The high price point of football has been felt by fans for quite some time.
With fans being faced with extortionate merchandise prices, costly television subscriptions and sky-high ticket prices, thousands are feeling priced out of supporting their club, with many taking matters into their own hands and staging protests.
As clubs continue to roll out this season’s kits, ticket prices and multi-million-pound signings, many fans will be left scratching their heads as to why they’re left to foot the bill and how they can afford to support the club they love.
But with countless things to pay for, the burning question for many will be, just how much will you have to pay in total, and how big of a dent will that make in your pocket?
We crunched the numbers for you ahead of the upcoming season.
In our Cost Of A Premier League Football Fan Report, we’ve dug deep into the main expenses a typical football fan can expect to pay this upcoming season, and what it means for their bank balance.
To measure the seasons cost, we analysed six common football expenses for each club for the season:
● Minimum cost of an adult season ticket at each club for the 23/24 season
● Total cost of 12 months subscription to Sky Sports, BT (TNT Sports) and Amazon Prime
● Cost of away tickets for the season
● Cost of buying a replica shirt
● Cost of buying a match programme for each game
● Cost of away travel (train ticket prices – most common method of transport for away fans)
While the cost of a replica shirt, TV subscriptions and the minimum cost of an adult season ticket at each club is exactly as described, we gathered the cost of train ticket data by using Trainline ticket prices for the first Saturday of the Premier League season (Saturday 12th August) and basing it on all games kicking off at the standard 3pm.
To do this, we calculated the cost of every route a fan from each club will need to make throughout the season, from the city in which their club is based, to the train station or underground stop nearest to the away stadium they would be going to.
For the total cost of away tickets for the season, we based this off the maximum cap price of £30 for away games in the premier league, a measure brought in by clubs to attempt to curb the cost for fans.
To understand the total amount fans would spend buying a match programme for every game of the season, we found the price at each stadium and for each club, looked at the total away cost for fans of each club, and the cost of buying a programme at every home game.
We then compared this final figure to the average annual salary of each city/town each football club is based in, to work out just how much of your hard-earned money is being spent on supporting your club.
Where has your club placed in the Cost of a Premier League Football Fan table?
Cost of a Premier League Football Fan
Unsurprisingly, topping the tree of the most expensive football clubs to support is Newcastle and Bournemouth. The Geordies take the crown with fans being saddled with an eye-watering total cost of £4,243.48 and spending almost 13% of their annual salary following the toon. A particular sore point for Newcastle fans is the astronomical bill for away travel this season of £3,751.60, having to cover over 4,000 miles over the course of the season.
Bournemouth fans are also victim to a hefty travel cost of £3,408.40 for the season while also being asked for a minimum of £595 for a season ticket. In total, supporters of the south coast club could be paying just under £4,000 for the season, working out at 12% of the average annual salary.
The surprise package in the top four most expensive clubs to support this season is Premier League new boys, Luton Town, with a total cost of £3,459.38.
At the other end, the table makes for pleasant reading for West Ham United fans, with the data revealing that they are the cheapest premier league club to support, thanks to the league’s cheapest season ticket of just £310, working out at just over £16 per game at the London stadium. Hammers fans are faced with a total bill of £2,588.48 for the season.
West Ham are joined at the bottom by fellow Londoners, Brentford and Crystal Palace, with expenses for fans being kept comfortably under £3,000 for the season.
What is the biggest bugbear cost for fans?
Aside from near-extortionate travel costs, the cost that perhaps leaves the most sour taste in the mouth of all supporters, is the near £500 TV bill.
Despite accounting for as much as 19% of a season’s total costs, supporters still won’t be able to watch every game their team plays, if they buy all of the relevant subscriptions.
This has driven the demand for illegal streaming of games over the past few years with the leading cause being that football is becoming unaffordable.
Are you struggling to clear your debt?
If you’re struggling with your finances and are worried about falling into debt, you’re not alone. Get in touch with the team at Creditfix where we can discuss the options available to take back control over your debt, including an IVA, DMP, or DRO.
Cost Of A Premier League Football Fan – Interactive League Table
Creditfix has created an interactive Cost of a Football Fan League Table so you can easily see how much it typically costs to follow each premier league team, and where your team ranks in the league table for things season tickets, matchday programmes, and away travel.
You can find our interactive Cost of a Football Fan League Table here:
Methodology
We analysed the costs of being a football fan for all 20 Premier League clubs.
To measure the seasons cost, we analysed six common football expenses for each club for the season:
● Minimum cost of an adult season ticket at each club for the 23/24 season
● Total cost of 12 months subscription to Sky Sports, BT (TNT Sports) and Amazon Prime
● Cost of away tickets for the season
● Cost of buying a replica shirt
● Cost of buying a match programme for each game
● Cost of away travel (Train ticket prices using Trainline – most common method of transport for away fans. Trainline prices are based on Saturday 12th August for a 3 pm kickoff)
Once we got the total cost, we then compared that to ONS Regional salary data to work out how much of fans’ annual salary is being spent supporting their club.
