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Rising Cost of Watching Football







itszamora

Go Jazz Go
Sep 21, 2003
7,282
London
Watching football in the top two divisions in Germany is always a fantastic experience. Here are some of the reasons....

- Reasonable (i.e. nowhere near the thieving prices charged over here) ticket prices, programme prices and souvenir (shirts, scarves, hates etc) prices.
- The choice of safe standing or comfortable seating in all grounds.
- Beer available to drink anywhere in the ground. You can even bring your own glass (yes, made of actual glass) and get refills where you sit.
- Non-stop singing, chanting, dancing etc.
- Quality football.
- Virtually no diving, cheating, filthy tackling or simulation of injury.
- Almost no time-wasting. Most matches (I've been to) finish when the clock reads 45:00 and 90:00
- Fan solidarity. This story of Dortmund fans is very typical of the way they stick together. The same thing happened when UEFA tried to force all-seater stadia on the German FA, and they were forced into a climbdown. I have seen a huge crowd stand in complete silence for 15 minutes at the start of a game make a point.
- Loads more but I have to go out now to book a flight to Hamburg.

Strange, isn't it? It seems a lot more fans show up to games if they're treated as human beings and not as cash cows to be herded around and milked of their money.
 


clippedgull

Hotdogs, extra onions
Aug 11, 2003
20,789
Near Ducks, Geese, and Seagulls
Footballers and their agents need a reality check.

Yes, it can be a short career, but no reason they can't re-train in another career like most of society have to if they get laid off/made redundant etc etc.
 


Aadam

Resident Plastic
Feb 6, 2012
1,130
What a great article. The bottom line is footballers are paid too much including ours, those in the Prem are a joke and those so called elite players are so over-paid it is obscene. Why - because of tv money and it's not right. So Prem league games are very expensive for many teams and even our match day prices are too high. People comment on low away fan attendances but it's not surprising when you talk about how much their tickets etc will cost them to come to the Amex.

I rarely travel away partly as it's not a cheap day out and times are tough - people are much more careful with what they spend and £70-100 following the Albion away is a weeks food budget for a family.

If as the Albion have done the Season tickets are priced sensibly then that's to be applauded but it doesn't ignore the underlying problems of over-paid players, Managers and other staff and over priced tickets in many cases.

The solution is simple - cut wages dramatically and ticket prices accordingly - I'm sure Tevez and co would get by on £100k a week instead of over 200 and if they bugger off elsewhere so what.

Not stricktly accurate in the sense of high wages meaning higher ticket prices. The Bungesliga is the second highest paying league in Europe, only behind England. And of the top 30 paid players in Europe, almost 30% are playing in Germany. A lot of highly paid players are there, and on average the salaries are more than Spain and Italy. Ticket prices are a lot lower than here in England. The big difference of course is the disparity between the top and bottom German clubs in terms of salary is much lower than spain, for example, where we know that Real Madrid and Barcelona have extortionate salarys.
 


loz

Well-known member
Apr 27, 2009
2,483
W.Sussex
BHA are bucking the trend, I have been shocked at some of the crowds this season 13000 at brum on sat!! also looking at away crowds you can see at nearly all grounds they are well down. I think the flogging has finaly killed the horse.
 




Official Old Man

Uckfield Seagull
Aug 27, 2011
9,107
Brighton
I seem to recall people in the south east going to France to watch football. Overall worked out cheaper taking in to account duty free as well.
 




Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,708
The Fatherland
Spot on - it's the model that our league really does need to aspire to. We're quite a way off.

The model is one thing but the Germans have a very different attitude to life and commerce; they charge a fair price and provide quality. Our culture is different, in fact it is the opposite and we do not kick up a fuss when we get sold shit for a high price.
 




Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,708
The Fatherland
Footballers and their agents need a reality check.

Yes, it can be a short career, but no reason they can't re-train in another career like most of society have to if they get laid off/made redundant etc etc.

The short career arguement is nonsense.
 




empire

Well-known member
Dec 1, 2003
11,729
dreamland
birmingham having to pay 36 quid for leeds away,my mate also said ipswich are charging 40 quid for a away fans
 






Wilko

LUZZING chairs about
Sep 19, 2003
9,927
BN1
I have given up away games this season, not been to any at all. That speaks volumes when you consider we are top of the league and playing the best football I have seen in my entire lifetime.
 






Braders

Abi Fletchers Gimpboy
Jul 15, 2003
29,224
Brighton, United Kingdom
birmingham having to pay 36 quid for leeds away,my mate also said ipswich are charging 40 quid for a away fans

Which are the two games I'll be missing then (Ipswich probably was going to be anyway seeing as we have Christmas , Blackburn before it , a load of aways in January and the FA Cup third round the following week) Leeds = last away of the season , mmmmmmmm.
 


Hamilton

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
12,953
Brighton
Really well written. I'm afraid we English like to moan about issues but never back it up with actions, we just bend over a little more to make it easier to got f***ed.

