Season Ticket Prices: Are They Worth It?
When season tickets went on general sale, the club announced that following promotion, there had been some price increases. Your standard Adult Ticket went from £490 to £590. Which ever way you spin it, it’s a lot of money. Especially on a direct debit scheme, it’s nearly £100 a month for 6 months. While I think an increase is to be expected, and a few fans will be disappointed by this, the queues outside the ticket office and on the ticketing platform SeatGeek shows that fans have not been put off but the price increases.
However, season ticket sales cannot be downplayed in their importance. If you work out the average cost of season ticket last season (£323) and the average cost of the upcoming season (£405) we can roughly (really really roughly work out) the value of season tickets to the club. Let’s stick with last seasons prices for now and say 36,000 season tickets were purchased before the price increase (this was total number of tickets sold last season). That alone brings the club around £9-£11 million. If Sunderland hit 40,000 tickets sold with 4,000 coming after the price increase you are talking an extra £1.5-£2 million in revenue. These are all very very hypothetical figures but I’d like to think it demonstrates the value of season tickets to club. These figures don’t account for bias of tickets. As in, there will be more adult tickets sold than kids tickets. It treats every ticket at the value. Hence very hypothetical. This is just for demonstration purposes.
While prices rises weren’t a surprise what I would have preferred to see would be prices frozen for a year and price rises if we stay up. However, Premier League status requires Premier League money. The black Cats are a very middle of the road club in terms of season ticket costs in the league and that’s fine. I think there is a fine balance between being available for most people and not being available for most people. Given the current state of the world, that is a fine line to tread and the cost of shirts, merchandise and every sport product related has a premium when it is linked to the Premier League. It’s easy to see why fans will look for alternatives to everything.
People go to DHgate because it a cheaper alternative, “you rob your club of £60” some might say but if you struggle or don’t want to spend £60 you’re robbing no one. What kills football is commercialism and what the EPL loves more than anything is commercialism. So for people who use dodgy fire sticks, buying from DH gate or other outlets go for it, it sends a message. I think the club balances quality with price quite well at the moment but this is a wider football issue. Sky Sports is about £25 a month, TNT sports is about £25 a month, a football shirt is about £60, a season ticket is £600. Watching and supporting your team costs a fortune. In the space of a 9 months season you could spend over £1000 just for the luxury of supporting your team. where as some players will earn that when they sneeze.
The lure of Middle Eastern tax free money means that European clubs have to compete. Finding yourself in the biggest league in the world isn’t such a big deal anymore. Jobe went to Germany, Angel Gomes is staying in France. Kante, Firmino, Toney and more all left the promised land. This is all leading to one outcome, in my opinion, and that is simply our money, one day, may not be good enough. Football could become a closed shop. “The people’s game” could become “Those people’s game”. I say this because so many clubs now use the term “membership”. You have to be a “member” to buy tickets. You have buy your way into your own football club. It’s pretty sickening to think about.
A season ticket at Arsenal is pretty much more than £1000. ONE THOUSAND POUNDS. At some point a line needs to be drawn but it won’t come from the F.A, it won’t come from the EPL or FIFA. It will be fans, it will be fans who protest, or stop going to games or demonstrate outside stadiums. I’ve always believed the best protest fans can do is to not turn up when Sky comes to town. If your team has a game broadcast on Sky, don’t turn up. Can you imagine an empty Old Trafford or Anfield or even the Stadium of Light. It would have to be acknowledged. People across the world would ask “where are the fans?”
I go through these tangents and these thoughts and every now and again, something happens and I don’t care anymore. I don’t care because you get Ballard scoring in the 122nd minute, Watson scoring the winner at Wembley. That’s what might just save football. You don’t get noise or atmospheres like them anywhere else. So maybe for now, it’s worth it…
