Ticket prices are driving fans away from stadiums

FourFourTwo editor James Andrew argues that the cost of getting into football needs to be addressed. Andrew recalls that in 2001 a loaf of bread cost 51 pence, a litre of milk cost 37 pence, and a pint of beer cost £1.90. In the same year, he writes, a family of four paid a total of £80 to watch a Premier League match at Fulham's Craven Cottage stadium.

Twenty-five years later, bread has risen 175 percent to £1.40, milk is 65 pence, and a pint of beer costs £5.50. Andrew notes that inflation has affected everyone, but the increase in the cost of going to football has been far faster than all of these. This season, the same four tickets in Fulham's Johnny Haynes Stand sell for £332, which represents a 315 percent increase.

He writes that prices in the Premier League have risen exponentially and that many fans have consequently stopped going to stadiums. Matchday revenue makes up 7 to 15 percent of club income. According to Andrew, the extra income that higher prices bring the biggest clubs is only 2 or 3 million pounds. Considering huge transfer fees and high wage bills, that figure is very small.

Some fans believe clubs prefer tourists who come once over local supporters who have backed the team for years. Because tourists spend more in the shop and inside the stadium, clubs are thinking short term. Yet matches played behind closed doors during the pandemic showed that football without fans has no meaning. According to Andrew, a club that pushes out long-standing supporters with high prices will also lose the atmosphere that tourists come to experience.