...and all in the name of choice!

25 years ago I could choose to go to watch a football match and I had the choice of watching a game on the TV on a Sunday. For that I have to shell out a tenner and pay my licence fee.

Today I might have to pay £30 for a ticket and lucky me, I have the choice of paying my licence fee plus a fee to Sky and ESPN to get all the games.

But here's a point. I'm as much to blame for my rampant consumerism of the game. Do I really need that much football in my life?

In the same way that 'they' have created a society driven by consumerism, so football has reflected that.

Like Biscuit, I admire the Germans and it's up to us to do something about the money in football, but perhaps we all need to look a little deeper and ask ourselves how much of the problem is in our own behaviour and actions?
 


Daddies_Sauce

Falmer WSL, not a JCL
Jun 27, 2008
885
Arsenal's preposterous 'cheapest' ticket epitomises immoral imperative | Football | guardian.co.uk

In the first lesson of A-level economics, you learn there are two things that people continue wanting more of, even as price climbs: addictive goods and status-maximising goods. And football, of course, ticks both boxes.

This weekend Arsenal, originators of the Premier League's first £100 matchday ticket will bring in a new pricing plan, under which the cheapest seat for big matches is £62. Sixty-two pounds. Six thousand, two hundred cola bottles. They're not alone in fleecing fans. A season ticket at Chelsea, behind the goal, is £890. At QPR, an away ticket is £50, one at Liverpool last weekend was £48.

Arsenal argue that their new pricing structure is what fans want – and no doubt there are tens of thousands with the relevant bank statement already framed on their walls – and mitigated by reduced prices for games deemed less attractive, starting at £35. Perhaps a slap round the face is better than a boot to the solar plexus, but still – that's a lot of money to watch a game of football.

There was a time when loyalty to a club was measured by a single aspect: how many games you went to. Yet that is no longer the case – unless, by curious coincidence, every time-served supporter and every young hopeful has the disposable income to finance their fix, or parents with a particularly heavy purse.

Part of the pantomime "it's behind you" football crowd patter is to insult clubs with small followings, but no more; now the joke's on those who go, not those ensconced in the pub or sofa, saying what they like, alongside who they like, drinking what they like.

Last night Newcastle United took only a few hundred to Manchester United, and an entire tier for home support was also closed. Reserve sides playing in a reserve competition, yes, but in theory it shouldn't matter: "Are my club playing? Yes, I'm there". But at £43?

Sometimes market forces work to the benefit of supporters – but only on the clubs' terms. Once Arsène Wenger started using the League Cup to play youngsters, Arsenal significantly reduced prices. Similarly Manchester United write to schools all over the country offering cheap tickets for European games, not as a favour, but as a financial imperative – and contacting those well outside the Greater Manchester area raises a different moral issue.

None of this is what those who set up our various football institutions had in mind. They wanted a place for like-minded individuals to socialise and play sport, something to give a sense of belonging; a club. They were founded for the benefit of these people and their communities, and the supporters who emerged as a consequence are the people with time, hope and love to invest in them.

Clubs would not exist without fans. They would cease to exist without them. And they must not operate independently of them. Thus there exists a moral duty to protect and facilitate this ethos, and a social responsibility to those it represents.

We hear plenty about a generation of kids without identity, with no sense of belonging. Twenty years ago, they could turn up at their local football club and for very little money, enjoy the emotions, sensitivities, experiences, and friendships that come with following a football team. No longer.

The problem, of course, is that we're bereft of reliable authority; in 2011 Uefa moved the Champions League final to a weekend, to enable families to go, then priced tickets so prohibitively. The FA allowed Spurs to float on the stock exchange, the Glazer family to take £256m out of Manchester United and Thaksin Shinawatra to buy Manchester City. The government did nothing.

So it's down to the fans themselves. As we've learnt, painfully and once again through the results of the Hillsborough inquiry, some things are more important than parochial rivalry, and this is another aspect; far less significant, but an aspect nonetheless. So support Supporters Direct, join the Football Supporters' Federation, and take direct action.


I love our club for what we had, what we have been through and where we are now, I love driving or walking on Saturday and Sunday mornings and as you pass parks, everywhere around our city there is the next generation running around, kicking balls, a sea of small blue and white stripes mingled with black and green stripes, I hope we never price out the community.
 






sir albion

New member
Jan 6, 2007
13,055
SWINDON
Short career my arse,still 35 years left to earn money after they,ve made millions playing football.

Really hope all supporters get together one day and protest,it's not right that clubs are put into jeopardy and the hard working fans are ripped off by doing something they love,the players are the only winners and it's becoming a joke.
 


HawkTheSeagull

New member
Jan 31, 2012
9,122
Eastbourne
So for roughly the German fans pay for an away ticket - its what we pay for 2 pies and 2 pints each home game - madness.

Shows how much we are prepared to pay here too - respect for the Germans for putting their foot down.
 


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