The Price of Football Survey by the BBC

[brakespear]

When they discussed this on 5 Live this morning they also mentioned that you can get a season ticket at Bayern Munich for 120 euros partly because they have standing areas so presumably can cram more in and the price was oofset by what they charge for corporate seating (or something )

 

[Gwylan]

Wow, now that is a cynical look at the Taylor Report which gave the clubs little choice to be fair, and published at the start of 1990, was way before the game was awash with money from Sky and the international commercial money that bought in. After the Heysel, Bradford, then Hillsborough, I don't think there was any question that stadiums needed modernising and fast.

Modernising, yes. But I don't recall any overtures from clubs, as opposed to supporters, lobbying for safe seating.

As Brakespear points out, Germany doesn't see a problem with having modern stadiums and safe seating areas.

 

[beorhthelm]

I was thinking of the £20 standing ticket which I've had before, gives a pretty good view (not sure I'd want to stand through a 5-hour Wagner opera though)

methinks you touch on the reason why such a ticket only goes for £20, or the restricted view mentioned above for £17. its filling the gaps for something, but few people are interested in those tickets.

The clubs saw seating = premium pricing and didn't resist at all.
...I have seen opera houses make concerted efforts to keep costs down and broaden its appeal. I honestly couldn't say the same about football clubs.

i go back to an earlier point, that some clubs *are* trying to do this. i think you focus your arguement on only those clubs were the demand is so great they can rise prices are not offering the cheap tickets. its a shame "real" fans cant afford to go to the big clubs, but why should the clubs provide half price tickets, and who would get them? the cycnical might point out they dont need to broaden their appeal as the fan will still happily buy a shirt, buy some other stuff from the club shop.

 

[Sheebo]

f***ing obscene the amount we pay for football, all so clubs can afford the astronomical wages that players demand today.

I agree, yet every time someone like me complains about the price of a ticket on here they get shot down by the more snobby and wealthy posters It should be capped at £10 and £15 in the prem. So should players wages (something like 10k a wk max). Too late now though.

 

[Gwylan]

methinks you touch on the reason why such a ticket only goes for £20, or the restricted view mentioned above for £17. its filling the gaps for something, but few people are interested in those tickets.

That's not true though. They're the ones that go first. I joined the ROH mailing list purely because the cheaper seats were snapped up quickly before they went on sale to the general public.

i go back to an earlier point, that some clubs *are* trying to do this. i think you focus your arguement on only those clubs were the demand is so great they can rise prices are not offering the cheap tickets.

That's a fair point. Not all clubs are the same and some show great imagination when it comes to ticket prices.

I am being a bit of a devil's advocate because I know there are several factors - there's the loyalty shown for a start. If Crystal Palace went bust tomorrow, you wouldn't expect their supporters to suddenly start supporting Brighton or Millwall. That's different from opera where people will go to both and you don't see the Royal Opera firm meeting the ENO Crew for a tear-up round the back of Covent Garden.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

This is not really a thread about opera but it should be a lot more expensive. Opera singers have to rest - they couldn't perform every night. THere's also an orchestra and chorus to pay for - there are getting on for 200 people performing in an average opera compared to 22 at football.

There is no opera this week but just checked the ROH and ENO sites for September: cheapest ROH tickets are £8 and ENO are £19.

Yes, these are subsidised but opera has made a concerted effort to attract more people, they've been lowering their prices over the last decade or so - the exact opposite approach that has been taken by football.

What about demand for tickets? If you are not selling out or at least getting a sizable ground then clubs offer deals to try to secure more income but have to be careful that they do not upset their regular customers or ST holders who could end up paying more that a person going because its a cheap day out but has no interest in the club.

We are pretty much guarenteed to sell out (at least the home end) every league match, and as we have a ST waiting list the club could easily have decided to charge higher prices to reduce this demand, but chose to keep it affordable to many.

Other clubs have the opposite problem, clubs like Wigan can't even sell out whilst in the Premier League so they have to offer cheap tickets to get the crowds in, other clubs have a higher capacity that their usual demand which allows them to offer deals like a childs ST for next to nothing.

