Being priced out of watching football

The West Ham prices are deplorable, the more so when you consider that we, the taxpayers, paid for the stadium and are continuing to pay for its maintenance. So much for Sullivan and Brady's blandishments about respecting the club's heritage when it moved from Upton Park. What the current regime are after are football tourists and the corporate market and the phasing out of 'legacy fans'.

What is particularly repugnant about the pricing is the complete absence of any concessions for children. As well as being completely wrong in principle, it is extremely foolish in business terms, as any fool know that it is usually when we attend games as kids that we get the bug. 

I do wonder what, if anything, the West Ham Supporters Trust is doing about this. I can honestly say that, if Charlton ever got back to the Premier League and adopted a similar approach, I would take up my pitchfork and boycott home games. The same applies to some of Shahid Khan's pricing of games at Fulham. As @jiimymelrose says, if supporters voted with their feet, the laws of supply and demand would ensure that a more reasonable equilibrium on pricing would ensue.

Going back to West Ham v Man City, it's hard to imagine a less predictable game in what has become an increasingly predictable Premier League.

Carter said:

Covered End said:

Carter said:

Covered End said:

Carter said:

The match ticket price is the least expensive part generally of going to games. More away than home. The time factor I accept you swallow with aways but home games it has to be considered. Evening games are out now due to parking restrictions, ULEZ is another cost, the train means I get home well after midnight which writes me off for work the next day 

I should be the target market though, no children just me and my friends its anyone taking kids that has my sympathy, the cost of feeding them etc makes if a very expensive hobby.

I don't understand why you say evening games are out due to parking restrictions?
If you are presumably talking about Charlton home games the parking in many places north of Charlton Road is limited to 2 hours but expires at 18.30.
Therefore you can park most places after 16.30 (obviously not on yellow lines). 
It's easier to park for evening games than ever before.

Being more specific, they are out as I would need to take my van home, defecate and maybe eat then take my car. 

I can't see that your reasoning has anything to do with parking restrictions.

By the time Iclock off, muck about with swapping vehicles, make my way up the A2 and get parked I'd be good to make it in time for kick off. Going home is always a guaranteed pain in the arse as midweek is when highways England like to do most of their most impactful bastardry 

Quite. It’s a time issue, not parking restrictions.

Starinnaddick said:

Do West Ham supply binoculars for the £50 seats? 

No but you can bring your own in 

Any EPL club can charge what they like because the tickets will go.
Every time I get on a flight from Cork it’s full of families and lads going to games up and down the country.
I have no idea how they afford it but they do and seem happy to pay it.
Mental.

The prices are targeted at tourist supporters who want to catch a PL game whilst in London for the weekend. Branding it the ‘London Stadium’ certainly wasn’t done to appeal to local West Ham fans, was it?

A number of top PL clubs will now opt to allocate the minimum number of season tickets they can, just so they can have a bigger number of ‘walk up’ tickets which cost more. The objective is to have more ‘one off’ tickets available to attract more tourists into the ground, who will then go and spend money in the superstore etc. 

The game at the top level is not aimed at us “legacy fans” (yes, that’s an actual label that gets banded around by owners). 

Raith_C_Chattonell said:

West ham have 55,000 season ticket holders, with a waiting list north of 50,000.  It costs a tenner to join the list which is redeemable on purchase (of season ticket).  I note you can only wait for an adult ticket which must mean the concessions in bands 5 and 6 will gradually decrease as the existing holders age.

Looking at these figures you can see why there is investment in lower league clubs.  Just a sniff of a slice of this action must be enough to excite the average American businessman. 

I'd love to know exactly how much the West Ham board members benefited after gracefully accepting our gift to them. 

https://www.seasontickets.whufc.com/pricing  

Thanks for posting that information. Completely reinforces my view that football is fucked. The pyramid is effectively pointless. I know it seems like it but it wasn’t that long ago that Charlton were able to compete with clubs like West Ham. We couldn’t get even close now. The gap is too wide to bridge on a sustained basis. The sport season by season is becoming completely secondary to the big clubs making money. That’s all it’s about now. Success on the pitch is just a means to make money not sport for sports sake. Every year I fall out of love just a little bit more with football. Not too far away from tipping point for me.

When you have the major clubs commenting on making the top four for Champions League qualification, you know football is finished.
The talk is not of winning the title but getting into the top four.

Starinnaddick said:

Do West Ham supply binoculars for the £50 seats? 

Yes, but they cost £100 to use 

Raith_C_Chattonell said:

West ham have 55,000 season ticket holders, with a waiting list north of 50,000.  It costs a tenner to join the list which is redeemable on purchase (of season ticket).  I note you can only wait for an adult ticket which must mean the concessions in bands 5 and 6 will gradually decrease as the existing holders age.

Looking at these figures you can see why there is investment in lower league clubs.  Just a sniff of a slice of this action must be enough to excite the average American businessman. 

I'd love to know exactly how much the West Ham board members benefited after gracefully accepting our gift to them. 

https://www.seasontickets.whufc.com/pricing  

It was at 55k at one point but loads have not renewed in recent years so it has come down quite a lot.

https://www.claretandhugh.info/season-tickets-up-for-grabs/

Liverpool having had their waiting list closed for almost 15 years is crazy. A youngster growing up there has hardly any chance of going to a game.

Chippycafc said:

Bumped into an old pal the other day coming back from town, and he told me his Fulham season ticket in the new stand is 3K.  Not sure what he gets for that, but that is an extraordinary price if it’s true. Roughly £150 a match.

If you paid that over Dartford, you could also choose the position you wished to play in.

Meanwhile at the UFC Sphere.

Initial UFC 306 tickets are in price categories of $5,007.50 (main level, center sections);  $5,007.50 (terrace center level); $4,007.50 (main level side sections, lower rows; terrace side sections); $3,507.50 (main level overhang with limited view of screen); $3,507.50 (terrace level corner; lower gallery center sections); $3,507.50 (lower gallery level side sections); and $3,507.50 (main level overhang, upper rows with limited view of screen).

The Prince-e-Paul said:

Going to a match here in Sweden this weekend, Varberg BoIS v Helsingborg. 

It's a second division match. Interestingly, all tickets across the whole league are the same price at every ground (in same category etc).

An adult ticket is 200kr so about £15
Children and concessions are 170kr about £12.50.

As an aside I'm taking my father-in-law to his first ever Varberg BoIS game, a team that he has supported from his armchair, all his life. He's 88. They made it to the top division (Allsvenskan) 3 years ago, lasting 2 years in the top flight, their first time in the club's history.

I wonder if many (any) fans have attended their first ever Charlton match at over 88 years old. 

My local team in Finland, Ilves Tampere, play in the Finnish Veikkusliiga (top division)

Season runs April-September and my season ticket cost just 129€!

Ilves home ground is the brand new Tammelan Stadion, an 8,000 seater stadium which is immensely impressive and unique (unlike these typical soulless bowl type new grounds 

They won the Finnish cup last year, currently sit 4th in the league