The BBC’s Price Of Football survey for 2015 was released on Thursday and as ever they looked at everything from the price of tickets through to the price of pies to determine how costs in football are changing for the supporter year on year.
Of course the Premier League figures highly in their ‘results’ (albeit Swansea City apparently declined to take part in the survey that featured 230 odd UK and European sides and Manchester United failed to supply pie etc details) and the headline prices they picked out, but from the details available they found out that shirt prices rose an average of 4.8% in the UK game, and for the top flight 50 outfield shirts were released with an average of £49.68 cost. Ten clubs also released a third shirt.
Long gone are the days it seems of two season’s worth of shelf life whilst advertising your club and their sponsor.
This is the fifth such Price of Football survey undertaken and it does show that largely changes have been made in the game when it comes to individual costs to follow your chosen team, as whilst there are few reductions on previous years – there does seem to be a standard freeze largely when it comes to some aspects of the game.
With recent FSF away day ticket price cap protests, costs for season ticket holders in general have gone down, but match day goers, especially top flight, have seen a rise of 6.5% even on the cheapest tickets available which has now broken the £30 mark for the first time on average.
Across all five divisions the average cost is said to be £22 and whilst few may have noticed physically compared to last year which showed an almost double inflation rise in ticket prices since 2011 – this year’s survey shows that 70% of tickets have been frozen or in some cases reduced.
For the Premier League that applies to two thirds of clubs, and with the protests and focus on pricing over the last few years they obviously respond with ticket complexities and the fact that there’s a record 96% occupancy in stadiums and far from the next generation being put off, 40% of those attendees are aged 18-34.
Their own research said that season ticket holders in the top flight (accounting for two thirds of seasonal attendance) paid only £32.50 (adult) and £10 (junior).
The Football League recently released their own figures for the first time as well, with the average in all three divisions being £14.08 – (Championship: £15.65, League One: £11.72, League Two: £11.58).
Of course where you sit on the fence in terms of clubs as a whole doing more to make the game more affordable is down to you, especially with the new television deal yet to kick in and whilst clubs like Everton can be looked at with a real terms 23% discount on season ticket costs compared to a decade ago, you can look at Manchester City were charging £62 back in 2013.
There is a supply, success and demand element associated though – but it does seem in most cases the concerns of fans are now being listened to and stringent efforts are being made on that front even though arguably a lot more could be done.
It appears it’s at the cost of additional items like merchandising where the clubs are making up that shortfall – and non season ticket holders with the cheapest available match day ticket averaging a 20% uplift – £5.12.
So as is usual, some are gaining and others are losing out, but with early bird offers, away travel subsidy schemes and other such ideas coming out in recent times, at least the ‘cost’ has been acknowledged and acted upon now so it is a start but only a start.
To see the full club by club price comparison please click here and for more details in general about the survey please (further links available on the BBC to different pieces focusing on different aspects of the survey) as well as individual club results please click here
So what does this mean for Bolton in particular.
The full results showed:
Cheapest Season Ticket: £312
Top Price Season Ticket: £483
Most Popular Season Ticket Tier: £201-300
Season Early Bird: Yes
Cheapest Match Day Ticket: £15
Top Price Match Day Ticket: £35
Most Popular Match Day Ticket: £21-30
Match Day Early Bird: No
Programme: £3.00
Pie: £2.90
Tea: £2.00
Adult Shirt: £44.99
Junior Shirt: £34.99
Cheapest Adult Away Ticket: £15
Top Price Adult Away Ticket: £33
Subsidised Away Tickets: No
In relation to the rest of the division and in general, it means Bolton’s prices compare as follows:
Match Day Tickets:
Cheapest – the cheapest is 28% below the Championship average.
Most Expensive – the most expensive is 5% below the Championship average.
Season Tickets:
Cheapest – the cheapest ticket is 6% below the Championship average.
Most Expensive – the most expensive is 17% below the Championship average.
Price Paid To See A Home Goal: It’s a cost of £8.68 per goal putting Bolton twelfth cheapest in the Championship on that basis.
Most Popular Ticket Price Range (Championship): £21-30
Adult Shirt: 2% above Championship average.
Junior Shirt: 4% above Championship average.
Programme: £0.02 pence below the Championship average.
Pie: £0.37 pence below the Championship average.
Tea: £0.08 pence below the Championship average.
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