Advertisement

Premier League teams can't afford to anger fans with ticket price increases

Premier League teams can't afford to anger fans with ticket price increases

For the 2016-17 season, the Premier League is due a comfortable cushion of £8.3 billion – $12 billion – with a new television broadcast rights deal set to kick in and change the business of the sport in England. Somehow, shortsighted Premiership clubs recently decided to stike down a vote on a price cap for away fans travelling for Premier League matches.

[ Play Yahoo’s Daily Fantasy Soccer $20K Nobody Loses contest ]

Though the non-vote may ultimately not matter, the tone deaf attitude of the Premier League towards its most ardent supporters is one that needs to be corrected sooner rather than later. The value of the television deal has rightfully changed the supporters' perspective in all matters of ticket price increases.

[ Yahoo Daily Fantasy Soccer: All contests for Premier League games | Scoring and rules ]

Simply put, fans won't stand for any price increases.

On Saturday, roughly 10,000 Liverpool supporters walked out on their team in the 77th minute because ticket prices in the new Main Stand expect to jump up 30 percent from £59 to £77 ($85 to $114). With former club vice-captain Jamie Carragher allegedly one of the fans walking out, the club will undoubtedly wilt under the pressure to avoid being perceived as a greedy business exploiting its fans for profits.

A Liverpool fan protests against the rise in ticket prices at Anfield. (AFP Photo)
A Liverpool fan protests against the rise in ticket prices at Anfield. (AFP Photo)

Considering the current climate, no Premier League team can afford to increase ticket prices, and that includes matches in Europe, as Arsenal learned recently. Due to Barcelona’s status in the sport, Arsenal anticipated charging season ticket holders between $10 and $45 more for the Feb. 23 Champions League first leg at the Emirates. However, the widespread fan uproar resulted in the club quickly nixing the policy and cancelling the surcharge.

Ultimately, Arsenal quickly realized that any ticket increases, even non-Premier League matches, cannot be justified and end up in a massive public relations nightmare.

The Gunners have history here, as they gorged the visiting fans from Bayern Munich in October’s Champions League clash. Bayern supporters were charged a minimum of £64 ($92) for the European group stage game, so they protested by failing to turn up for the kickoff and offer a poignant sign that resonated with supporters of the sport: “£64 a ticket. But without fans, football is not worth a penny.”

Sadly, Premier League clubs have not yet realized that they cannot win this battle. The television contracts throw all sympathy out the door, which is why the argument against lowering ticket prices is nearly impossible to win. Ironically, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger recently explained why supporters should not expect lower ticket prices by pointing to the need to spend in the transfer market and the rising prices of players due to the extra revenue.

“What will happen is the prices of the players will go up and you will need this supplement of money coming in to buy new players,” Wenger said, rather unbelievably. “I believe that the pressure on spending the money will become bigger and you cannot necessarily distribute the money to other people.”

Wenger has consistently ignored fan pressure and failed to spend in the previous two transfer windows, so the Frenchman’s argument should be considered even more laughable than it sounds on the surface. In any case, the fans don’t appear to be interested in any argument that says the billions in revenue arriving due to ridiculous sums they pay to watch football on premium sports television packages at home should not lower their ticket prices.

Of course, the perception does not entirely always match the reality. The largest study of its type in Europe found that two-thirds of Premier League clubs had either frozen or reduced ticket prices from last season to the current campaign.

Bayern Munich fans protested ticket prices at the Emirates. (Getty Images)
Bayern Munich fans protested ticket prices at the Emirates. (Getty Images)

Arsenal may have the highest-priced match-day ticket at £97, but the Gunners are quick to remind the public that they have frozen ticket prices in seven of the past 11 years. Still, the high prices combined with the massive profits do not fit in the minds of the public, and Wenger’s warnings of inflation also arriving by the exploding Chinese football economy should continue to fall on entirely deaf ears. The supporters aren’t interested in those arguments.

In concrete terms, March offers a Premier League shareholders’ meeting, and the hope to impose a £30 ($43) cap on away ticket prices should continue to gain strength. Ultimately, though, the clubs may choose to simply add to the away fans fund, which allows clubs to manage how they allocate the funds for their travelling supporters. In effect, each club could artificially impose the cap or even offer a more aggressive cap.

Beyond the issue of away fans, Premier League clubs have to realize that they cannot con their supporters out of their share of the revenues. However, the league, as well as the contentious atmosphere beginning to fester between supporters and clubs, would benefit greatly from a forward thinking gesture of goodwill to slash ticket prices across the board.

Bayern Munich and Barcelona may offer examples of how to succeed on the pitch and in the stands. Barcelona’s cheapest season ticket costs less than a third as much as the cheapest season seat at Stoke City, which is the Premier League’s cheapest season ticket.

Bayern’s cheapest season ticket costs nearly a third as much as Stoke City’s season pass, but that only accounts for standing room in Munich. For a seat, the Bavarians offer more reasonable rates than 18 of the 20 Premier League clubs and less than a third of the most reasonable price of watching Arsenal.

The atmosphere over ticket prices in England is devolving to such a level that a mass stadium walkout over all 20 Premier League teams is apparently on the table and in the works. The contentiousness continues to brew in supporters’ circles across the league. With exorbitant sums of money arriving via television broadcasting contracts, the Premier League would be wise to take a proactive step and subsidize the cost of watching the games for their supporters.

Perhaps, Bayern Munich's fans said it best: "Without fans, football is not worth a penny."

Shahan Ahmed is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow Shahan on Twitter: @ShahanLA and @perfectpass