Manchester United are at the eye of the storm brewing over ticket prices in English football.
It has become steadily more expensive to watch football since 1992, with some research suggesting that tickets cost 800 per cent more than they did at the Premier League’s inception. For context, inflation has been just north of 100 per cent in the same period.
Increasingly, clubs are blaming Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) for ticket price hikes, leading some experts to call for some kind of amnesty on matchday income under English football financial controls.
Since Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought his stake in Man United, club officials have repeatedly blamed spiralling costs for match-going fans on PSR and the need to create more wriggle room to improve the team – see also: the purge of over 400 members of staff at Old Trafford.
Infographic explaining Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), the system which used to be called Financial Fair Play (FFP).
Profit and Sustainability Rules infographic Credit: Adam Williams / United in Focus / GRV Media
Until relatively recently, that justification made at least some sense, even if the benefits of increasing general admission prices – as United now have done in three successive seasons – is ultimately negligible.
However, it emerged earlier this summer that United’s PSR calculations are based not on the accounts of Manchester United PLC, but on those of a separate entity, Red Football Limited, whose recent financial losses are significantly smaller. This revelation demonstrated that PSR is not an immediate concern, even with no European football of any description in 2025-26.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe can’t blame ticket prices on PSR – it’s a cash issue
Ratcliffe’s decision, then, was based on cash and the ambition to continue to raise matchday income even in an off season. Indeed, CEO Omar Berrada has said that the mid-season price increase that sparked mass protests in 2024-25 were driven by “continued rises in operating costs.”
To his credit, Berrada took responsibility for that hike in a recent interview, admitting that the communication around the decisions should have been better.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe speaks with Manchester United CEO Omar Berrada
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
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Just a few days later, however, United have announced a new pricing structure which was described as “a kick in the teeth” by Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST).
United’s early-window activity – with Bryan Mbeumo close to joining Matheus Cunha in M16 – further illustrates that PSR doesn’t belie the inflation in price rises.
The business case for ticket price rises; they’re turning Old Trafford into ‘Disneyland’, says finance expert
“From a pure business point of view, hiking ticket prices makes an awful lot of sense,” says University of Liverpool football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to UIF.
“Under the Glazers, season ticket sales were frozen for about 11 years. That decision hasn’t found favour with the new owners. They want to significantly increase matchday income.
“Pre-Covid, they were at about £110m. Now they’re around £130m. So from a business point of view you can see the logic. The brand is so strong and the brand loyalty is strong that they can still expect to sell the tickets.
“Will it alienate bedrock fans? Absolutely. But that’s not the future of Man United as far as Ineos are concerned. You only have to look at the plans for the new stadium to see that.
An aerial view of Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium
Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
“Man United is a tourist club – and that is not denigrate the hardcore element of the fanbase, who I completely separate from that analysis. But those people have outlived their usefulness as far as Ineos are concerned.
“You don’t hear complaints about how much it costs to go to Disneyland, and those prices go up every year. That’s where Man United want to position themselves. It’s about an experience and you price your tickets accordingly.
“What Ineos want is a monopoly over the relationship with the fans. If it upsets the bedrock fans, they will just shrug because that doesn’t affect Ratcliffe, who is a former Chelsea season ticket holder living in Monaco.”
How Manchester United’s matchday income compares to Premier League rivals
In 2023-24, the last financial year for which a full data set is available, United nearly lost their crown as the biggest matchday income generators for only the second time in the Premier League era, excluding the seasons impacted by the pandemic.
They earned £137m through the turnstiles compared to Arsenal’s £132m. In 2024-25, they may well have slipped behind the Gunners, who had Champions League football to sell to punters.
Chart comparing Manchester United's matchday income with the rest of the Big Six
Man United matchday income vs Big Six Credit: Adam Williams/United in Focus/GRV Media
Incidentally, like Man United, Arsenal also want to be able to accommodate more fans. They are looking to increase capacity at the Emirates Stadium to 80,000, a direct challenge to United’s own stadium ambitions.
While matchday income was once seen as the ugly duckling of a Premier League club’s three primary revenue streams (matchday, commercial and media), owners are now seeing that it is actually one of the frontiers on which giga-clubs like Man United can best monetise their huge fanbases.
100,000-seater Old Trafford 2.0 stadium might never happen
The ambition to extract more cash from United’s fanbase, which the club says is over 1 billion people strong, has led Ineos to push forward with replacing an outdated Old Trafford entirely.
The club has unveiled plans for a 100,000-seater stadium next door to Old Trafford, which would be knocked down to make way for a huge mixed-use commercial and residential complex as part of the plans.
There are major doubts about the viability of the proposal, however, with one source in the stadium design industry telling UIF that there is “no chance whatsoever” that the renderings of the stadium will ever become a reality.
Chart showing Manchester United's matchday income and planned stadium capacity at Old Trafford next to rivals
Man United stadium capacity and matchday income Credit: Adam Williams/United in Focus/GRV Media
At a capacity of 100,000, the source – who has seen preliminary blueprints for the stadium beyond those made publicly available – said that costs are likely to be prohibitive. There are diminishing returns on investment at that scale given that the seats furthest from the ground are the hardest to build but also to sell.
United are already in over £700m worth of debt, the bulk of which will be refinanced at higher interest rates after the 2026-27 campaign. The finances of the stadium project therefore remain the biggest unsolved mystery.