Ticket prices are on the rise again come next season.
Arsenal have announced yesterday on their website that ticket prices for the 2024/25 season will be increased as they look to stamp out ticket touting and other problems revolving around match day tickets and memberships.
The club have come out and said that general admission season tickets and match-by-match tickets will increase as of next season by 6% in the lower tier and 4% in the upper tier. After a lot of drama with tickets this season, and with the tickets increasing last season after we had such a good run, it leaves the question as to where and when does this stop?
Arsenal made a long statement explaining all the changes on their website but here a quick run-down of what they’ve said “Our ambition is to continue competing at the highest level and investing in our teams in an environment where costs continue to rise. We are also continuing to make investments to improve the matchday experience for our supporters at Emirates Stadium”.
“As a result of the additional fixtures and the ticket price increase, season ticket holders in the Upper Tier will pay an additional £113 on average for their season ticket, with those in the Lower Tier paying an average of £103 more than this season”.
“As General Admission season ticket holders are owed the difference between a category A and category B game following all three 2023/24 UEFA Champions League Group Stage fixtures being categorised as Bs, the actual increased outlay for renewing season ticket holders will be an additional £73.68 on Upper Tier and £72.58 on Lower Tier. These increases are based on average Upper and Lower Tier season tickets”.
“Club Level season tickets will go up by 6% for those with seats in the Halfway Line or Midfield price categories and those seated in a Behind Goal or Corner seat will increase by 8%. Seasonal Dining prices will increase by 8%”.
Which has left a lot of fans, including the AST (Arsenal’s Supporters Trust) and myself baffled by this decision. The AST had asked the club to put a freeze on ticket prices but have obviously been ignored. Not only that, but the senior citizen discount that was around has now disappeared and it’s left a lot of Arsenal fans feeling wronged and less valued, especially the older group of supporters.
Playing devil’s advocate here, the price of everything is rising in the UK and inflation is at an all-time high, everything is beginning to cost more which means it’s costing more to run things on a match day. And of course there are problems with tickets touting and such, but it does feel like if they can do it for this season and next season, what’s stopping them from continuing to rise the prices the more successful we become?
It works out to around £3 more per ticket and it doesn’t seem like much when you look at it in that way, but it’s still a massive set back in my opinion. Hopefully we as fans and the AST can come to some sort of agreement where fans are put first, as we are the backbone of this club.
I’m sure there will be plenty of opinions but for me, it’s not a good look and the club should be looking after their supporters better.
What’s your thoughts Gooners?
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