The BBC’s Price of Football annual survey was released late last night, and their investigation shows that the price of Scottish season tickets has fallen for 2016/17.
Whilst not every club in the Scottish pyramid has cut prices at the season ticket level, due to a mix of cuts, introductions of new low price season cards and freezing prices compared to inflation – it does mean the Scottish game is cheaper than last year.
In fact across the Scottish pyramid the BBC say costs have fallen in the Premiership by 5.5% – however they do point out that figure is heavily influenced by Hamilton Academical cutting the costs of seats at New Douglas Park by £200 to £150 to boost gates.
However, costs in the Championship are slightly up for the year with Hibernian remaining the most expensive for tickets and catering.
League One sees a drop similar to the Premiership and League Two costs actually fell by almost 20%.
The BBC have SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster responding to their investigation, and he explained.
‘All 42 SPFL clubs work tirelessly to ensure they have a pricing structure which provides as much value for money as possible, especially for families to help attract the next generation of supporters. Reductions in ticket prices help increase accessibility to Scottish football in all corners of the country and all clubs are to be congratulated for their ongoing efforts in this area.’
He added.
‘In season 2015-16 some 4.18m supporters attended 860 SPFL league games – up from 4.12m in 2014-15 and 4.06m the year before – and we anticipate that trend continuing this season.’
The other headlines from their 2016 research indicate that a full matchday experience at Premiership level on average – ticket, cup of tea, pie and programme – will cost £28.29. An increase of only £2.81 from 2011 levels.
However, as many would expect, a trip to Celtic or Rangers for the Old Firm clashes can cost up to £49 for the ticket alone.
At Championship level the average falls to £24.03 with a range of ticket prices from expensive (Hibernian) £22, down to cheapest (Raith Rovers) £15.
The research also shows that since the league restructuring, more than 300,000 fans have attended the play off matches – that so far have involved 26 clubs.
In a quick comparison with the English Premier League, the cheapest English pie is £3.49 whereas Scotland boasts only £2.18, and on a catering front, Forfar Athletic beat all competitors with a pie for £1.20 and tea for £0.80.
The BBC also point out that replica shirts have on average fallen across the board as well, but there are ranges here.
Former Lowland League side Edinburgh City have the cheapest shirts in Scotland and beat most south of the border sides, with a price of £19.99 for juniors and £29.99 for adults – whereas – Ayr United are the highest priced at £45 juniors and £55 adults apparently.
More than Celtic the BBC point out.
As the data is sifted through, the above link will lead you to club specific information, but as ever, Vital Football will give a club by club breakdown in the coming days.
