The Football League Reveals Average Ticket Price Is £14
For the first time, The Football League has revealed the average price paid per paying spectator at matches across its competition.
An analysis of the Official Gate Statements submitted by clubs to The Football League during the 2014/15 season has revealed that the average admission price paid was £14.08 per supporter.
In the Championship the average admission price paid was £15.65, while in League 1 and League 2 it was £11.72 and was £11.58, respectively.
Club Gate Statements reveal that clubs generated a combined gate revenue of more than £213m last season and sold more than 15.1m tickets. In addition to, and not included in, the above figures were a further 1.3m free admissions, with the overwhelming majority being young fans that were given the opportunity to experience live football for the first time.
The figures include the admission costs paid by season ticket holders, non-season ticket holders, supporters in corporate hospitality areas and away fans. It includes those paying adult and concessionary prices.
The Football League's Chief Executive, Shaun Harvey said: “These figures show that, on the whole, Football League clubs continue to offer value for money to their supporters.
“Ticket pricing will always be an emotive subject and any debate about whether fans are getting a good deal clearly has to take account of what fans are paying across the board rather than purely focusing on selected prices that they could be asked to pay in certain circumstances.
"Clubs offer a wide variety of ticket prices with the best value being offered to those home fans that commit to purchasing a season ticket or benefitting from a ticket promotion. As a result, season ticket holders now make up a greater proportion of crowds and account for 10 million of the 16 million plus admissions to Football League matches every season.
"The inevitable consequence of offering such good value to these fans at one end of the spectrum is that those fans at the other end, such as those paying on the day for a single match, will be asked to pay more.”
Morecambe General Manager Mark Dixon commented: “It is sometimes too easy to concentrate on the higher entrance prices charged via premium seating or corporate hospitality etc. The figures published yesterday show there have been significant strides made across the Football League to make our game more affordable to all fans. We welcome the transparency from the Football League on what has become one of the most talked about subjects on our terraces in our bars and on the internet forums. Morecambe’s average match day admission cost throughout the 2014/15 season was £10.79. We also gave away over 7,000 tickets through our ‘Kids go free at MFC’ initiative, local schools and the local junior football leagues. Working with our community partners; Centrica Energy, PYE Motors & Virgin Media we will continue to encourage as many young people as we can to attend the Club on match days.”