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Who gets the most from match day revenue?

17 of the 20 Premier League clubs have raised season ticket prices ahead of the 2023/24 season with five of them pushing through double-digit increases: Nottingham Forest 20%, Fulham 18%, Aston Villa 15%, Everton 10% and Bournemouth 10%.  As a result of the ticket price increases, this will be the most expensive season ever for match going fans.

Seven clubs charge more than £1,000 for their most expensive season ticket, though three of them are in a class of their own, led by Fulham, who charge an almost unbelievable £3,000 for a Platinum ticket in the rebuilt Riverside Stand. This is around three times as much as fans pay at Anfield, Old Trafford or the Etihad.

The next highest ticket prices can be found in North London: £2.025 at Tottenham’s new, state-of-the-art stadium and £1,784 to watch Arsenal (though that also includes three Champions League games).

However, there is another way of looking at this, which is that the high prices paid by the “prawn sandwich brigade” sometimes subsidise cheaper tickets elsewhere in the stadium.

Fans at the recently promoted clubs tend to pay the least: Burnley £500, Luton Town £510 and Sheffield United £529.

Most clubs have justified their price increases with the significant increase in their operating costs. For example, Liverpool said that these had grown by nearly 40%, while their utility costs had doubled in the last season alone.

Match day revenue still matters

Although match day revenue has increasingly become the poor relation in terms of revenue, as broadcasting and commercial have both surged, it is still important to football clubs. Indeed, the £750m income generated in 2021/22 in the Premier League is the highest ever, £69m (10%) more than the pre-pandemic £681m peak in 2018/19.

In contrast, Championship match day revenue of £124m was a fair bit lower than the all-time high of £161m five years ago. This highlights the importance of the club mix, as England’s second tier included some big clubs 2016/17 that attracted higher crowds (Aston Villa, Leeds United and Newcastle United).

Over the last decade the revenue mix at Premier League clubs has significantly changed with match day reducing from 23% to just 14%.  Although match day has a higher share of total revenue in the Championship than the top flight, it is still the least significant revenue stream with 18%, having dropped from 29% in the last decade.

Spurs and United do well

Among the Premier League’s Big Six clubs, the major winners in terms of growth of match day income are Tottenham and Liverpool, who have both benefited from substantial increases. In the last decade, Spurs’ match day revenue has shot up by £66m (163%) from £40m to £106m, thanks to their new stadium, while the expansion of Liverpool’s Main Stand at Anfield has resulted in their income more than doubling from £45m to £95m.

Manchester United still have the highest match day revenue for the time being with £111m, but the gap to Tottenham has been virtually eliminated, narrowing from £69m in 2012/13 to just £5m in 2021/22. As Spurs played in the more lucrative Champions League in 2022/23, as opposed to the Europa Conference League the previous season, it is likely that they have overtaken United since then.

Although it may not be a major factor in the Premier League, match day income is still of particular importance for some clubs. In fact, two of them generated more than £100m in 2021/22, namely Manchester United £111m and Tottenham £106m.

As is often the case, there is a sizeable gap between the Big Six and the rest of the league, though West Ham’s £41m, boosted by the move to the London Stadium has moved them a little closer.

Two clubs only received £7m (Burnley and Watford), which means that United, Spurs and Arsenal all earned more in two games than they managed to generate in an entire season, highlighting the stark disparity between the big boys and the rest.

Match day revenue is obviously lower in the Championship with Nottingham Forest leading the way in 2021/22 with £8.7m, followed by Sheffield United £7.1m, Fulham £6.8m and Middlesbrough £6.4m. Note: Derby County have not published accounts since 2017/18, when they reported £9.1m, one of the highest in the division.

Six Premier League clubs get more than £1,000 a season from each fan on average. The highest amounts are earned by Tottenham £1,878 and Chelsea £1,835, which is partly due to the London premium, whereby clubs can charge more due to the higher income levels in the capital.

The impact of Arsenal not qualifying for Europe in 2021/22 can be clearly seen, as their £79m match day income that season was their lowest for some time. They would normally generate around £100m, so they dropped £21m.

Attendances hit a high

More people in the stadium means more money, so its good news for Premier League clubs that attendances are at their highest ever level. They averaged around 36,000 in the five seasons between 2012/13 and 2016/17, then rose to over 39,000 in 2021/22 before breaking through the 40,000 barrier for the first time in 2022/23.

This means that Premier League clubs feel emboldened to raise ticket prices, as not only have attendances held up during the financial crisis, but they have actually increased, despite the number of televised games never being higher.

More people in the stadium means more money, so its good news for Premier League clubs that attendances are at their highest ever level. They averaged around 36,000 in the five seasons between 2012/13 and 2016/17, then rose to over 39,000 in 2021/22 before breaking through the 40,000 barrier for the first time in 2022/23.

This means that Premier League clubs feel emboldened to raise ticket prices, as not only have attendances held up during the financial crisis, but they have actually increased, despite the number of televised games never being higher.

Attendances in the Championship are also seriously impressive with seven clubs averaging more than 20,000, led by Sunderland’s incredible 38,480, which was nearly 10,000 more than Sheffield United 28,746, followed by Norwich City 26,069 and Middlesbrough 26,012.

Football’s huge popularity can be seen by the fact that stadiums are rarely far off capacity, especially in the Premier League. All but one club filled more than 90% of available seats in 2022/23 with three above 99%: West ham 99.9%, Arsenal 99.7% and Brentford 99.0%.

Although match day revenue is clearly not as important to football clubs as broadcasting and commercial, it can still make a difference, so it is understandable that clubs will try to maximise their money here.  That said, whether the blunt instrument of raising ticket prices is the best approach is more debatable, both from a financial and moral perspective.

 

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