Premier League fans’ ticket fury at ‘cruel and unfair’ price hikes

Premier League fans have hit out at the ‘greedy’ ticket hikes which make this season the most expensive in the competition’s history and called for action to halt spiralling costs.

Supporters will be charged up to £3,000 for season tickets for the first time in what has been slammed as “an unholy cocktail” of rising costs amid the cost of living crisis.

A Telegraph Sport investigation has found that top level football in England will cost most fans well in excess of £1,000 when taking in domestic cup or European fixtures – a family of two adults and a child will pay close to £3,000 to attend matches this season when budgeting for travel costs and food – and as the new campaign gets underway on Friday night at Turf Moor when Burnley take on champions Manchester City, fans are saying “enough is enough” and are planning protests.

After a prolonged price freeze at many of the top Premier League clubs, 17 announced season ticket increases ahead of the 2023-24 season. Others have targeted non-season ticket holders to increase matchday revenues, tweaking their sales portfolio to reduce the number of concessions or raise the age at which cheaper seats can be purchased.

That is independent of additional charges such as club memberships which are essential in order to have priority when buying tickets, and the Sky TV, TNT and Amazon subscriptions required to satisfy football craving.

Although an average of £50 per game may, on the surface, appear reasonable when compared to other sports or forms of entertainment, the Football Supporters’ Association has noted wild variations with regards to the matchday charges.

Fulham recently introduced a £3,000 ‘Platinum Riverside’ season ticket, their highest price over £2,000 more than you would pay for the most expensive at Stamford Bridge or Anfield.

The most profitable clubs argue a price increase was overdue. Manchester United raised their ticket prices for the first time in 11 years, a five per cent increase. Arsenal’s have gone up six per cent, while Liverpool’s ticket prices – static since a successful campaign led by fans’ group Spirit of Shankly (SOS) in 2016 – have risen two per cent after what the Merseyside club described as a ‘modest’ shift up.

In response, SOS, said ‘to implement any price increase during this cost of living crisis is cruel, unjust, unreasonable and unfair’. Aston Villa confirmed a 15 per cent rise to ‘align prices more closely with Premier League rivals’.

Dan Warren, chair of the Wolves 1877 Trust, said: “It is an unholy cocktail of price rises, fans being made into second class citizens, the after effects of Covid and now the cost of living crisis. I feel like football fans’ wallets are under siege and the clubs may have overplayed their hand this time.”

Tottenham fans plan to take action against the price hikes and protest in their first home game of the season against Manchester United on Aug 19.

“It has reached a point where enough is enough,” says Martin Buhagiar, chair of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust.

“This is Premier League greed and you have to wonder if at any point the Football Association or Premier League board will step in and acknowledge there is a serious problem,” says Martin Buhagiar, chair of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust.

“They are all very quick to tell us how unique the atmosphere is in our stadiums, and how football without fans is nothing and how it is the people’s game - all those slogans they love. But they are pricing the people out of this game and they are endangering the atmosphere they talk up.”

The Premier League announced it renewed a £4.8 billion TV rights deal with Sky, BT (now TNT Sports) and Amazon in 2021.

Last year, clubs unanimously agreed to maintain the £30 cap on away ticket prices for the next three seasons, an initiative brought in for the 2016-17 campaign, with the cap to be reviewed in 2025. The Premier League say they will continue to consult with clubs and fan groups to ensure long-term, meaningful engagement with supporters.

But Labour MP Clive Efford accused Premier League owners of treating fans with contempt. The Culture, Media and Sport Committee member told Telegraph Sport: “It is the fans in the stadiums that create the atmosphere that make Premier League football such an exciting product and generates billions of pounds for the clubs from TV deals.

“At the time of a cost-of-living crisis Premier League clubs of all business can afford to help their supporters. The fans are dedicated to their clubs, but too many owners care little about their fans and treat them with contempt.”