Topic: Price of Football 2017

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Article 1:

Price of Football 2017: Premier League cuts or freezes majority of prices[/b]
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/41485422

More than 80% of ticket prices in the Premier League have been either reduced or frozen for the 2017-18 season, the BBC's Price of Football study has found.

Average season ticket prices across English football's top flight are at their lowest levels since 2013, having fallen for the second consecutive year following a record £8.3bn global TV rights deal signed last season.

However, replica shirt prices have continued to rise in the Premier League this season, with the average adult shirt now costing more than £50 for the first time, while the average cost of a junior shirt has topped £40.

Now in its seventh year, the BBC Sport study requested information from 232 clubs across England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Europe, which is a wider remit than any previous years.

For the first time, we also asked clubs to provide information on whether they offer special ticket prices for young adult fans aged between 16-24.

Premier League away fans are still guaranteed to pay no more than £30 on their travels after a price cap was introduced last season.

The average cost of the dearest adult away ticket comes in at just under £30, with some clubs opting for further reductions - Southampton charge £20 for all away fans visiting St Mary's.

Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle, Stoke, Watford and West Brom also charge less than the £30 cap.

In a statement, the Premier League added: "This season, more than half of all Premier League tickets will cost £30 or less,

"The hard work of clubs to make Premier League football available to a range of supporters, combined with the impressive commitment of match-going fans, has resulted in record stadium occupancy of more than 96% for three consecutive seasons."

The average cheapest season ticket prices offered by clubs is down, from £472.75 to £464. The most expensive average season ticket is also cheaper this season, down just over 2% from £864 to £843.58. That brings the average down to levels lower than in 2013.

The average cost of the cheapest matchday ticket has increased from £29.05 to £29.30.

Supporters are also paying more for food and drink at Premier League grounds.

More than half of clubs increased the price of their pies, while the average cost of a cup of tea has also gone up.

The Huddersfield effect

Newly-promoted Huddersfield Town offer one of cheapest season tickets across the English and Scottish leagues.

More than 4,000 fans benefited from the chairman's 'Premier Pledge' this year, paying just £100 to see all their home league games.

When Dean Hoyle took charge of the club in 2009, he promised that fans who held season tickets during his time as chairman would pay the reduced rate for the card if the club reached the top flight.

Huddersfield's most expensive season ticket is £299 - the same as the cheapest season ticket offered by any of the other clubs (Manchester City) - but the majority of season tickets were sold for £199. At £199, fans are paying £10.47 to watch each Premier League home game at the John Smith's Stadium.

The Yorkshire club's prices reduce the averages across the league, with their highest single ticket price for an adult home fan being £30 - the cheapest in this category in the league.

The Terriers have however increased the prices of their cheapest home (from £15 to £30) and away single tickets, along with pies, programmes and both junior and adult shirts since last season.

What else did we discover?

The cheapest day out in men's football in England is at Liverpool, where a ticket, pie, tea and programme could cost as little as £18.40. That is thanks largely to the availability of 500 £9 tickets at Anfield for fans living in the L postcode area.

Arsenal have the most expensive matchday ticket at £95.50 - but this has been reduced from last season. Their season ticket includes all home Premier League games and seven European and FA Cup games.

The cheapest pie in the Premier League is at Chelsea, for £2.50 - but that has to be ordered through an app. The most expensive pie is at Tottenham, but the £4.30 price is set by Wembley, which is their home this season.

As in previous years, three London clubs have the most expensive season tickets - Arsenal (£1,768), Tottenham (£1,700), Chelsea (£1,250) - but Arsenal and Tottenham's have been reduced and Chelsea's has stayed the same.

Huddersfield's £100 season ticket is bettered only by Woking and Sutton United in the National League, who offer fans a £99 season ticket. Boreham Wood also offered a much cheaper season ticket at £100 this season.

Premier League clubs are continuing to see the benefits of their bumper TV deal - which includes £5bn for domestic rights and another £3bn globally. Each top-flight club will receive a minimum of £100m.

In this year's study, we contacted 232 clubs across 23 leagues in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and on the continent.

We have analysed ticket prices in more categories this season too - cheapest matchday, dearest matchday, cheapest online, dearest online, cheapest away ticket, dearest away ticket, cheapest and dearest season tickets - as well as collecting data for the prices of teas, pies, programmes and junior and adult shirts.

