GLF64:Gavin does his sums.
The Costs of Football
The arrangements for last month's cup semi-final replay between Hibs and Dunfermline showed how little attention is given to the plight of supporters facing massive costs to watch their team.
A good chance to see your team reach a cup final should attract a bumper crowd.Everyone knew it was ridiculous playing the match at Hampden,making it all ticket and keeping prices the same at £18-25 for an extra game that no-one budgets for,which is live on TV,going head-to-head with AC Milan v Man Utd.And the crowd was under 8,500,far less than you would get for an SPL game at Easter Road.
But no-one was prepared to take responsibility for the daft decisions-the SFA claimed the clubs had agreed to the details while they pleaded ignorance.There has been a bit of a U-turn on the cost of watching football in England recently with many Championship clubs freezing prices and some Premiership clubs cutting theirs.So is there any prospect of that happening in Scotland?Not much.
I had a look back at a programme from 20 years ago that had a list of gate prices for the 1987/88 season.Since 1987 the cost of living has doubled,according to government stats,while average earnings have done slightly better but more or less doubled.But the price of watching Motherwell has for some people increased by about 600%.A season ticket main stand for the 1987/88 season cost £80,while in 2006/07 it cost £345,more than four times greater.And if you were going to a one-off Old Firm game at Fir Park the price rose from £4.20 to £24,almost 600%.A season ticket for the terracing cost £50-one-fifth of the current price for the cheapest seats in the East Stand,while there was about a 600% rise in a one-off admission fee for the cheapest ticket - from £2.70 to £16.
As we all know, Motherwell are one of the cheapest teams to watch in the SPL so the increase will no doubt be far greater elsewehere with Celtic and Rangers now charging £24-25 to sit in a corner and be at the mercy of power-crazed stewards. But crowds in the SPL are not really suffering yet - it's falling crowds in the Premiership that have prompted some clubs to slash their prices. Wigan - forever in the shadow of the rugby league team - cut some tickets to £15 a game. Blackburn have cut season ticket prices for next season by about 30%, £399 for the most expensive and £249 for the cheapest. But they can afford to with the bumper TV deals the Premiership has recently struck - £625m for overseas rights alone. And prices in the English top flight had apparently risen by about 700% in the 15 years since it rebranded and saw the cash flow in from Sky. The price cuts are coming at the likes of Bolton and Wigan where fans do not earn as much cash as the London teams. The top price for one seat at Arsenal is a ridiculous £94 - more than a season ticket for the main stand at Fir Park 20 years ago.
West Ham chairman Eggert Magnusson recently said they would not reduce their prices if they were relegated because the average Hammers fan earns £60,000 a year.So that's what you get paid for a bit part in Eastenders.The Icelandic multi-millionaire then criticised the chairmen and chief executives at other Premiership clubs who had announced price reductions or freezes for next season as "politicians trying to make themselves popular".His complete lack of empathy with the ordinary man and his disregard for the bulk of his support would make him a more typical political candidate.
The SPL is not really suffering attendance wise though-Hearts,who have the cheapest prices courtesy of their complete disregard for the size of their debt,sell out week after week.Hibs are getting better crowds,the Old Firm still have their season ticket waiting lists.And the rest of the teams cannot really afford to cut prices without knowing there is going to be an upsurge in fans to compensate.The 12 clubs are about £100m in debt all in and have to compete with the Sky-subsidised wage deals on offer down south.Fans are still paying for mismanagement in the early years of the SPL.Aberdeen have expressed frustration over their inability to increase crowds despite challenging for second place and we have hardly had a bumper year crowd wise,but there is no widespread desertion.
There are one-offs like St Mirren reducing tickets to a maximum of a tenner for their game against Dunfermline.But until-and if-attendances start to fall I doubt we will see any real or relative price cuts in the near future.
Gavin McCafferty
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