Question The cost of football up and down the leagues

[Tommy2holes]

It's amazing the support the club is receiving via season card sales and I'm sure plenty on a match day too.

The consortium must be delighted by what they are seeing and it's so deserved after what they have done to save the club.

What always amazes me is the disparity between the Premier league and the lower/non leagues.

Certain Premier clubs are charging a similar price to our tickets for Premier league football. Of course, it isn't that straight forward. The Premier league is propped up by 100s of millions in TV money.

Fans of clubs show a loyalty, even in the face of financial hardship that isn't seen outside of it.

I saw this on X (twitter)

Some amazing prices and deals, especially for clubs like newly promoted Ipswich for top flight.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1815474733128819040

 

[tottenham541]

I see this the other day, some great deals at some clubs, Ipswich stands out at the best deal for prem football as well, this morning I was looking at our football fixtures between now and new year to decide if it’s worth me getting a season ticket as I haven’t had one for a few years, I work a lot of weekends so it’s not worth me getting one so I’ll just pick and choose when I’m available, plus I’ll look at going to 2-3 away games if I can

 

[Tommy2holes]

I see this the other day, some great deals at some clubs, Ipswich stands out at the best deal for prem football as well, this morning I was looking at our football fixtures between now and new year to decide if it’s worth me getting a season ticket as I haven’t had one for a few years, I work a lot of weekends so it’s not worth me getting one so I’ll just pick and choose when I’m available, plus I’ll look at going to 2-3 away games if I can

Sounds good to me. I just worry that fans such as yourself may lose out on decent seats due to demand.

I hope not. Not every fan can fit the games in.

I'm lucky enough to arrange my shifts to avoid home games. Unfortunately, this makes away games more difficult.

I also live 5 mins walk from roots Hall.

 

[Jai]

It's a complex picture though. The great deals you often see higher up the league are often fairly limited and also clubs have a tendency to categorise games too. Your chances of rocking up on the day to watch a high level professional football match in this country for a reasonable price are fairly slim.

west ham have long been a club willing to offer low ticket prices on the face of it (probably because you'd have to be clinically insane to want to watch west ham play football), but actually if you look a bit closer their fans are pretty annoyed at some of the pricing structures. For example, the matchday prices vs Man City are about £65 for a half decent seat with no concessions for children or OAPs and their fans are furious about it.

You also have a situation that is happening more and more up the leagues where clubs are punishing fans who can't use their season ticket so try and pass it on, because they want to make a high markup reselling their seats themselves to other fans.

At Southend, you know you are going to watch a game of professional football of, relatively speaking on a global level, a good standard for £20 odd quid, no matter where you sit or who the opposition are. There are also concession prices no matter what the game, some of which are quite reasonable. I also like the fact that as a season ticket holder I can bring friends to a match for free for 3 games a season.

I understand why the consortium have raised prices due to the financial chaos over the past five years. They knew that there would be a feelgood factor and that Roots Hall is likely to be pretty full regardless. I don't see it as a cynical move, we do after all have a lot to be grateful to them for.

 

[johnlattimerssponge]

I renewed without hesitation as soon as season tickets went on sale and have no regrets about doing so as feel COSU deserve our support for saving the club.

Now looking at our prices and comparing to clubs both at our level and above I feel they pushed the increase as much as possible as £400 for a NL season ticket is right at the top end. I do feel however next time they need to reintroduce the early bird discounts that was not possible this time as a bare minimum irrespective of whether we get promoted or not.

 

[Tommy2holes]

It's a complex picture though. The great deals you often see higher up the league are often fairly limited and also clubs have a tendency to categorise games too. Your chances of rocking up on the day to watch a high level professional football match in this country for a reasonable price are fairly slim.

west ham have long been a club willing to offer low ticket prices on the face of it (probably because you'd have to be clinically insane to want to watch west ham play football), but actually if you look a bit closer their fans are pretty annoyed at some of the pricing structures. For example, the matchday prices vs Man City are about £65 for a half decent seat with no concessions for children or OAPs and their fans are furious about it.