The cost of kits

The cost of replica football shirts continues to rise, for both adult and junior ranges, by more than 2%. The average adult shirt in the Premier League will cost you £50.90, while the junior shirt average is £40.25.

Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham sell the most expensive adult shirts at £60. Manchester United sell the most expensive junior shirt at £50.

Burnley offer the cheapest adult and junior shirts at £40 and £32 respectively.

By way of comparison, Aston Villa's adult and junior shirts are the most expensive in the Championship, at £55 and £45.

AFC Fylde in the National League and Sheffield FC Ladies sell the cheapest adult shirts across the leagues at £19.99.

What about other leagues?

The Championship's average lowest matchday ticket price has fallen from £22.11 to £20.58. The average cost of an away ticket, though, remains the highest in any league in Britain.

Matchday and season ticket average costs in League One have been reduced - for both the cheapest and most expensive ranges.
In League Two, the average cost of both the cheapest and most expensive season tickets rose.

Away tickets in the Scottish Premiership have increased, both in the cheapest and most expensive brackets.

Season ticket prices have increased in Wales, but it remains the cheapest league to watch men's football.

How do European prices compare?

Matchday and season ticket prices tend to be cheaper on the continent. You can pay as little as 15 euros (£13) to watch Bayern Munich, 12.50 euros (£11) for Ajax or 10 euros (£8.90) at Paris St-Germain. Juventus and Barcelona charge from 25 to 33 euros (£22 to £29) respectively.

Replica shirts, on the other hand, can cost more in Europe. Bayern Munich, Juventus and Ajax's adult shirts are priced at 89.95 euros (£80).

Other Premier League offers

All of Brighton's home and away matchday tickets and season tickets include travel to the Amex Stadium from within a designated travel zone.

Leicester fans get free cupcakes for the chairman's birthday and free mince pies at the home Christmas fixture.

Spurs offer a Wembley Pass this season for fans who do not have a full season ticket and that gives them a discounted price for all home league games.

Watford fans living more than 75 miles from Vicarage Road get to choose 13 of the 19 home league games for a reduced price.

Food and drink

More than half of clubs in the Premier League increased the cost of their pies. Only West Ham reduced the price.

The average price rise for a pie this season is £3.65, up 4.58% - which is higher than the 3% rate of inflation for October 2017 as measured by the Consumer Prices Index.

The average cost of a cup of tea at a Premier League ground is £2.12 - that is 3p cheaper than in the Championship. Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United charge the most for tea (£2.50).

Article 2:

Price of Football 2017: What do results mean for fans, clubs & the sport?[/b]
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/41815725

The BBC's Price of Football study has found more than 80% of ticket prices in the Premier League have been either reduced or frozen for the 2017-18 season.

Average season ticket prices across English football's top flight are at their lowest levels since 2013, having fallen for the second consecutive year following a record £8.3bn global TV rights deal signed last season.

In a separate poll, we asked 1,000 18 to 24-year-old fans living in Britain how they engage with football and four in five (82%) said the cost of tickets was an obstacle to them going to more matches.

Here we ask the experts to explain what the results mean for fans, clubs and the future of the sport.

What will fans make of the results?

With every year that passes, football fans are becoming increasingly aware of the vast swathes of cash coming into football though television money and sponsorship deals, especially where I cover games in the Premier League. It is more of a topic of conversation among supporters than it has ever been before, with fans discussing rising transfer fees and wages paid to the elite players as part of their own demands for value for money.

The bottom line, certainly in the Premier League, is that stadiums are still full but I was present at a Champions League game between Arsenal and Bayern Munich in March when the visiting fans staged a well-organised protest at ticket prices they were paying to watch the match.

Bayern's fans unfurled a banner which read "Without Fans Football Is Not Worth A Penny" before throwing toilet rolls on to the pitch, causing the referee to hold up play while they were cleared. Arsenal's fans pointedly applauded the actions of their German counterparts.

So while Premier League games are still played in front of those packed crowds, there is no doubt ticket prices and the prices that go along with attending football matches are still high on the agenda and a topic of genuine interest for the match-going supporter.

Who wins - the clubs or the fans?

