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These days a ticket to a football match could cost you anything up to £60 a game. It has recently been reported that soccer fans are finding the ticket prices hard to take and are having to make financial sacrifices to pay for their next season ticket, with a study revealing that one in four Premier League football fans had already started saving up to renew their seat at leading grounds. Two out of five fans revealed that they were having to make serious financial sacrifices to renew their ticket.

It has been suggested that football games have turned from being a working class game into a poncy corporate event ? overpriced for everything from the ticket, to the drinks and food sold, to the merchandise available.

Nobody wants to see the fans put out though ? this would ultimately lead to end of football as we know it today. But football is made what it is through the support of the fans, and without them the teams would be nothing. Some solutions are being offered by some clubs which will hopefully gather pace and be implemented by the Premier League clubs.

FC United, a non-premier league club has offered a ‘pay what you like’ season ticket scheme, in which they suggest you pay £90 minimum for your ticket. It is hoped that this will boost revenue for the club without having to raise ticket prices. This business model was first implemented by the band Radiohead who let fans buy their music online for whatever price the individual fan deemed fit.

In 2008 ? 2009 a season ticket for FC United cost £140 and the hope is that those who can afford to pay more will do so, thereby subsidising those who can only afford to pay the £90.

To people who don’t ‘do football’ this idea would seem ludicrous ? won’t everyone just pay £90? Hopefully not – football is a sport that instils such loyalty, with fans wanting to do the best for their team, so logic would suggest that they will pay whatever they can afford. The teams general manager, Andy Walsh believes that premier clubs, in rising their prices without consideration of their fans’ ability to pay are thinking only of themselves ? thereby harbouring exclusivity, not inclusivity which is what football is meant to be all about. Clubs should also be aware that while some fans will pay ‘whatever it takes’ to follow their club ? for example Arsenal, Stoke and Sunderland fans, other club supporters are more likely to give up their ticket.

FC United are not unrealistic ? while Radiohead offered fans the option of downloading for free, this would not be practical for a football club, hence why they have stipulated the £90 minimum payment. However, it has been stated that fans who cannot afford even that level of financial commitment should contact the club. Everyone else is asked to bear in mind the £140 price tag of last seasons ticket, and use that as a benchmark, whilst bearing in mind that even at that price the club made a loss. This really does leave it in the hands of the fans, who do enjoy feeling that they are having an input and impact on their club.

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