You also have a situation that is happening more and more up the leagues where clubs are punishing fans who can't use their season ticket so try and pass it on, because they want to make a high markup reselling their seats themselves to other fans.

At Southend, you know you are going to watch a game of professional football of, relatively speaking on a global level, a good standard for £20 odd quid, no matter where you sit or who the opposition are. There are also concession prices no matter what the game, some of which are quite reasonable. I also like the fact that as a season ticket holder I can bring friends to a match for free for 3 games a season.

I understand why the consortium have raised prices due to the financial chaos over the past five years. They knew that there would be a feelgood factor and that Roots Hall is likely to be pretty full regardless. I don't see it as a cynical move, we do after all have a lot to be grateful to them for.

You are talking about individual match day tickets ie a tiering system that top divisions employ. Of course our match day prices are the same throughout. We don't have Bournemouth one week and City the next.

I was just highlighting the season cards.

Personally happy to see so many people signing up for season cards at SUFC.

The fact that you can watch the top flight for a fraction more at Ipswich is massively impressive.

 

[Thundersley Blue]

You are talking about individual match day tickets ie a tiering system that top divisions employ. Of course our match day prices are the same throughout. We don't have Bournemouth one week and City the next.

I was just highlighting the season cards.

Personally happy to see so many people signing up for season cards at SUFC.

The fact that you can watch the top flight for a fraction more at Ipswich is massively impressive.

Don't know exactly how much Ipswich season tickets are, but they do vary greatly in price depending where you want to sit. My neighbour has had a season ticket for a long time,but is on a rolling monthly Direct Debit. Makes it an awful lot easier and the cost is spread over 12 months.

No need for Early Bird prices and any price increase is spread over the year. Might be worth the Club considering that for next season and beyond.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

I see this the other day, some great deals at some clubs, Ipswich stands out at the best deal for prem football as well, this morning I was looking at our football fixtures between now and new year to decide if it’s worth me getting a season ticket as I haven’t had one for a few years, I work a lot of weekends so it’s not worth me getting one so I’ll just pick and choose when I’m available, plus I’ll look at going to 2-3 away games if I can

You can't get an Ipswich Town season ticket, they unsurprisingly sold out to renewals only on the 26th April. So not much of a deal.

At the rate we are selling new season tickets...... we might have to have a waiting list as well.

 

[basilrobbie]

The picture is very patchy, to be honest.

All things being equal, you would expect reasonable pricing at EPL level, because for most of the clubs ticket revenue is a small proportion of their overall pie.

For the bigger clubs, like Spurs, the opposite is increasingly true. They get merchandising and other revenue in seven figures for every home game, and in fact they and Arsenal in particular are trying very hard to monetise every seat to get the tourist dollar. This extends to putting incredibly stringent terms and conditions on Season Tickets, reducing concessions for Seniors and so on.

Why ? The rationale is simple. Established ST holders don't buy merchandise or spend large amounts on food on drink in the ground. Foreign tourists and occasional attendees do.

Other clubs like West Ham, Chelsea and Fulham make the most of categorised pricing, so that at Fulham a walk on punter who wants to watch them play Liverpool may have to part with a hundred quid or more.

It's a tendency that is creeping down the pyramid. My club, for example, have sharply hiked the prices of season tickets for U-18s for this season, and are demanding £27 or £31 to buy a ticket on the day. How this is supposed to grow the fan base and maintain it through the generations is something they can't or won't explain.

 

[Ipswhrimp]

You can't get an Ipswich Town season ticket, they unsurprisingly sold out to renewals only on the 26th April. So not much of a deal.

At the rate we are selling new season tickets...... we might have to have a waiting list as well.

I couldn't believe how cheap mates' season tickets were. But rolling up to watch a cheap Premiersh#te game - even if you wanted to - won't be an option at Portman Road. Every game will be a sell-out and tickets just won't be available.