Back in 2015, Karren Brady told me that the top discussion on the agenda at every Premier League meeting she attended was ticket prices and how to ensure they engage younger fans. These are, after all, the season ticket holders of the future.

All clubs agreed last season to cap the cost of away tickets to £30, a move which is helping, and this year the majority of ticket prices have frozen or fallen for a third year. Yet the cost is STILL putting off young adult football fans. As footballer's wages skyrocket, with seemingly no limit in sight, football fans are experiencing static wages, a hangover from the economic issues felt during 2008.

Football clubs are trying to come up with greater ways to combat this. They know they fans are their lifeblood. Some clubs, like Stoke, run cheaper ticket schemes for under-21 year olds. Everton, for example, says one in four of its season ticket holders is under 22. Yet, a worrying sign from our poll is that only one in four fans watch live football more than once a month.

Last season, Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said he believed online gaming was the biggest threat to the league going forward - the BBC poll shows younger adults are far more likely to engage with the sport by playing it on a computer, than playing it for real. A far cheaper - and warmer - way of engaging with football.

Former England player Chris Waddle told me: "When I played, people used to say 'we pay your wages' but that doesn't happen anymore now with sponsorship. It is still an awful lot of money to watch 90 minutes of football."

Are we seeing a shift in the importance of matchday revenue?

Over the past decade or so we have seen a gradual but definitive shift in how English Premier League (EPL) teams generate their revenue. Once dominated by matchday receipts, club revenues are now almost solely driven by broadcast income.

For many this makes up around 70% of their income over the course of a regular season. Add in revenues for those earning European broadcast income, it is of little surprise that we have seen a freezing of ticket prices (or a small reduction at some clubs).

There has, of course, been external pressure here, most notably from the Football Supporters Federation (although government has also thrown in its thoughts on the matter). My view is that clubs in the EPL should be making more significant cuts to their ticket prices as they are not reliant on such revenue. It's a utopian view, though, as even at the prices set today many grounds operate at, or about, full capacity for most matches.

I've said that EPL ticket prices should fall still further given the lower significance of matchday revenue. However, as we move down the league system it becomes much more important, with many teams outside the EPL being heavily reliant on it.

This makes for an interesting proposition where, theoretically, it should be much cheaper to watch a team in the EPL than it is in League Two. Teams lower down the system, of course, need to entice fans through the gate hence the relative stabilising of prices there too.

What more can clubs do to help supporters?

It's pleasing to see the modest ticket pricing for away fans and the 'special deals' that some clubs offer to fans living in close proximity to the ground - all could go further remembering that a local fan base is no longer those fans living down the road.

The EPL is a global game, consequently the local market could be extended beyond boarders and overseas too. Travel remains a big consideration both in terms of travel cost but also time off work for mid-week trips. It all adds up and clubs need to be acutely aware of the pressure that fans feel under to support their team.

Football needs to be an attractive product and revenue is needed to buy playing talent which in turn, should, generate fan interest. The key challenge for all clubs is to make their proposition stronger than the alternatives be that a trip to the cinema, a dinner out in town or a shopping spree at the local shopping centre.

The game is achieving that at the moment but the long term impact of young fans feeling priced out is yet to be truly felt.

While replica kits are expensive, their costs haven't risen in line with substitute products so clubs will argue they are helping here - the manufacturers have a big sway in the setting of these prices however.

What about attracting more young adult fans?

The amount of money that goes into football just from television rights is astronomical - they have the leg-room to make some concessions to younger fans and if they're looking at the long-term health of the sport they will realise they need to do more to attract young fans.

We need to have a very clear rule about discounted tickets for people under the age of 22 or possibly 24. It's really important that young people have the opportunity to go and watch their local team. Transport is a big issue and tickets can be very hard to come by.

If you look at the average age of season ticket holders, it's still in the 40s and that's my generation that grew up going to matches regularly and are still in the habit now. The next generation don't go regularly because they don't have access or can't afford to. Then when they get to our age, when we've all moved on and are not going anymore, that next wave of fans won't be there.

Dr Rachel Andrew, clinical psychologist

It is interesting that fans think they are valued but that clubs do not 'have them in mind.' What else would clubs do if they 'kept them in mind' - they might discount tickets and travel.

They might also have representatives in this age group on the board? Have interactive forums where this group feel listened to and influential? Have a specific supporters' forum/publication/stadium area for this age group?

