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Premier League Ticket prices have increased by an average of 6.7%, according to figures provided to the Independent by the Football Supporters Association.FSA) and supplementary analysis, Crystal Palace is the only club of the 17 remaining clubs from last season not to raise prices. Nottingham Forest has been responsible for the biggest increase, with the average in the category being more than 20%.
These are facts that tarnish the typical feeling that comes with this weekend of the year. There’s not much excitement for fans returning to stadiums after a summer of great weather that only added to the glow of optimism that comes with the arrival of so many new players. Except, now fans are feeling very different emotions as a result of those players’ arrival.
That’s because costs have never been as pressing as they are this weekend. Many clubs have directly cited “meeting spending demands on players” as justification for raising ticket prices. That means perhaps more fans have felt the pressure than those players have felt the excitement. They have less money. Some have had to stop going altogether. Senior supporters, younger fans and those usually entitled to concessions have felt it most amid the sweeping changes. Supporters’ groups are fearful that concessions are slowly being phased out of the Premier League Amid a massive effort to boost revenueSome even wonder if season tickets will also eventually go away in the long term.
If this sounds hyperbolic, One of the key issues entering the new seasonYou only have to consider how much has changed in the last four years. The FSA has noted a huge shift in the way fans talk about themselves, particularly amid the closed doors of the pandemic. European Super League Now it has increased. It has gone from “football is nothing without fans” to football trying to extract every advantage it can from fans. Such increased figures – and season ticket prices of £3,000 at Fulham – are even more significant with the explosion that comes with the new Premier League season, while also raising questions about what the competition is about anymore.
There are examples of tickets being banned from every club, every category, including Palace, as supporters protested against plans to remove concession tickets for state workers in April. Details about the possibility of removing concessions sparked fury at Arsenal at the time, Tottenham Hotspur and Wolves. While there were cry-backs at both Molineux and Arsenal, the ‘Save Our Seniors’ campaign at Spurs described the proposals as “immoral and unnecessary”. west ham unitedThere are no children’s prices for the first home game against the Hammers United side who are currently seeing the most scathing supporter criticism from the group Manchester CityEven outside the stadiums, the MCFC Disabled Supporters Association has accused City of “corporate greed” over a new charge for disabled parking spaces on match days.
Champions at the meetings attempted to justify the charges by “pointing to the fact that more than half of Premier League clubs already charge disabled fans for parking”. It is a common theme, as clubs have argued the same series of arguments in almost every attempt by supporters’ groups to oppose the rise. They need to match rivals’ spending, but more stringent solutions are needed to the profit and sustainability rules, which require match-day revenue. One representative objected to how many clubs had “foolishly challenged the club by asking how they would raise money if they did not increase prices”. Premier League chief executive Richard Masters reiterated the theme on Wednesday, explaining how clubs are “competing with each other”. He pointed to the warning that they have rules about tickets, and the average price is “still £36.80”.
But does it really help the “competition”? To use Fulham as an example, the cumulative revenue from an 18% increase in ticket prices across the three old stands at Craven Cottage was less than the difference in prize money payouts from finishing 14th or 15th.
That’s why this chain of reasoning is really just a circular argument that makes little sense amid the Premier League’s enormous wealth. Clubs are pushing for an amount of money from their supporters that is virtually negligible in elite football, in order to spend more money on player wages, when they already pay a combined £2 billion more than any other European league. The result is that the league is largely kept as it is, and the status quo is dependent on wage bills.
It’s all one of those absurd macro-economic case studies where lots of money just fuels an irrationality that somehow sustains itself. More broadcast money has served to raise ticket prices rather than lower them. Even in modern football, the pursuit of profits can eat away at what made the game profitable in the first place. It diminishes the authenticity and atmosphere of football. And all this for a hike that barely covers a reserve goalkeeper. Clubs could collectively agree to break this cycle.
So many fan representatives are wondering if there is any long-term accounting for this. Another answer from clubs in the discussion is that “secondary ticketing demand shows that people will pay more – so why shouldn’t they get the benefit”?
Similarly, American capitalist owners look at Premier League football and believe ticket prices are grossly undervalued. This is especially so given its huge international scale and the contrast to the money-making nature of NBA and NFL fixtures.
So there is a growing suspicion that, rather than season-ticket holders, some owners want one-off tickets they can sell at a much higher price. The Premier League has finally become an international tourist event, just as Barcelona was a decade ago. People buying such tickets are likely to spend more money in the club’s shops. Masters flatly rejected such arguments, but many supporter representatives still see it as the start of a major change.
West Ham supporter Richard Bridge went as far as to call it “the social cleansing of Premier League football at its worst, and gentrification at its best”.
This is perhaps where there is an intersection between the different interests that buy into the game, and that is why this is really a story beyond the core important issue of everyday costs for everyday fans. Both capitalist and state owners want to turn clubs into international vehicles, disconnected from their communities, but still trading on that identity. Capitalist owners want to do this to make as much money as possible. State owners want to do this for international influence.
The issue thus raises wider questions about the direction of modern football, as these community institutions risk being reduced to mere shiny shells. A generation of local fans, whom the clubs must ultimately represent, could be costly.
“Our concern, on behalf of supporters of Premier League clubs, is that once the damage is done, it’s done,” says Tom Greatrex, of the FSA. “And you’re undermining a huge part of what makes English football special.”
There are only two surprises. First, it is happening so suddenly, following what Greatrex describes as a “continuous effort to increase ticket prices since the European Super League”. Second, it is happening amid a push for an independent regulator. Under the previous government white paper, ticket prices were not within the body’s remit, but changes like this are almost certain to change that.
This is where there might be something positive in all this, echoing Super League itself. Similarly, the rise could bring supporters together. The FSA is already planning more “coordinated action” following the vote on the proposal brought forward by Spirit of Shankly. Just as clubs look to each other for justification to raise prices, fan groups could look to each other for support in standing down.