Our football journalist Dave Powell examines the dilemma as clubs keep raising the price of tickets Working-class people were the ones who played football for many years. Week in and week out, thousands of people flocked to stadiums around the nation to watch their heroes brighten their weekend after a demanding workweek. The scenes were a sea of flat hats and cigarette smoke. The happiness that football offers to the teams that play in its communities has endured, even though the flat caps and cigarettes have vanished—the latter of which is not a terrible thing. Football is the sole true source of euphoria, and thousands of people continue to flock there in pursuit of it. However, football has also evolved with the times. Nothing endures forever, so it had to.
Some claim that the establishment of the Premier League in 1992 marked the beginning of a journey that would forever alter the nature of the game. In actuality, it is never possible to stay the same because things like time, technology, attitudes, and a host of other factors change with time. Nowadays, tickets are not as affordable as they once were forty, fifty, or sixty years ago. There are several tiers of support, ranging from a terrace with a limited view to a hospitality box with a bottle of Margeaux and your own personal chef.
They are all expensive, but as teams have to raise more money to cover the rising costs of agents, payroll, transfer fees, and other expenses—not to mention the infrastructure of the football team to enable it to take advantage of other revenue-generating opportunities throughout the business—the expense is frequently passed on to the customer. In this instance, though, the customer is the fan, and fans are not customers. Clubs ought to have learnt that from the European Super League’s collapse. It is understandable that fans become incensed when teams attempt to pass on rising expenses to them by raising ticket prices. The club argument is usually that they don’t think they have an option.
Which side is correct in this case depends on how you view the modern game and the way football teams today need to function in a multibillion dollar global market with a wide range of stakeholders. To put things in perspective, the cost of Premier League season tickets had been essentially fixed for a while.
There was less pressure on clubs as businesses during a period of low inflation and sharp increases in Premier League broadcast revenues both domestically and internationally. Moreover, raising ticket prices for fans at a time when clubs were enjoying record-breaking financial inflows would have been a bad look. However, there have been major changes in the economy, and there have been indications for a while that domestic TV rights are plateauing, which will unavoidably result in a drop in the upcoming years.
The most recent Premier League broadcast agreement was heralded as a triumph, and going from £5 billion to £6.7 billion seems reasonable on the surface. However, that three-year agreement has been extended to four, and the Premier League has given broadcasters access to an additional 70 games a season, for a total of 270 games.
The actual worth of every game has decreased, and the Premier League is merely staying the same during this “rise.” The Premier League remains optimistic that the ongoing global acclaim for English football’s top division will result in increased earnings throughout the upcoming cycle, particularly because the US market is now seeing significant expansion.
Although those earnings would probably increase significantly, it might not be the answer to every problem facing Premier League teams. Over the past ten to fifteen years, frozen ticket prices had become the norm. However, as external pressure to keep costs growing mounted, only Crystal Palace, out of the twelve teams that have revealed their season ticket prices for the upcoming season, has chosen to maintain the freeze. The first price increase for Liverpool in seven years is 2%; Manchester United is up 5%; Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are up 6%; and Brighton & Hove Albion is up 8%. For the upcoming campaign, West Ham United, Brentford, Burnley, Everton, Manchester City, Sheffield United, and West Ham have all raised their pricing.
Even if Nottingham Forest slips through the Premier League trapdoor and returns to the Championship the next season, the club has raised season ticket prices by an average of 24% for the 2024–25 campaign, making this season’s ticket hike for supporters extremely harsh. Aston Villa also faced criticism from supporters earlier in the season when it was perceived that they were raising ticket prices for Villa Park games in an attempt to profit from the eagerly anticipated return of Champions League play and a spot at the top table of European sports.
The Aston Villa Supporters Trust and the larger football community bemoaned the decision, and the club was called “out of touch” after it was discovered that tickets for home Champions League matches this season might cost as much as £97. In the new 36-team league format, adult tickets for their four home games will cost £85, £94, and £97; season ticket holders will receive a discounted rate of £70, £79, and £82. Villa argued that in order to remain competitive, they had to make “difficult decisions.” However, the outcry was short-lived as fans at a sold-out Villa Park watched an incredible European evening as Jhon Duran scored a late goal to seal a historic victory over Bayern Munich.
Despite how fantastic the outcome was, the noise almost drowned out any message or protest about price increases. This is a common occurrence across the nation: the hierarchy was let off the hook. Major U-turns are difficult to obtain ownership for because doing so frequently means that the only option is to abstain in protest. The issue in the highly commercialised Premier League world is that someone will fill the void, meaning that demand will continue to exceed supply, which is still the main leverage for club owners.
