https://medium.com/@jonathan.coste/premier-league-season-ticket-prices-surge-by-7-5-59f856953579Premier League season ticket prices surge by 7.5% on average: A breakdown of the rising costs in England’s top-flight
Manchester City fans invade The Etihad pitch after being crowned Premier League Champions | Photo Credit: Oldelpaso | Licence Credit: Creative Commons
It is 7.5% more expensive to purchase a season ticket for a Premier League club for the 2024/25 season, according to new data.
The rise significantly surpasses the UK rate of inflation, which as of June 2024, was 2% — the lowest in three years.
On average across the 20 Premier League clubs, the cheapest possible adult season ticket will cost matchday fans £570, while an “average-priced” adult ticket for the year would come in just shy of £900. Season tickets in premium seating will set fans even further back, in excess of £1,200.
Nottingham Forest impose biggest ticket price hike among returning Premier League clubs
From the 17 clubs who retained their top-flight status last season, Nottingham Forest have increased their season ticket prices the most.
The cheapest possible adult season ticket at the City Ground has increased 18.3%, from £465 to £550, while Brentford have charged their match-going fans at the Gtech Community Stadium by a similar rate of 18.1% from £390 to £460.
Although these increases are big jumps that are somewhat expected for returning Premier League fans, promoted Southampton have slapped the largest increase on their tickets to reflect their immediate return to the top-flight after a year in The Championship. Saints fans have seen their cheapest season tickets at St.Mary’s rise £100, from £379 to £479 in a 26.2% increase.
However, some clubs have been kinder to hard-paying fans enduring a cost of living crisis in the UK since 2021.
Crystal Palace and Wolves’ are the only teams to freeze their season ticket prices for the season, while Everton are the only side to decrease the price of their cheapest adult season ticket by 7.5%, dropping from £600 to £555.
However, The Toffees, who remain firmly ensnared within financial turmoil and takeover uncertainty, have off-set this gesture with incremental increases for other ticket packages.
For instance, some Everton fans will have to pay 10% more than last year, depending on seating, to watch the club in their final campaign at Goodison Park.
London clubs dominate most expensive season ticket category
London are predominantly the most expensive to watch, but this is to be expected given that the city boasts the largest average annual salary in the UK. Nonetheless, even the most affluent Fulham fans will be hard-pushed to cough up a whopping £3,000 to sit at Craven Cottage’s newly-renovated Riverside Stand, which offers a premium experience that is by far the most expensive season ticket in the UK, and across most of Europe.
North London arch enemies Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal continue the expensive trend in the capital; they are the only other sides that offer season tickets at £2,000 and above, (at £2,357 and 2,050.50 respectively).
An unconventional “Big Six” of the most expensive season tickets are comprised of another London side, West Ham (£1,720), league champions Manchester City (£1,600), and promoted Leicester City (£1,289).
Despite offering the fourth-most expensive season ticket package, West Ham also have the cheapest adult season ticket on offer across the league at £345. They are followed by Ipswich Town, whose first season back in England’s top-flight after 22 years, comes in at a relatively affordable price of £372. AFC Bournemouth (£397), Leicester City (£404) and surprisingly Manchester City (£425) offer the next cheapest adult season tickets.
For junior fans (aged 11–17), the most expensive team to support is Fulham, who can sit in the Riverside stand at a discount of £500, which still costs £2500. West Ham (£1720), Leicester (£1289) and Arsenal (£1025.25) are the other sides that offer a package over £1000 for juniors.
Notably, Arsenal are the only side to price their cheapest junior season tickets above £450. Instead, season tickets for children to attend the Emirates Stadium cost £804.75, far surpassing the price of Crystal Palace and Everton’s most expensive adult packages.
High-flying Eagles offer the best value after freezing prices for 24/25
After a fantastic end to the 2023/24 season following the appointment of Oliver Glasner, Crystal Palace have further treated their fanbase off the pitch, by freezing their season ticket pricing for the 24/25 season. As a result, The Eagles offer the most affordable adult season ticket deal across the division.
Bucking the trend of London clubs charging their fanbase’s extortionate rates, they boast both the most affordable “premium” season ticket (£705), as well as the cheapest average price for adult season tickets across the division. It costs a league-low figure of £625 on average to watch Oliver Glasner’s side this season.
The next most affordable are south-coast outfits, AFC Bournemouth (£636) and Ipswich Town (£637.50), whose price is also matched by Brentford (£637.50). The next best value is offered by Everton (£647.50), Southampton (£654) and Newcastle (£677.50).
In terms of junior pricing, Bournemouth continue to offer some of the most affordable season tickets across all ticketing categories, an average of £155.50 for 11–17 year old’s to watch the Cherries is the best on offer across the division.
Both Merseyside clubs follow suit next, with the reds offering junior tickets across different seating at £165 and the blues setting junior fans back £210 on average.
Price rises are an ominous sign of what is to come for English football fans
Following the COVID-19 pandemic most football clubs eased constraints on fans when re-opening their ticket gates, with many clubs adopting widespread price freezes. Three years on, and 18 out of the 20 English Premier League sides have abandoned the policy of freezing season ticket prices.
However, organised fan protests in response to the announced increasing season ticket prices have had some effect. Wolverhampton Wanderers, whose Chinese ownership, Fosun Group, were one of the worst hit from the pandemic four years ago, were forced to retract their proposed price hikes for season tickets, following a fan petition which attracted 15,000 signatures. Some of the scrapped prices rises would have seen junior tickets surge by 176%, from £105, to £290 to “save their seat” at Molineux.
This fan success in the west-midlands was not replicated in the east of the region, where rivals Nottingham Forest fans having vocally expressed their frustration at 18% rises for the cheapest possible season tickets this season.
While the changes will burn a more significant hole in the pocket of Forest’s matchday fans, comparatively, the club’s prices remain among the most affordable in the league across a range of categories; they rank 11th for the cheapest possible ticket, 5th for their most expensive package, 8th on average for an adult ticket, and 5th on average for juniors.
Ultimately, the widespread increases in season ticket prices for the 2024/25 season represents the continued trend of live football becoming increasingly more expensive. Kieran Maguire, football finance expert and co-host of “The Price of Football Podcast”, confirmed that this season’s increased season ticket prices are an ominous sign of what is to come for fans of Premier League clubs:
“The issue of rising ticket costs is part of a broader economic malaise across football right now. The Premier League has been flatlining in terms of broadcasting deals — clubs are getting no more money per season, so they are looking for alternative streams of revenue by increasing ticket prices.”
“For club owners, season ticket holders are commodities who have outlived their usefulness. We will see a slow movement towards reducing the number of season ticket holders, targeting concession fans, and continually increasing prices, so eventually there will be an even greater disconnect between the rich and the not so rich.”
