The Cost of Football is Reachs annual investigation into how much each club in the top four divisions of English football charges its fans. Its the largest of its kind in the country, and looks at three key items – season tickets, match tickets and shirt prices. And for the first time this year it also focuses on the prices of top category Cat A matches.
It found that while some clubs have frozen ticket prices amidst the cost of living crisis, overall things are getting more expensive.
The average cost of season tickets, match tickets and replica shirts have all increased to record levels.
The most expensive season tickets cost 3,000 each. Big-game match tickets at one club start at 70 apiece and cost as much as 240 at another. And three clubs are charging 60 for kids replica shirts.
You can see how each club compares against the others in their division using our gadget:
The cost of Manchester City&aposs most and least expensive season tickets have gone up this season.
The most expensive that the club offers have increased from 980.00 last season to 1,030.00 this season.
The cheapest, meanwhile, have from from 299.00 to 385.00. That&aposs an increase of 29%.
The average cost for the cheapest adult season ticket at each Premier League and EFL club is now 399.88. Thats the highest on record.
The average is also at record high levels for each division – 535.13 in the Premier League, 377.04 in the Championship, 368.34 in League One, and 341.56 in League Two.
The most expensive season tickets that clubs offer cost a record average of 610.15 across all four divisions. In the Premier League the average is 1,042.25, in the Championship its 581.73, in League One its 479.84, and in League Two its 407.61.
Fulham offer the most expensive season ticket in the country at a whopping 3,000.00. Thats followed by Tottenham Hotspur (2,015.00), Arsenal (1,895.50), West Ham (1,620.00), and Manchester City (1,030.00).
The cheapest adult season ticket for Arsenal costs 973.00, which is more than the equivalent at any other club.
Tottenham charge the next most for their cheapest ticket (807.00) followed by Liverpool (699,00).
Single adult match tickets for league games without membership discounts across the top four divisions range from 9.00 at Liverpool to an eye watering 240.00 at Chelsea.
The cheapest tickets that clubs offer across all four divisions cost an average of 24.29 each. That&aposs excluding family area tickets, which often require the purchase of junior ticket as well. The most expensive, meanwhile, cost an average of 40.32. However, a total of 21 clubs, including Manchester City, havent produced a publicly available list of prices for each match category.
They are – Burnley, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Luton Town, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Ipswich Town, Queens Park Rangers, Sunderland, Watford, Bristol Rovers, Charlton Athletic, Fleetwood Town, Port Vale, Shrewsbury Town, and Wigan Athletic.
Clubs often adopt a tiered pricing structure for different categories of matches.
The top tier, which in this project weve named Cat A, are usually against the divisions top sides, or a local rival, and as such are more expensive.
Arsenal have the most expensive starting point for Cat A matches, with tickets starting at 70.00 each.
Tickets at the Gunners go up to 103.00 for the big games, which used to be the most expensive in the country.
However, Chelsea are now offering match tickets for as much as 240.00 in their premium Westview area. The most expensive normal tickets at Stamford Bridge cost 76.00 each.
The cost of an adult Manchester City replica top is now 75.00 on the club&aposs online store.
That may not quite be the most expensive in the division, but it&aposs an increase of 5.00 from last year, and 15.00 over five years.
Junior shirts also increased by 5.00 and now cost 60.00 each. That&aposs the joint most expensive kids top in the country.
The average cost of an adult replica top across the top four divisions is now 54.14, the highest on record.
Premier League shirts cost an average of 68.37 each, which is also a record.
In the Championship the average is 54.50, in League One its 49.48, and in League Two its 46.98.
Arsenal, Fulham, Manchester United, and Tottenham have the most expensive standard adult replica shirts at 80.00 each.
The cost of junior shirts has also increased.
The average across all four divisions is now 41.98, while in the Premier League its as high as 51.21.
Three Premier League clubs charge 60.00 for their junior shirts – Manchester City, Tottenham, and West Ham.
