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Saturday 14 February 2015

The £5.136bn Question on Affordable Football

Richard Scudamore's announcement of the new Premier League television deal this week was carried live on many national television and radio news channels, a sign of what a big story it was going to be.

Hours of phone-in time and column inches have been filled since with debate about the sums of money involved, how much will filter down to the grassroots of the game and whether the £5.136bn figure is 'obscene'.

In terms of ticket prices, supporters' groups have been quick to call for reductions in the cost of watching Premier League matches.

The aim of this blog is to highlight those occasions when good value is available at any level of the game and the top-flight has not featured too much in the 18 months or so that I have been writing it, aside from Stoke City's season-ticket price freeze and some of the work done on reciprocal price deals for away supporters, especially by Newcastle United.

Overall, however, I still feel that it remains for clubs themselves to set prices and determine whether or not they can use the increased riches available to ensure full-houses in their stadium.

Earlier this week I paid £22 to watch Coventry City's home game against Scunthorpe United at the Ricoh Arena. It's a personal opinion that that is too expensive (a crowd of 6,885 would seem to reflect that although there are other issues surrounding the Sky Blues at present) but it was a personal choice to pay it and the price retains a relativity to watching Premier League football.

But, if a certain percentage of tickets in the top-flight were capped, for instance at £20, then that would increase the competitive disadvantage that teams underneath the Premier League operate at when they are more reliant on gate receipts as part of their overall income.

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