“ PRICES PUTTING OFF YOUNG FANS GOING TO WATCH FOOTBALL “

BBC Price Of Football


The BBC Price of Football study has found the majority of ticket prices have been frozen or have fallen for a third year - yet a poll of young adult football fans suggests the cost is still putting them off.

This year BBC Sport asked more than 200 clubs across the United Kingdom for information on ticket prices and found almost two thirds of price categories have been reduced or remained the same across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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In a separate poll, we asked 1,000 18- to 24-year-old fans living in Britain how they engage with football, and four in five (82%) said the cost of tickets was an obstacle to them going to more matches.

The annual study found 135 clubs out of 190 in England, Scotland and Wales offer reduced prices for teenagers and young adults - separate from any student concessions - but 55% of the fans we polled said they had stopped going completely or go to fewer games because it was too expensive.

Young adult fans can save, on average, £146.94 on season tickets in the English Premier League and Football League, while in the top four divisions in Scotland the average saving on a season ticket is £143.66.

According to figures from the Premier League, young adult fans bought 4% of all season tickets this year. A report in 2015 suggested the average age of an adult supporter in the Premier League was 41.

Rob Wilson, football finance expert at Sheffield Hallam University, says top clubs need to do more to attract young adults.

"These fans are the next generation of season ticket holders but they have been brought up in a sanitised and expensive environment," he told BBC Sport.

"With this in mind, they are reluctant to pay so much to watch their teams play and these findings should act as a warning to the Premier League elite - they ignore this group of fans at their peril."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admitted he was worried by the findings.

"I think nothing is better than to share the experience of a stadium," he said. "There are many ingredients in the modern game that stopped people going. The lifestyle is different, they play less, they play more computers.

"The security of gathering people is a problem. Can you afford to go when you are young? There are many ingredients we have to take care of in the game."

In a statement, the Premier League said: "Clubs engage with their fans in many ways and hugely appreciate their loyal and passionate support.

"For young fans specifically, all clubs offer concession prices, including discounted junior season tickets."

The online poll, conducted by ComRes, also showed young fans are more likely to engage with football by playing games on a console or PC (61%) than in a football team (37%).

More young football fans bet on the sport (44%) than play in a team (37%), but more fans play in a team than have a fantasy football team (33%).

Only one in four fans (26%) said they go to watch football live more than once a month.

Of the top four leagues in England, 92% of clubs offer special prices for young adults, separate from any student concessions. The age ranges vary from 16-24 years old, with most targeting the 18-21 bracket.

The biggest discounts come in the Premier League, where an Arsenal member aged 16-19 can purchase a season ticket for £384 compared to the cheapest adult season ticket at £891 - a saving of £507.

Chelsea offer the biggest discount on single matchday tickets for their under 20s, who can pay £15.50 instead of £47 - a saving of £31.50.

But despite these discounts, 81% of the young adult football fans living in England who were polled say they feel the cost of tickets is stopping them from going to more matches.

In Scotland, 27 of the 42 clubs offer young adult discounts.

In the poll, 79% of fans say cost is an obstacle to them attending football matches.

A third of the clubs in the Welsh Premier League offer special discounts for young adults.

Of the young adults asked in Wales, 90% say the cost of tickets puts them off going to watch football.


Other Findings


- Two thirds (65%) of young football fans said the cost of travel was an obstacle to attending more matches.

- Three quarters (74%) of young fans said they get their football news from social media - 24% from print newspapers.

- Three in five fans aged 18-24 go to a sport app or mobile site (59%) for football news while at least half access it via a TV results service (53%).

- 70% of supporters agreed football clubs did value their fans, but more than half of the teenagers and young adults (56%) said professional football was not run with them in mind.

- Similar numbers of football fans asked said they go to a football match at least once a week (11%), two to three times a month (15%) or five to 10 times a season (14%).

- One in six (16%) male football fans aged 18-24 said they go to a match at least once a week, compared to 7% of women in this group.

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Many young fans in South Wales when asked why they didn't attend football matches replied because we are Liverpool/Manchester United fans and have no idea where in the country these places are never mind going there to actually watch a match. Now pass me the remote control whilst I support 'my' team

Ned, But £18 for an adult & £5 for Under 16's (Ninian Stand) if tickets bought in advance for Cardiff City, make our club one of the Cheapest in the Championship


£99 for a Student Season ticket (Full season) and £50 for under !6's(Full season) makes us very cheap

Ned, But £18 for an adult & £5 for Under 16's (Ninian Stand) if tickets bought in advance for Cardiff City, make our club one of the Cheapest in the Championship


£99 for a Student Season ticket (Full season) and £50 for under !6's(Full season) makes us very cheap

I agree with you Annis, I don’t think ticket prices for our home games can be an excuse. For adults and young people, we are very reasonable with our prices. For me personally, it’s the £25 train fare and working situation on top of that which stops me going to more matches than I do - that’s at adult rate.

But no criticism from me on our ticket prices. We are normally quite fair with the ticket prices for cup games as well.

That article from the BBC says most clubs have frozen or reduced ticket prices anyway.

I suspect its not the price but younger people have better things to do with their money? The choice is endless and football is low down list of priorities unfortunately.

Ned, But £18 for an adult & £5 for Under 16's (Ninian Stand) if tickets bought in advance for Cardiff City, make our club one of the Cheapest in the Championship


£99 for a Student Season ticket (Full season) and £50 for under !6's(Full season) makes us very cheap

I agree with you Annis, I don’t think ticket prices for our home games can be an excuse. For adults and young people, we are very reasonable with our prices. For me personally, it’s the £25 train fare and working situation on top of that which stops me going to more matches than I do - that’s at adult rate.

But no criticism from me on our ticket prices. We are normally quite fair with the ticket prices for cup games as well.

That article from the BBC says most clubs have frozen or reduced ticket prices anyway.

Ned, totally understand you live in Worcester.

I agree though our club has it spot on

the pricing here is good, but the main reason young fans can't afford it is because of the low wages they earn combined with spiralling housing costs, servicing student debt and having to save to pay for their own retirement.

that's not the fault of the clubs. it's a societal / economic problem.

Personally I think pricing for us is good. As an egg chasing convert I get an entire season of home games for a ball park figure similar to that of a hand full of home rugby internationals. Domestic rugby is cheaper. But let’s be honest. A few meaningless matches? You watch anything below premiership and they don’t even have promotions for 3 years in to it. Personally I think watching a season of Cardiff is much better value. Not just financial but for quality of competition and facilities.

Pricing is decent but you’ve got to look at the he 18+ Non student bracket here (or as I like to call it the newly available worker) who’s hard earned cash has to stretch increasingly thinly in modern day society. It’s hard enough to even get a full set hour working contract for these people, it’s hard enough for them to get on the property ladder but even harder to plough that money into choosing a recreational activity.

For instance if I have £100 pound a week left to use on a variety of fuel food transport recreation clothing etc then £20-30 is a lot of money to commit out on a week when the same amount of cash for instance would pay a months gym membership...

To an extent football is a middle class affordability it’s no way inline with working class wage, you have to take your self away from now and look at it then - when you were a younger lad how much would a day at the football cost you?

Wages v Cost is astronomically gone way past each other it isn’t even close

When people say they cannot afford it , its because of other cost the ticket prices are not bad however then you have the trains petrol parking etc then a pint or 2 and food plus if you are taking kids even more.

Football is not the blame poor wages and high prices for travel beer & food is the blame plus you cannot make sandwiches
etc as you will be ages in a queue being searched these days.

I still think if a team not just Cardiff get Man U in the 3rd round of the fa cup or top of the league in March people will be fighting for tickets