09-02-2016, 01:59
(09-02-2016, 01:38)spireitematt Wrote:
A category A game at Arsenal in two sections of the upper tier is £97. Cheapest for an A game at Arsenal is £65.50 which still a lot. £30-£40-£50-£60 is a lot of money for a Premier League ticket then you've got travel, food, beer etc it all adds up. The category C games are against teams like Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester etc.
A lot of things can be done about it. Wage cap players salaries? Have a cap on how much teams can spend on transfers? Cap how much clubs can charge fans? I mean there's a campaign being going for a few years called Twenty's Plenty. The Premier League and supposedly the whole of the Football League right down to grassroots are getting a share of the £8 BILLION TV DEAL £8 BILLION. Clubs could use that to subsidise ticket prices make tickets cheaper.
Football is a business Yes and every single of the 92 clubs is being run as a business but fans should rewarded not penalised.
Look at German football they have cheap ticket prices, they share the TV revenue, supporters own 51% of there teams, safe standing, we should be copying there model.
"Football without fans is nothing. It could be the greatest game in the World but if there are no people there to watch it, it becomes nothing. The fans are the lifeblood of the game". - Jock Stein
I agree its too much for most fans but let me play devil's advocate!! You cannot introduce a wage cap into English football without the rest of Europe doing the same, no players of any quality would play here, also I doubt our super European Union would allow such a practice anyway! They have wage caps here in the US but its for sports where the US is the only viable market for those sport anyway, so there is nowhere else for the players to go. Again, the same applies to transfers, Europe or even worldwide or it won't work if just one country does it.
Capping how much clubs can charge fans is definitely doable, but the Premier League have said part of the new TV money will be used for this but I see no evidence of that. The PL, FA and FL need to get together to agree limits, but they all need to agree and with the current set up at the PL and FL there is no way the clubs will vote for this. That maybe leaves government regulations to introduce this like they did with seating, but they would never get it passed as it flies in the face of supply and demand and the free market economy. Its like asking Jaguar to sell their cars at the same price as Hyundai because they essentially do the same thing, football at the top level will always be more expensive than the lower levels.
And yes tickets in Germany are cheaper for a few seats in each stadium, but they too have high prices for certain games and certain seats, albeit lower than the Prem. Twenty's Plenty is a pipe dream, the clubs will never agree to that, particularly outside the prem where FFP means that ticket revenue is crucial to all clubs from Hull down to York, and they will want the option of maximising revenue if they can to allow them to compete and push for promotion.
I agree with what Jock Stein says, but as I said when you see the waiting lists that the likes of Arsenal or Liverpool have for Season Tickets, then some fans pulling out and refusing to pay the prices will see someone off the waiting list jump in. While ever the grounds are full, game after game, season after season, the clubs have no business incentive to do anything with regards to lower ticket prices. Now of course from a moral perspective you would like to think there is at least one owner who starts the trend and introduces reasonable prices across the board for good quality football but he has yet to show himself so far.