With regards to the Opera, there obviously isn't the same sort demand for tickets to go which means prices are lower (plus its subsidised) to try to attract punters in and people don't (to my knowledge at least) buy ST's to watch 23 showings a year, so i suspect the audience is always made up of mostly new punters rather than repeat business, So a low price is important in attracting these new punters to go.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

It's also worth pointing out that the cheapest ticket at Glyndebourne (which receives zero subsidies) is £20 - cheaper than the cheapest Albion ticket. I'm not quite sure why it's not relevant to compare football with the cost of other entertainment - I'd have thought that it was very relevant.

Our cheapest tickets were St's for the North Stand at £395

so £395 / 23 games = £17.18 per game. Last time i checked that was cheaper that £20

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Modernising, yes. But I don't recall any overtures from clubs, as opposed to supporters, lobbying for safe seating.

As Brakespear points out, Germany doesn't see a problem with having modern stadiums and safe seating areas.

How old were the German stadiums which have safe standing compared to the stadiums in this country prior to the Taylor report? Most of our stadiums were very old and had not been maintained properly for a long time (do to cost saving) but had been developed bit by bit over a few deceades at least.

Force clubs to spend fortunes on modernising whole grounds over a short space of time when they have little or no way of earning this money needed through gate reciepts and merchandise sales was a recipe for disaster.

Arsenal have a learge debt due to building the Emirates, not because of players wages.
We have a large debt due to building the ground and not because of player wages, etc, etc, etc.

To blame the financial difficulties clubs have / are experiencing on player wages is a very blinkered view

 

[Brovion]

But I can't see where opera is as cheap as football? Can you post a link to a couple of seats (not a link where it says 'prices from', but actual decent seats, that are cheaper than the Albion.

.

English National Opera, Elixir of Love, London Coliseum. Balcony seats, £19. Some available if you want them!

 

[Gwylan]

Our cheapest tickets were St's for the North Stand at £395

so £395 / 23 games = £17.18 per game. Last time i checked that was cheaper that £20

That's a disingenuous argument - it's not comparing like with like at all.
Season tickets are always cheaper than one-off tickets.

How old were the German stadiums which have safe standing compared to the stadiums in this country prior to the Taylor report? Most of our stadiums were very old and had not been maintained properly for a long time (do to cost saving) but had been developed bit by bit over a few deceades at least.

A point I made earlier when I said we could have paid more in the old days to stop the stadiums being in such a state.

Football was cheap - but artificially cheap

 

[Triggaaar]

English National Opera, Elixir of Love, London Coliseum. Balcony seats, £19. Some available if you want them!

Those are by far the cheapest of the seats they have, the average price is considerably higher than an average seat at the Amex. And I think the talent on show at the Amex beats that too

 

[Brovion]

Those are by far the cheapest of the seats they have, the average price is considerably higher than an average seat at the Amex. And I think the talent on show at the Amex beats that too

Nevertheless it matches the criteria you set - I found opera seats that are cheaper than the Amex. And easily too.

With regard to the talent that's a moot point. No it won't be top name stars - but then we don't, as yet, have top name stars at the Amex. If you want a 'top v top' comparison then you'll have to compare opera prices to Premier League; you can currently get a ticket for Chelsea v West Brom in the West Stand Upper for ........ £70! Seventy quid to watch Chelsea play the 'mighty' West Brom! And opera venues as a rule don't seat 40,000 ...


EDIT And I think the cheapest ENO seats were actually £12 - but they'd sold out!

 

[Leekbrookgull]

£21.50 at Port Vale !! That is FOURTH Division football (?)

 

[The Fifth Column]

Opera v football, only on NSC. Only 2 people care enough to argue about it what a waste of a good argument. Anyway back to the point of the thread, that table doesn't make any mention of value for money and facilities, match day experience etc. I would have thought that this would rate very high at the Amex. There is only the difference of a couple of quid separating a lot of teams on the table and In my opinion overall, away fans are getting a good deal more at the Amex than the majority of other stadia in the championship.

 

[Ozymandias86]

Opera v football, only on NSC. Only 2 people care enough to argue about it what a waste of a good argument...

away fans are getting a good deal more at the Amex than the majority of other stadia in the championship.

This and this!