· December 3 2024, 18:30
Mike Ashley froze a large chunk of season ticket prices as one of the very few positive things he did as custodian of Newcastle United.
However, the last batch of those frozen tickets are about to thaw and Chief Operating Officer Brad Miller has told those fans to brace themselves for a significant hike.
It's one thing when your season ticket price goes up each year, it sucks, but you don't notice it as much, but when you are suddenly hit with 10 years of price rises in one go, that's going to leave a mark.
The club believes that their prices will remain fair and competitive when compared to other clubs in the Premier League.
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Ticket revenue is a significant part of the club's business otherwise they'd just have a tiny stadium, surely?
The Chronicle has quoted notes from the recent Fan Advisory Board Meeting:
"Chief Operating Officer Brad Miller accepted that because the price for a ten-year season ticket was set 14 years ago, the percentage price increase from a 2011/12 price to a 2025/26 price would be an anomaly compared to last season’s 5% rise for standard adult season tickets. However, it is a necessary step to bring parity between season ticket holders in equivalent seats."
It was also asked if ticketing prices had as much of an impact on the club's bottom line when compared to the likes of sponsorship and TV rights with Newcastle fans currently supporting the Football Supporters Association's "Stop Exploiting Loyalty" campaign.
Peter Silverstone explained that the revenue generated by ticket sales was an equally important aspect of how the club generates revenue as any other means. To be fair, if it wasn't so important, the club wouldn't be so keen to expand the capacity of St James' Park.
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Newcastle prepare fans for price hike as Brentford launch quality initiative
The timing for this news couldn't have been worse, however, with Brentford announcing their Gen10 ticketing scheme which has locked the prices of tickets for their junior fans, as reported by football finance expert Kieran Maguire.
"Brentford launches Gen10. Their junior fans will pay no more than £10 to watch the Bees away from home and visiting junior fans from other PL clubs will pay the same"
Ticket prices are always going to be one of the most controversial things in football as it's the one thing that directly affects the fans' ability to attend games and any price hike, not matter how small or how justified, is always going to end up pricing some people out of their favourite pastime.