Football fans defying the credit crunch, Channel 4 News survey shows

Last Modified: 25 Jul 2008
By: Lewis Hannam

What credit crunch? Season ticket sales for Premiership and Championship clubs are holding up, despite the economic downturn.

Football fans are refusing to sacrifice supporting their team in the wake of the credit crunch, a survey by Channel 4 News online has revealed.

Despite gloomy economic forecasts and spiralling costs more than half the clubs in the top two divisions of English football are reporting buoyant season ticket sales.

How many season tickets has your club sold?

Analysts say the findings - more than 607,104 season tickets have been sold already - demonstrate that fans will give up many things before they sacrifice being able to watch their team.

However, some fans fear the sales of season tickets - which can cost up to £4,000 each - show that football has become the domain of "affluent" middle classes, with traditional working class supporters priced out of the game.

Channel 4 News online contacted all 44 clubs in England's top two divisions for figures on season ticket sales.

Of the 36 that provided figures, 19 were showing year-on-year increases, nine had stayed about the same, and only eight - including the three teams relegated to the Championship - showed signs of decreases.

It remains to be seen whether the eight who did not reply to our survey will record increases or falls.

Case study: Norwich City

Ticket sales at Norwich City have been one of the great footballing success stories of the past decade.

Details of the bumper sales came to light as high street stores reported their worst sales in 20 years, and the housing market hit record lows.

"I think what this shows is that football, while not being recession-proof, is to a certain extent recession-resistant," said Dan Jones, a partner in the Sports Business Group at auditors Deloitte & Touche.

He said: "Football is a special thing and it gets people through their working week, whether you work on a building site or in an office.

"Fans will give up a lot of things before they let go of their season tickets."

Interactive map

Use our interactive map to find out how many season tickets your club - and its rivals - have sold so far. Just click on the map below.

While the ballooning value of television contracts has swelled Premiership clubs' coffers in recent years, matchday revenue - of which ticket sales are by far the biggest component - makes up 35 per cent of revenue in 2006/7, a total of £540m.

Such revenue has risen from an average ticket price of £19 in 1997/98 to £35 in 2005/6, but Mr Jones said despite much criticism clubs had been sensitive to changes in the economy, amid the spiralling cost of living.

He said: "Some clubs are a little more sensitive on this issue than people think, they have frozen ticket prices or introduced new initiatives - such as interest-free repayments - to help.

'Fans will give up a lot of things before they let go of their season tickets.'
Dan Jones, Deloitte & Touche

"They have acknowledged the fact that increased revenue from TV allows them to do this."

Yet a recent survey found that Premier League clubs had increased the average price of a mid-range season ticket by 7.2 per cent. FA Cup winners Portsmouth were found to be among the worst culprits, with increases of up to 17.5 per cent.

The average cost of a mid-price Premier League season ticket was found to be £590.

Jon Keen, deputy chair of the Football Supporters Federation, was less positive about the state of the game's support.

He said: "The mistake is to just use the number of season ticket holders as the only measure.

"Because in many cases the number of young season ticket holders is actually falling, the average age of a season ticket holder in the Premiership is moving towards 43 or 44.

"More affluent people are going and the demographic is changing.

"With a whole generation of supporters being priced out of the game it's no wonder that the atmosphere is visible declining at many matches.

He said the cheapest match seat at Arsenal in 1991/2 was £10; which linked to inflation would make it £15.44 today - instead it is £32, for the lowest category of games.

However, he said bumper season ticket sales in the Championship - Derby County, Norwich City and Sheffield United all have sales in excess or around the 20,000 mark - were testament to an open and competitive division.

He said: "There's no doubt that from a supporter's point of view it is the league to be in.

"The matches are difficult to predict and you don't have the hype of the Premiership - anyone can beat anyone.

"Just look at the odds, Spurs are given about the same chance to win the Premiership as Blackpool are given to win the Championship - and Blackpool are bottom of the betting list for the division."