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In numbers: English football's rising ticket prices

Bhargab Sarmah | Updated on: 14 February 2017, 5:38 IST

On Saturday, 6 February, thousands of Liverpool fan staged a mass walkout from the club's Premier League home game against Sunderland at Anfield. The walkout, during the 77th minute of the game, was in protest against rising ticket prices at the club.

The Liverpool supporters have now been joined by the influential Football Supporters' Federation (FSF), who are now looking at the prospect of a mass-boycott, involving fans of all clubs in the top-flight.

In Germany, meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund fans protested against rising ticket prices by throwing tennis balls into the pitch during the club's away game in Stuttgurt.

While Dortmund fans' anger has highlighted that rise in ticket prices is not an England-only phenomena, the English game is, for the first time, facing the threat of a mass movement against club owners.

With the involvement of organisations, things are likely to escalate in the coming weeks.

Here are some numbers which highlight the ticket-pricing problem currently plaguing football in England:

(Note: On Wednesday, 10 February, Liverpool Football Club, on the aftermath of the supporters' protests, decided to roll back the new ticket prices, and freeze the same for the next two years.)

99
million pounds

The guaranteed bare-minimum amount of revenue the bottom-placed club in the Premier League is expected to earn from next season because of the new television rights deal worth 5.1 billion pounds.

As per BBC, this increase in revenue means that Premier League clubs could let in supporters for free next season and still earn the same revenue as this season.

800,000
overseas fans

A total of 800,000 overseas fans visited England to watch Premier League games in 2014, contributing a whopping 684 million pounds to the economy, as per a study by Office for National Statistics.

Twenty-time league champions Manchester United have accounted for a little over one-eighth of these fans.

This number is expected to continue rising, leading to fears among local football fans about a further rise in prices.

21.49
pounds

The average cost of the cheapest match-day ticket across the top four tiers of English league football (Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two).

This figure was revealed by BBC's 'Price of Football' report, a comprehensive study on ticket price-rise in England.

13
per cent

The percentage of rise in ticket prices in England's top four divisions from 2011 to 2014. In contrast, the cost of living in England increased by 6.8 per cent during the same period.

97
pounds

The cost of the most expensive match-day ticket at London-based Arsenal Football Club. This is also the most expensive match-day ticket in the Premier League.

In contrast, German champions Bayern Munich sell season tickets at 104.48 pounds, while current European champions Barcelona charge a little under 74 pounds and a membership fee of 130 pounds for a season ticket.

2013
pounds

The cost of the most expensive season ticket in England. Arsenal, unsurprisingly, is the club where you can shell out this amount for a season ticket.

The club also offers season tickets at a cheaper rate of 1,014 pounds, which is still nearly 10 times the cost of a season ticket at FC Bayern Munich.

294
pounds

The cost of the cheapest season ticket at any Premier League club (Stoke City). Stoke are one of the few English clubs to have frozen ticket prices for a long period of time, which has helped shield the club from the angst of fans to a large extent.

First published: 10 February 2016, 7:56 IST
 
Bhargab Sarmah @BhargabSarmah

An avid fan of the beautiful game since his childhood, Bhargab has been writing about football in India for the last three years. He supports I-League club Shillong Lajong, as well as English giants Manchester United. Having recently graduated with a degree in commerce, he now writes about football and other sports at Catch.