was €16 to see Hertha Berlin vs Kaiserslautern at the Olympic Stadium two years ago. And you could have a beer while watching the game.

Shame the match was rubbish.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

ricey £50 for a prem game, thats for like a catergory B or C. catergory A's are like £70. thats just pathetic.

 

[Mr. Benedict]

I paid 20 Euros to see Deportivo La Coruna play Mallorca when I was on holiday there last week - their cheapest season ticket was only 110 Euros...

 

[Jam_Man]

Hi all,


My interest in this area has come about because of my love for the game. I do not want to see fans being driven away because of high prices.

Over the last 5/10 years there has been a major increase in the games that are shown live on TV and also with internet streaming I feel there may be some correlation with levels of attendance in the Professional leagues.


The Charm.

What makes me laugh about this "campaign" by the sun is they use Blackburn as an example saying they are using extra TV money to subsidise tickets. Oh yeah, nothing to do with the fact they have awful support and cant sell out their ground. Call me a cynic but they wouldnt be doing it if they were....

Its all supply and demand, its hard to say that a club is charging too much if they sell out every game.

Personally I think they need to put a check on some prices as at bigger clubs as they are getting high.

Its all going to be complex though and depend on the club , personally Im happy with prices at SUFC, andeven though they are the highest they have been we are getting record attendances.

****nal have high prices, £42 for the cheapest seat at a league game (upper tier) , rising to £60 for the cheapest seat for the Cat A games (Liverpool/Man Utd/Chelsea/Spurs), and the most expensive seat is £94 at a Cat A game.

However heres the killer, its not driving fans away ****nal sell out every game within about two hours of going on sale to their red members, you rarely see any on sale for general sale.

Reading dont charge much less, £35 per ticket and again pretty much sell out.

Other clubs like Blackburn Man City always have lots of empty seats.

So basically its down to each club, if they arent getting people through turnstiles they need to look at everything they do as ticket prices alone wont stop people coming.

 

[shrimper4life]

What makes me laugh about this "campaign" by the sun is they use Blackburn as an example saying they are using extra TV money to subsidise tickets. Oh yeah, nothing to do with the fact they have awful support and cant sell out their ground. Call me a cynic but they wouldnt be doing it if they were....

Its all supply and demand, its hard to say that a club is charging too much if they sell out every game.

Personally I think they need to put a check on some prices as at bigger clubs as they are getting high.

Its all going to be complex though and depend on the club , personally Im happy with prices at SUFC, andeven though they are the highest they have been we are getting record attendances.

****nal have high prices, £42 for the cheapest seat at a league game (upper tier) , rising to £60 for the cheapest seat for the Cat A games (Liverpool/Man Utd/Chelsea/Spurs), and the most expensive seat is £94 at a Cat A game.

However heres the killer, its not driving fans away ****nal sell out every game within about two hours of going on sale to their red members, you rarely see any on sale for general sale.

Reading dont charge much less, £35 per ticket and again pretty much sell out.

Other clubs like Blackburn Man City always have lots of empty seats.

So basically its down to each club, if they arent getting people through turnstiles they need to look at everything they do as ticket prices alone wont stop people coming.

Agree with you there, football is a business and if clubs can charge high prices whilst selling out then it makes sense.

The thing with Blackburn as well is that there on a good run as well and their not even selling out

 

[mattytheshrimper]

you can actually get an ****nal ticket in lower tier for £30 in some games unless it is catergory A

 

[The Big Shrimp]

I know its not football, but first day tickets at the MCG (Boxing Day Test - the biggest date in the Aussie sporting calendar!) were A$28 (£12-ish) for the first day & A$25 (just over £10) for the days after. Which for the Ashes is silly money. OK the ground does hold over 100,000, but even so, its cheap.

The SCG for the New Year Test was A$47 (£20) for each day. The capacity there is 45,000-ish, similar to a lot of Premiership grounds.

Which is the greater value? Tickets at Lords this year are approx £60-70 for one days play! We're a country that tries to rip off the public all the time!

 

[Maldon Blues]

Best value I've ever got at a football stadium was €16 to see Hertha Berlin vs Kaiserslautern at the Olympic Stadium two years ago. And you could have a beer while watching the game.

Shame the match was rubbish.

14 Euros at Ajax when I saw them play Den Haag two years ago.

Also a rubbish game, though!

 

[(S)(U)(F)(C)]

What annoys me most about Prem plus is you have to pay extra on top of your monthly fee. So we are paying extra a month to have the sports package then on top have to pay extra to watch football! Its an absolute disgrace!

To be fair, prem plus is an optional thing, like a bonus if you choose to pay more for an extra 50 games. Your not losing out on games on your regular package, its still the same amount.

 

[The_Charm]

thanks for your help and support so far everyone, everything is being noted. really appreciate it, any more views would be welcome with open arms!

 

[mattytheshrimper]

saw barca vs ac milan about 2 years ago in a pre-season friendly for 16 euros

 

[sufcintheprem]

Without having any research on the area, I always thought that most other countries would have had problems selling out their ground charging anything near what we charge. I think I also read that Italian clubs are so reliant on TV money ahead of gate receipts that they can charge whatever they like.

To be honest, you can see why clubs get away with charging so much for us to go and watch football. Our national football team has been incredibly mediocre in recent years and yet we still flocked to Germany to the extent that we near enough anglicised towns when England were playing. you could see an England flag at nigh on every single game in the World Cup. We're footballing mugs and we'll pay whatever it takes because we all cling on to the glimmer of hope that we'll become successful.

On top of that, there seems to be a much higher personal loyalty to teams. Why else would the worst teams in the worst professional division, almost a hundred places down the league from the top, still attract a couple of thousand people?

Personally, I'm happy with my lot. Football's quite an important part of my life and I do my best to offset the cost with sports betting. I can't help but feel that the top clubs determine the cost for the rest of us