More money madness at fans expense

[pauliewalnuts]

The game has really changed. The clubs don't actually care about the fans.

I'd argue that ours does! My season tickets were a bargain this year.

"Comparatively" a bargain, though.

We're conditioned to expensive tickets being the norm in football.

I'll be a little controversial here and also suggest that 70 quid to watch Arsenal play at home is better value than 45 quid to watch Villa play at home.

The football is better quality, and you're watching top level footballers.

[TheSandman]

Just beat me to it Walnuts. In relative terms yes.

But £45 to watch 22 blokes who don't give a fuck about anything outside of their salary kick a bag of wind about is not something I'd consider good value.

[DeKuip]

Season tickets a bargain?
Why did you win them in a raffle?

The fact that our tickets might be cheaper than some other clubs does not make them a bargain. It's a huge expense that most of us can ill afford, but we do because OUR club is such an important part of our lives. We do it knowing full well that we are being taken advantage of and that we probably won't get back anywhere near it's value in entertainment. But we make sacrifices elsewhere and we do it.

The "relative bargain" is had by the guy who can get his whole family in for £40 and is fortunate to pick an entertaining and exciting game - but even he can walk away thinking it's £40 down the drain after a shit game. And let's be honest, there are a lot of shit games in the Premier League.

[Yeltzer]

Season tickets a bargain?
Why did you win them in a raffle?

The fact that our tickets might be cheaper than some other clubs does not make them a bargain. It's a huge expense that most of us can ill afford, but we do because OUR club is such an important part of our lives. We do it knowing full well that we are being taken advantage of and that we probably won't get back anywhere near it's value in entertainment. But we make sacrifices elsewhere and we do it.

The "relative bargain" is had by the guy who can get his whole family in for £40 and is fortunate to pick an entertaining and exciting game - but even he can walk away thinking it's £40 down the drain after a shit game. And let's be honest, there are a lot of shit games in the Premier League.

And that's even before travel costs, food and drink (in or out of the ground - a completely different argument for another thread!). It's ridiculous. You could feed the entire family for the week based on what you could shell out. £100 is just plain wrong.

[sid1964]

Unfortunately I will be one of the many who will have to consider carefully if I renew my season ticket next season, after 20+ years of having a season ticket, the cost is now becoming too much, and I could spend my money on other things.

[The Left Side]

Go and watch your local non league side, it's far more entertaining!

[AV82EC]

The cost of football relative to the national average wage has got completely out of kilter IMO.  However supporters do have a choice, you can choose not to go.

I think Blackburn is a good example of this.  They were pricing similar to many clubs a couple of years back and were paying the price in reduced attendances, shit atmosphere etc etc.  They reduced prices and hey presto, increased crowds, that bit to the left of us full of fans for the first time in about 5 years and potentially bigger revenue streams through higher attendances.

I think Villa have just about got it right at the moment, there's a fair spread of prices for the supporter/fan/punter to choose from.  Gone are the days when you can pick a spot in the stadium and stay for 60 years and expect a steadily rising price.   If you want the best seats in the house, you'll pay a premium.  Not necessarily the best way to treat supporters of long standing but if we want revenue maximisation a necessary evil.  My season ticket costs went down this season as I sit in the Holte Lower wings and for me and my son the cost is £28.50 per match so maybe I'm lucky.

[SoccerHQ]

I consider anything above 30 quid excessive to watch football tbh.

I came across a programme from the 01/02 season the other day and I think the top price at VP then was aroudn 25 quid, now it's 45 quid. Has the quality of football in the last 8 years really improved that much for a 20 quid increase, of course not.

We used to charge away fans that price, now VP is a 40 quid ground for a lot of away fans as is the case whenever we play in London.

It's the usual supply and demand. SHA know they can charge our fans 48 quid as they know somewhere out there they'll be 3k villa fans who will pay it.

[dave.woodhall]

I read today that when the Emirates opened the 9,000 premium seats provided more income than the whole of Highbury.

[hawkeye]

I read today that when the Emirates opened the 9,000 premium seats provided more income than the whole of Highbury.

And there you have the problem, right now it is fashionable to pay that money for a section of society, I was talking to a business associate, he had bought 4 premium seats at the Emirates  for his family including 2 teenage sons and they have a family day out or if he cant be bothered his sons take thier mates unless it gets in the way of other comitments, then he gives the tickets away, the bloke is prety well off and you get the feeling its a bit of a fad, his sons will be off to University soon, the bloke admits that he has never been that interested in football, prefers Rugby and at some point the next big thing will take this type of fan away, the Middle Classes dont have the same feeling about thier clubs that the working or now lower middle classes do, at some point it will all end in tears