Playing football and watching a football game in a ground are social and emotional experiences that differ from online gaming or betting. In an era where young people are increasingly anxious and low in mood, and can struggle to find a sense of belonging and identity, it is sad to think that football is not playing a more active role in engaging this age group. I think young people need to be listened to and football clubs could lead the way in this.

Malcolm Clarke, chairman of the Football Supporters' Federation

The FSF has long argued that 'young adults' feel priced out with those in the 18-23 range disproportionately in lower paid employment or education - yet they are often expected to pay full price. These are formative years and we want football clubs to do everything they can to retain supporters of that age - a relatively small ticket subsidy now could secure the club a match-going fan for life.

What other factors might affect a younger fan going to matches?

Football is what economists would call a 'normal good'. As incomes rise, demand for leisure activities increase. What we are seeing, especially with young people is that incomes are being squeezed in real terms and this will lead to a decrease in demand, particularly as there are alternative leisure opportunities.

The number of fans attending football will also respond to rise and fall in prices because of the price elasticity of demand for tickets. Support for a team is often a matter of loyalty and hence lower prices may not attract many new fans.

If young people find that their finances are stretched, they may make a rational choice to follow a team by other means such as screened matches. An economist might observe that if a live match can be seen outside the stadium, the fan would only pay for the 'atmosphere' of 'being there' - how much is that likely to be even for the committed supporter?

Young people tend to be in work and the very slow growth in wages in the last 10 years, their income is lagging behind living costs. Real wages are not rising and young people are also saddled with student debt which means if they are earning over £21,000, they are in effect paying another 9p in income tax on top of all their other tax charges.

Another huge issue is housing - whether you are buying or renting - housing costs have risen over the last 10 years. Rent and utility bills have to be paid and they are rising faster than other prices. Then, when you have to pay for food on top, it means things like sport and paying to watch football are not a priority.

Young people are more likely to be part of the so-called 'gig' economy, where employment conditions are worse and earnings are not reliable.

Article 3:

Price of Football 2017: Young adult fans are 'put off' by cost of football[/b]
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/41901398

The BBC Price of Football study has found that the majority of ticket prices have frozen or fallen for a third year - yet a poll of young adult football fans suggests the cost is still putting them off.

This year BBC Sport asked more than 200 clubs across the United Kingdom for information on ticket prices and found almost two thirds of price categories have been reduced or remained the same across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In a separate poll, we asked 1,000 18 to 24-year-old fans living in Britain how they engage with football and four in five (82%) said the cost of tickets was an obstacle to them going to more matches.

The annual study found that 135 clubs out of 190 in England, Scotland and Wales offer reduced prices for teenagers and young adults - separate from any student concessions - but 55% of the fans we polled said they had stopped going completely or go to fewer games because it was too expensive.

Young adult fans can save, on average, £146.94 on season tickets in the English Premier League and Football League, while in the top four divisions in Scotland the average saving on a season ticket is £143.66.

According to figures from the Premier League, young adult fans bought 4% of all season tickets this year, while a report in 2015 suggested the average age of an adult supporter in the Premier League was 41.

Rob Wilson, football finance expert at Sheffield Hallam University, says top clubs need to do more to attract young adults. "These fans are the next generation of season ticket holders but they have been brought up in a sanitised and expensive environment," he told BBC Sport.

"With this in mind, they are reluctant to pay so much to watch their teams play and these findings should act as a warning to the Premier League elite - they ignore this group of fans at their peril."

In a statement, the Premier League said: "Clubs engage with their fans in many ways and hugely appreciate their loyal and passionate support.

"For young fans specifically, all clubs offer concession prices, including discounted junior season tickets."

The online poll, conducted by ComRes, also showed young fans are more likely to engage with football by playing games on a console or PC (61%) than playing in a football team (37%).

More young football fans bet on football (44%) than play in a team (37%), but more fans play in a team than have a fantasy football team (33%).

Only one in four fans (26%) said they go to watch football live more than once a month.

Other findings

Two thirds (65%) of young football fans said the cost of travel was an obstacle to attending more football matches.

Three quarters (74%) of young fans said they get their football news from social media - 24% from print newspapers.

Three in five fans aged 18-24 go to a sport app or mobile site (59%) for football news while at least half access it via a TV results service (53%).