Football, like all sectors, is confronted with the issue of growing expenses, and fans are also having difficulty making ends meet. Rising inflation and market forces have affected main cost lines, such as labor-based contracts, club rates, utilities, and wage costs; most of these enterprises are loss-making. Drawing inspiration from the fantastic 2011 financial drama “Margin Call,” many clubs believe that the Premier League’s broadcast revenue has plateaued. This is happening at a time when macroeconomic pressures are driving up day-to-day costs. In addition, player salaries and transfer fees are rising despite all of these external factors, so something has to give. That something has to be paid for, which means pushing levers like increasing ticket prices and merchandise prices. When they are unable to hear any music at all, they will be quite worried.
Drawing inspiration from the fantastic 2011 financial drama “Margin Call,” many clubs believe that the Premier League’s broadcast revenue has plateaued. This is happening at a time when macroeconomic pressures are driving up day-to-day costs. In addition, player salaries and transfer fees are rising despite all of these external factors, so something has to give. That something has to be paid for, which means pushing levers like increasing ticket prices and merchandise prices. When they are unable to hear any music at all, they will be quite worried.
Although it is a very unpopular move, clubs now have the strength in numbers to make such a move in an industry where the majority of teams sell out their allocations and where it is anticipated that demand would persist despite price increases. The others followed suit after the first one broke rank.
Another significant component of the business’s financial flow is season tickets. With no games played, the summer can be a lean time, but spending money on the market and new hires is still necessary. Clubs’ cash flow is aided by the sale of season tickets during this time, thus an increase in revenue prior to the season is always beneficial. Clubs also have to worry about how they will continue to comply with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations, as well as the upcoming squad cost ratio regulations. Both of these regulations carry sporting consequences in the form of point deductions, which can have a significant negative impact on business.
A breach may amount to £2 million or £20 million. As Forest has discovered this season, it is still a violation that will have consequences. Ticket prices provide a little extra support at a time when clubs are trying to earn more money to cover expenses and stay in compliance.
However, from a commercial standpoint, increasing ticket costs makes sense, particularly in light of the 33% increase in inflation from May 2014 in the Consumer Price Index. This indicates that expenses have gone up yet ticket prices haven’t kept up. Clubs are now beginning to close the difference.
However, from the perspective of a fan, football teams are assets of the community, and supporters are not clients. You may shop around for a better deal if a company starts charging more for a service, but football fans are unable to just sever their ties and watch football somewhere else. Not all football teams are able to achieve the balance that is required of them. However, it is difficult to sympathise with large business when the founders and celebrities earn millions of dollars.
For many, the cost of living has increased significantly since the outbreak in recent years. People are having to prioritise more and more since their budgets are more constrained than ever. When it comes to budgeting, football may be non-negotiable for some, but it may be unaffordable for others. The Premier League is the richest domestic football competition on the planet. You would think that more could be done to exert pressure to ensure that football is affordable for fans, given the competition spends tens of millions of dollars suing its own clubs, where increasing amounts of money are spent on wages and transfer fees are not only expected but encouraged by some fans, fuelled by social media.
The same holds true for UEFA and the teams who participate in its leagues. Although it hasn’t been the most significant item on a club’s balance sheet in a while, matchday revenue is frequently the first lever to be pulled when money is needed.
The clubs’ biggest source of income is still broadcast revenue, which is followed by matchday revenue and commercial revenue. Clubs have begun to look for alternative sources of income, such as maximising the potential of international fans who can’t attend the game in person but still want the same experience, as they attempt to wean themselves off the reliance on broadcast revenue given the potential iceberg that could be hit in a few years when we see the diminution in the value of broadcast rights because the broadcasters simply can’t meet the need to pay more every cycle.
Nothing indicates that raising cash from that fan base would be utilised to lower match ticket prices for those attendees. Even in hard times, the clubs still depend heavily on matchday revenue to maintain their cash flow.
The money for the season tickets comes in during the summer when there is no work. Every few weeks during the season, the building receives fresh funding in the millions. Even though it might not appear on the balance sheet, the importance of cash flow to a corporation cannot be overstated. Matchday revenue becomes increasingly significant as you move down the pyramid. Every story has two sides, and these clubs view matchday income as a reliable revenue stream where supply and demand determine pricing. Matchday revenue is huge business, which it undoubtedly is now and which we actively helped to create. Clubs will always have to maintain a competitive edge.
But selling fans at every price increase is difficult in that regard. Before they say no, supporters can only take things so far. Because there is so much demand, as was previously said, we are not yet seeing widespread walkouts or low attendance at games. But if the fans keep getting squeezed out, it will happen eventually. The saying goes, “Football without fans is nothing.” During the pandemic, seeing empty stadiums and artificial crowd noise served as evidence of that. The enthusiasm is valuable because it distinguishes the Premier League and is a big reason why broadcasters spend so much money showing games all around the world. The appreciation of supporters and their contributions should always be valued, and the first step in achieving this is tackling the mindset of many, but not all, teams that raise ticket prices.
