Cost of Football Investigation ranks ticket prices and soaring TV subscriptions

The Cost of Football project, carried out by Reach's Data Unit, has looked into how much it costs fans to follow their team.

The investigation looked into the prices of match tickets, season tickets, replica tops, club memberships, and TV subscriptions for the 92 clubs in the top four divisions of English football.

Key findings from the investigation include:

76% of the clubs either dropped or froze the prices of their cheapest season tickets in 2021/22 compared to 2019/20. Those that did increase prices did so by an average of £41.68.

56% of clubs either froze or dropped their cheapest match ticket prices. Those that did increase them did so by an average of £4.97.

Research has looked at how much it costs football fans to follow their team up and down the country ( Image:

PA)

Premier League clubs now charge an average of £1,005.00 for their most expensive season tickets.

The most well-off fans could spend over £3,000 on season tickets, shirts, and TV subscriptions depending on the club they support.

The average price of a season ticket in the top four divisions is £344.76 for the cheapest categories and £603.78 for the most expensive categories.

A standard adult replica top costs £48.93 and a junior one £38.27.

TV subscriptions cost between £47.99 and £71.97 a month.

SEASON TICKETS

Clubs in the top four divisions charge an average of £344.76 for the cheapest adult season tickets that they offer this season.

That's down from £377.95 in 2019/20, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

As fans might expect, the cost of season tickets varies by division.

Premier League clubs charge an average of £485.70 for their cheapest adult season tickets, down from £524.30 before the pandemic.

In the Championship it's £350.28 (down from £359.71), in League One it's £303.43 (down from (£334.24), and in League Two it's £263.14 (down from £316.13).

The top priced season tickets at each top flight club, meanwhile, cost an average of £995.80.

In the Championship they average £621.90, in League One £432.44, and in League Two £422.65.

Prices have risen over the course of the last decade.

In 2012/13, the earliest season for which we have data, the average cost of clubs' cheapest season tickets was £321.20 according to the BBC 's separate Price of Football study.

That means prices have gone up by £26.37 in that time, which is less than the rate of inflation.

Had prices gone up in-line with inflation the average season ticket would now cost £376.21 as opposed to £344.76.

Tottenham Hotspur have the most expensive season ticket in the country.

The top priced adult season ticket at Spurs cost £2,223.

That's followed by Peterborough United, who are offering a season ticket which costs £2,099.

However, that's for a ticket in the poshest of the Posh's posh seats.

Peterborough's most expensive "normal" season ticket costs £529.

Arsenal have the next most expensive season ticket at £2,013, followed by Manchester City (£1,410), West Ham (£1,200), and Southampton (£1,149).

The average cost of each club's cheapest adult match tickets is £22.86 this season.

That's up slightly from £21.69 in 2019/20.

As with season tickets, the average price of match tickets varies by division.

The average of each Premier League club's cheapest tickets is £29.63, an increase of £3.28 from 2019/20.

In the Championship it's £23.78 (an increase of £0.68), in League One it's £21.00 (an increase of £0.57), and in League Two it's £18.26 (an increase of £0.59).

When it comes to clubs' top priced match tickets, the average across all four divisions is £36.00.

In the Premier League the average is £63.06, in the Championship it's £36.50, in League One it's £26.40, and in League Two it's £22.84.

The cheapest ticket prices have only increased by an average of £3.24 each since the 2012/13 campaign.

Premier League tickets cost an average of £28.30 in 2012/13 compared to £29.63 this season.

In the Championship they went from an average of £21.30 to £23.78, from £18.33 to £21.00 in League One, and from £17.40 to £18.26 in League Two.

Tottenham Hotspur have the most expensive match ticket in the country.

The top priced adult ticket for Spurs costs £98.00.

That puts it just ahead of Arsenal at £97.00, followed by West Ham at £80.00, Chelsea at £76.00, and Southampton at £69.00.

MEMBERSHIPS

Getting match tickets for some clubs isn't as straightforward as logging onto a ticketing site and picking whichever match takes your fancy.

Some clubs make fans purchase memberships before they can access tickets.

At others, the early access to tickets that memberships provide mean that games often sell out before tickets go on sale to non-members.

As a result, memberships aren't technically required to purchase tickets, but in reality they are.

The Cost of Football project only has data for Premier League memberships.

The most expensive of those is Leeds United's My Leeds + membership, which costs £75.

Manchester United 's Premium membership costs £62.00, while Crystal Palace 's Gold membership costs £60.00.

Leeds also has the most expensive non-premium membership, with My Leeds costing £50.00.

REPLICA SHIRTS

A standard adult replica shirt costs £48.81 on average in the top four divisions of English football.

Much like with ticket prices, the average price drops in each tier of the pyramid, starting at £59.39 in the Premier League, £49.83 in the Championship, £44.46 in League One, and £43.33 in League Two.

The current 20 top flight clubs charged an average of £47.00 for a shirt back in 2014/15, the earliest season for which figures are available.

On average Premier League fans are paying £59.39 for a replica shirt ( Image:

AFP via Getty Images)

Had they gone up in line with inflation, the average top would now cost £53.81, meaning that prices have risen above the rate of inflation.

Manchester City and Tottenham have the most expensive standard shirts in the country.

Both clubs charge £70.00 for a standard adult jersey on their respective online stores.

Manchester City, however, charge £110.00 for their "authentic" jersey, whereas Spurs charge £105.00.

Chelsea and Liverpool both charge £69.95 for their standard adult tops, and £104.95 and £99.95 respectively for their authentic tops.

TV SUBSCRIPTIONS

Watching football on TV could cost fans over £700 this season if they want access to all the games.

If fans want access to all the available matches they need subscriptions for Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon Prime.

The Cost of Football project found that getting the full range of sport channel subscriptions could set new customers back between £479.90 and £719.70 a season, depending on their TV provider.

The websites of four of the UK's major paid-for TV providers - Sky, Virgin, BT, and Talk Talk - were visited to see how much new customers would have to pay to add sports channels to a TV package.

Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon all hold live television rights to the Premier League ( Image:

PA)

The prices quoted in the study are only for the cost of adding sport channels, and don't include any other subscription charges. Some customers may be able to find better deals, such as those who are also signing up for broadband, or those that have been with the company for some years.

The cheapest deal found as part of the Data Unit's study was BT's Big Sport Package, which gets BT Sport and Sky Sport channels for £40.00 a month.

Add on the £7.99 monthly cost of Amazon Prime and that works out at £47.99 a month, or £479.90 over the 10-month long football season.

However, that package requires you to sign up for 24 months in total, so actually works out at £960.00 over the length of the contract, not including the Amazon Prime subscription.

BT also had the cheapest deal for those not wanting to sign up to a 24-month contract.

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BT customers can get BT Sport for £15.00 a month, and Sky Sports for £33.99 a month.

Add Amazon Prime to that and it works out at £56.98 a month, or £569.80 for the season.

Virgin Media were advertising BT Sport at £18.00 a month, and Sky Sports at £31.75 a month.

Together with Amazon Prime that comes to £57.74 a month, or £577.40 for the season.

Sky TV customers will pay £32.00 for Sky Sports, and £27.00 for BT Sport.

Together with Amazon that comes to £66.99 a month, or £669.90 a season.

Talk Talk, meanwhile, came in at £33.99 a month for Sky Sports and £29.99 for BT Sport, which works out as £71.97 a month, or £719.70 a season.