Former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein said English Premier League soccer teams risk forcing fans out of the sport by pushing up ticket prices.
Matchday prices at Arsenal, the 13-time English champions based in north London, are the highest in the league, with the most expensive coming in at £90 (US$141).
“I think they’ve reached a level now where you can’t put prices up because you can’t alienate the traditional fan.” Dein told delegates at the International Football Arena conference in Zurich on Monday. “You have to make football affordable.”
Arsenal’s matchday revenue, totaling around £3 million a game, represents 42 percent of the club’s annual revenue. Its new Emirates Stadium holds 60,000 supporters, 9,000 of whom are corporate seat-holders that account for £1.2 million each match day.
PRESSURES
Increasing wage levels and the effects of the credit crunch are increasing financial pressures in the world’s richest soccer league.
It had revenue exceeding £1.5 billion in 2006-2007, accountant Deloitte & Touche LLP said in May. However, clubs spent £969 million on wages, a 13 percent increase on the previous year, and are likely to have topped £1 billion for the first time in 2007-2008.
Dein said that while the higher-paying supporters subsidize tickets for the rest, the competition among teams in the Premier League means most of the revenue is spent on improving squads.
“There’s a huge danger you are cutting off the pipeline which is necessary for the next generation,” said Dein, who left Arsenal last year.
TOP LEVEL
“I think frankly we’ve reached the top level now with prices and clubs really have to have a look under the microscope and say, ‘We really can’t charge anymore,’” he said.
The Premier League says occupancy rates at its stadiums are running at 93 percent. Critics point out that most supporters are older, with an average age of 42.
“The league’s own figures, and a simple look around the grounds, show that the crowds at the top clubs have aged dramatically,” said David Conn, author of The Beautiful Game? “The grounds used to be teeming with kids, but now fans are bald and wear glasses.’’
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