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Clubs offer to cut cost of football
Prices are 'out of fans' reach' Exclusive Robert Sutcliffe TWO Yorkshire clubs are spearheading the fight to bring football back to within the budget of ordinary fans by offering hugely discounted season ticket deals for next season.
Amid national calls for ticket prices to be slashed in order to prevent a whole generation of supporters being lost for good, Hull City and Bradford City have revealed plans to ease the strain on loyal supporters.
The move has been welcomed by fans' groups who have been fiercely critical of Premiership clubs over a pricing policy that has seen, for example, the most expensive ticket at Arsenal rise by more than 200 per cent over the past decade to a staggering 94 per game.
Research by the Football Supporters' Federation has also revealed that average ticket prices across the Premiership and Football League have risen by an inflation-busting 10 to 15 per cent in each of the last three seasons.
Hull plan to ease the burden on fans by offering cut-price season tickets for less than 300 in a certain part of the KC Stadium, a reduction of almost a third on the current campaign.
Tigers chairman Adam Pearson is a member of the Football League working party that has been set up to look at how attendances can be boosted.
The committee, made up of several chairmen, will meet for the first time next week and Pearson said: "We will be looking at everything from police restrictions to entertainment, but there is no doubt the main concern will be pricing.
"It is basically about providing affordable football. We will be releasing our season ticket prices for next season later this month and plan to include a new category for a certain part of the stadium that will be around a third cheaper than our cheapest this season, which was 380.
"We are looking to price it under 300 and the area of the stadium in question will most likely be part of the West Stand Upper. The cheaper tickets will be available on a first come, first served basis and there will not just be a couple of hundred available. I am talking about a significant number."
Bradford supporters, meanwhile, could benefit from potentially the cheapest deal in football.
Providing 10,000 adults pledge to buy a season ticket before the end of this month, the price will be slashed to just 138 – or 6 per game.
Chairman Julian Rhodes is hopeful of hitting the target with 2,000 adults having already pledged to buy season tickets for the 2007-08 campaign.
He said: "Football is being taken away from the working man and woman. It is asking too much of anyone on the minimum wage to find 20-25 every week to watch their team.
"We are trying to do our bit by offering this deal, it is now over to the fans. I think 6 per game is amazing value and if a family of four come along then they could get in for a combined total of just 12 providing the two children are under 11 (Under 11s being entitled to free season tickets when accompanied by an adult).
"If we don't hit our target of 10,000 then the prices will revert to the normal prices, which this season was 234. But even that is a significant reduction on the 295 it cost in 2004-05.
"If we pull this off, the revenue will be very similar because clearly we will not have as many people coming along and paying on the day.
"I estimate our total income from gate money this season will be around 1.6m. This includes all season-ticket income, along with match-day income from home and away fans. That sum will not change if we pass the 10,000 mark for adult season tickets next season but I would much rather have 15,000 in the ground than 8,000 because the atmosphere will help the team."
City have 5,300 season ticket holders this season, down from 14,000 in their Premiership heyday.
Since the re-development of Valley Parade was completed, Bradford have lost 53 of 131 home games in the league – eight more than they have won – a trend blamed on the poor atmosphere within the half-empty ground.
Leeds United's ticket prices for this season are the highest in the county due to the club still having to deal with the considerable financial burden of the Peter Ridsdale era. Since Ken Bates took over in January, 2005, United have had to spend almost 16m covering the cost of getting rid of former players and managers, agents fees plus tax arrears.
Much of that burden ends this summer, however, and United are taking a fresh look at their pricing policy with admission to this month's vital relegation battle with QPR now starting at 15.
Chief executive Shaun Harvey said: "We have always said that when we are able to rid ourselves of the debts of the past, we will be able to look at ticket prices accordingly. We felt able to reduce ticket prices for QPR and now want as many Leeds United supporters as possible getting behind the team in what is a very important fixture."
richard.sutcliffe@ypn.co.uk
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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