Ticket pricing lets the Premier league down
The Premier league is debatably the best league in the world along with the Liga BBVA and the Bundesliga. You could say that that it has the largest range of quality players across the entire division and not just near the top of the table, like with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. However, the factor off the pitch that let's the Premier league down is the pricing of tickets. In recent seasons, with Britain's economy and employment opportunities being unstable, some fans have been forced to give up their season tickets because of the owner's wanting the most out of the world's largest and watched sport. For example, Arsenal's most expensive matchday ticket for the 2014/15 season is £97. With the cost of travel included, Arsenal fans could be looking at spending near to £120 on one matchday! It seems that location is a factor that can relate to how a club charges for a match day ticket. You can watch Newcastle for £15 at St James' Park(which is surprising based on who owns the club and his attitude towards football).
In Germany, many clubs like Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund are mostly owned by the fans and many supporters of the two clubs say that you wouldn't get the same fans going to the game if you increased ticket prices. I can see how a club will increase the season ticket prices and matchday ticket prices if the team has a very successful season but I do not agree that ticket prices should be raised for the sake of money opportunities. Even in Portugal, the top clubs such as Benfica, FC Porto and Sporting Lisbon charge under £100 (€126) for a season ticket which is less than any club in Britain. They may not be big European clubs but they understand the value of the fans support. It does seem that football is being coming more of a business these days and I wonder just how long this argument goes on before a lot of supporters turn their back on football.
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