70% of supporters agreed that football clubs did value their fans, but more than half of the teenagers and young adults (56%) said professional football was not run with them in mind.

Similar numbers of football fans asked said they go to a football match at least once a week (11%), two to three times a month (15%) or five to 10 times a season (14%).

One in six (16%) male football fans aged 18-24 said they go to a match at least once a week, compared to 7% of women in this group.

The picture across Britain

Of the top four leagues in England, 91% of clubs offer special prices for young adults, separate from any student concessions. The age ranges vary from 16-24 years old, with most targeting the 18-21 bracket.

The biggest discounts come in the Premier League, where an Arsenal member aged 16-19 can purchase a season ticket for £384 compared to the cheapest adult season ticket at £891 - a saving of £507.

Chelsea offer the biggest discount on single matchday tickets for their under 20s, who can pay £15.50 instead of £47 - a saving of £31.50.

But despite these discounts, 81% of the young adult football fans living in England who were polled say they feel the cost of tickets is stopping them from going to more matches.

In Scotland, 27 of the 42 clubs offer young adult discounts.

In the poll, 79% of fans say cost is an obstacle to them attending football matches.

A third of the clubs in the Welsh Premier League offer special discounts for young adults.

Of the young adults asked in Wales, 90% say the cost of tickets puts them off going to watch football.

Analysis and reaction

Rob Wilson, Football Finance Expert, Sheffield Hallam University:

E-sports are becoming big business and this is the next key challenge for clubs. How do you convert e-sport players into terrace-goers? Can you link the e-game to the actual one? How can mobile technologies support this at half time, for example? Moreover, the way that young fans consume information is changing - clubs need to engage fans much more effectively when it comes to social media.

We've seen big reductions in subscriptions to the pay TV platforms so it's unsurprising young people think twice about live football. There are also lots of options for young people to spend their leisure pound (the cinema, gym, university, cars etc) so football clubs need to work much harder to engage them. There is no magic bullet but they need to do more and communicate that more effectively. The long-term impact of young fans feeling priced out is yet to be truly felt.

Kevin Rowles, economics expert:

What we are seeing, especially with young people, is that incomes are being squeezed in real terms and this will lead to a decrease in demand, particularly as there are alternative leisure opportunities. The number of fans attending football will also respond to rise and fall in prices because of the price elasticity of demand for tickets.

Support for a team is often a matter of loyalty and hence lower prices may not attract many new fans. If young people find their finances are stretched, they may make a rational choice to follow a team by other means such as screened matches.

Young people tend to be in work but with the very slow growth in wages in the last 10 years, their income is lagging behind living costs. Real wages are not rising and young people are also saddled with student debt. Rent and utility bills have to be paid and they are rising faster than other prices.

Then, when you have to pay for food on top, it means things like sport and paying to watch football are not a priority.

Dr Rachel Andrew, clinical psychologist:

There are a number of different, interacting factors that play a part in young people's decision making. These factors are relevant to decisions made about leisure (and in particular football). These include factors such as: 1) temperament and personality and 2) past history - including childhood memories, parents' interests & values, and past teachers or peer influence.

However, there are some interesting trends around leisure also. Young people are drinking less. Young people are more thoughtful about what they want to do with their time and money. Superficially it looks like they have increased choice about what they may do, but in reality they also have less money and less time.

As a young person gets older, it often becomes more important to make decisions that will not alienate them from a social group of friends when compared to decisions that their parents may not like or may be unhealthy.

I am not surprised young people are engaging with football online through videos/fantasy football and probably through social media & apps too - as this is a trend we are seeing across the board with leisure.

I feel sad and disappointed that young people are playing less football as there are so many physical and mental health benefits to this. It is sad that the big drive to increase football in schools is not having a long-term effect once children leave school.

Interactive quizzes:

How much will it cost you to be a fan?[/b]
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/41914171

Deal or duff? Take our Price of Football quiz[/b]
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/41901403

[ManiacKop]

No longer a working mans game.
The figures are startling really. Even the TV packages are a big sacrifice for anyone on or around the minimum wage. And £50 or more for a replica shirt.

Apart from the occasional stream (courtesy of rawk), I usually stick to the rawk in game commentary. Sometimes it comes with a link to the goals and that’s all I need these days.