It was announced that West Ham will offer a new reduced starting season ticket price. 2016-17 season tickets will be available for purchase for as low as £289. (See Table 1 for a list of club season ticket prices) The new price will represent a 55% decrease from the previous year’s beginning price.
The drastic drop is due to two main factors. The first is West Ham’s new Olympic Stadium, which will seat 54, 016 people. West Ham’s vice chairman Karen Brady is quoted as saying,
It was a chance to increase revenue, invest in the team and improve our performance on the pitch, but without putting an extra financial supporters who already come to watch every home match.
The second is a record-breaking broadcasting and rights deal between Sky and BT Sports, which is valued at more than £5. billion. Some would argue that this welfare benefit to consumers is a result of a commercialization “revolution” that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s. (Alegi ) What has yet to be determined is to what extent this maneuver will place pressure on other leagues to lower their season ticket prices. Table 2 presents the responses of a couple of clubs that were surveyed regarding their pricing policy. Manchester City announced however that it would increase so of its season ticket packages by more than 100%, to cover its 6,000 seat stadium extension. The polar opposite methods by West Ham and Manchester City are financing construction projects demonstrates how crucial television and advertising revenue give clubs more flexibility.
Sources
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32399291
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32414093
http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9621692.ece/alternates/w620/PL-tix-14-15-prices.jpg
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3047814/Manchester-City-season-ticket-prices-DOUBLE-fans-hit-stadium-upgrade.html
Thanks for this post, Marquese. I thought that part of the response by Brunley to the premier league survey was particularly interesting–their reference to the need to “strike a balance between revenue to get a team on the pitch and affordability” seems like an issue that soccer clubs face everywhere. While the teams are obviously looking to expand and accommodate more advertising/TV revenue, it would be irresponsible for them to increase ticket prices to a point where their core fan bases could no longer afford to participate in the season as a whole. It seems to me that, in order to be successful, this process will need to happen slowly–in other words, teams would need to do small renovations over a long period of time to ensure that their investments can generate returns to fund the next phase (instead of placing the burden exclusively on season ticket holders).