Ticketing at Hill Dickinson Stadium: A First Season Update
In this blog, Andrew Middleton, Everton’s President of Business Operations, reflects on our first season at Hill Dickinson Stadium, sharing key ticketing, access and attendance data, and outlining how supporter feedback is helping shape improvements for 2026/27.
As we begin to look back on our first season at Hill Dickinson Stadium, I wanted to provide supporters with an update on ticketing, access and attendance across what has been a landmark campaign for Everton Football Club.
First and foremost, thank you for your continued support. The move to Hill Dickinson Stadium has represented one of the biggest changes in the Club’s history and the backing of Evertonians, both home and away, has once again been outstanding.
In our first season, supporters have already played a huge part in making Hill Dickinson Stadium feel like home. The atmosphere, colour and noise created by Evertonians have provided a strong foundation, and we have listened to feedback from surveys, fan groups and supporters on how we can continue to make the stadium feel even more distinctly Everton. As we all continue to settle into new routines and traditions, we are confident that will only continue to build.
Throughout the season, we have also listened carefully to supporter feedback, including through regular dialogue with the Fan Advisory Board, Fans’ Forum, Supporters’ Club Committee and Everton Disabled Supporters’ Association. Some of the points raised have focused on ticket access, empty seats, the ballot, resale, transfers, away tickets and the use of different areas of the stadium.
We understand why these topics matter, and it is important we continue to be open about how tickets are allocated, used and managed.
How tickets are allocated
For every home fixture, tickets are allocated across a range of supporter, partner and operational groups.
These include Season Ticket Members, Premium Members, match-by-match ticket purchasers - including Supporters’ Clubs - one-off Premium purchasers through Seat Unique, away supporters, commercial partners, the Premier League and wider football family, shareholders, Club ownership and leadership, staff, our wider community, players’ families and a small number of other matchday requirements.
Season Tickets and renewals
For the 2025/26 season, we had 32,347 Season Ticket Members, alongside 2,807 Club View Members and 4,139 Premium Seasonal Members. That core Season Ticket base remains central to the matchday experience and the atmosphere inside the stadium.
I am delighted to share that, as our 2026/27 renewal campaign comes to a close, our Season Ticket renewal rate stands at just over 97%. That figure is ahead of the levels typically achieved at Goodison Park and is a powerful reflection of the loyalty and commitment of Evertonians as we prepare for our second season at Hill Dickinson Stadium. It is support we will never take for granted.
More Evertonians attending more often
One of the benefits of moving to a larger stadium has been the opportunity for more Evertonians to attend matches. This season, there has been a 68% increase in the number of individual supporters able to attend at least one match at Hill Dickinson Stadium compared with the final season at Goodison Park.
This season’s average attendance of 52,121 is also the highest in the Club’s history (surpassing the 49,531 average recorded during the 1969/70 title-winning campaign), underlining both the scale of support and the opportunity created by the new stadium.
We have also seen supporters able to attend more frequently. In the final season at Goodison Park, around one in four Members who purchased match tickets attended three games or more. At Hill Dickinson Stadium, that has increased to around half of match-by-match Members attending three or more games.
That is an important step forward: more supporters are getting through the turnstiles, and many are attending more often.
Ballots, resale and ticket transfer
The introduction of ballots has also played an important role in creating fairer access to tickets. Across the season, 28,521 individuals entered ballots. On average, Members entered between four and five ballots and were successful between three and four times, giving an average success rate of just under 80 per cent.
We recognise, of course, that individual experiences will have varied, with some Members enjoying greater success than others depending on which games they applied for and whether they requested a specific location, but the overall data shows the ballot process has helped create broader and fairer access across the supporter base.
We know no system will feel perfect to every supporter, particularly when demand is high, but the ballot has helped us manage that demand more fairly and provide more Members with the opportunity to attend.
The Club’s resale and ticket transfer platforms have also become increasingly important.
This season:
21,896 non-Premium match tickets were resold via the official resale platform (around 1,150 tickets per game)
51,301 Season Tickets were transferred (around 2,700 per match)
These figures show that supporters are making good use of the tools available to ensure tickets are used when the original Season Ticket Member cannot attend.
Combating ticket touts
We continue to take a firm and proactive approach to ticket touting and the use of unauthorised third-party platforms, with the aim of protecting supporters and ensuring fair access to tickets.
The Club actively monitors suspicious activity, including the use of bots, unusual purchasing patterns and the resale of tickets through unofficial channels. In recent years, this has included the removal of more than 18,500 bot or known tout accounts from our ticketing systems, as well as continued work with Ticketmaster and Merseyside Police to identify and act against misuse where appropriate.
We have also introduced a number of measures to help protect supporters, including the transition to fully digital tickets, the removal of print-at-home options, enhanced ticket transfer processes, the home ticket ballot, and official resale and transfer platforms.
Supporters are strongly encouraged to only purchase tickets through official Club channels to ensure validity, fairness and protection. The official Ticket Transfer Portal allows Season Ticket Members to share tickets with family and friends who are Official Members and on their approved list, while the Club’s official resale platform provides a safe and authorised way for Season Ticket Members to make their seat available if they cannot attend.
Where misuse is identified, sanctions can include the cancellation of tickets or accounts, and further action may be taken in line with Club policy.
Any supporter who has been affected by ticket touting, or who has information about unauthorised ticket resale, is encouraged to contact the Club’s Fan Services team directly and in confidence at Reportit@evertonfc.com.
Why listing your seat early matters if you can’t attend
We recognise there has been discussion about empty seats at some fixtures. The data shows there are a number of factors at play, including fixture scheduling, how tickets are released and timing for re-listing of tickets.
Resale tickets only become available once match-by-match tickets for that fixture have sold out. This means the earlier a Season Ticket seat is listed, the greater the opportunity for another supporter to purchase it.
The strongest resale performance comes when seats are listed more than two weeks before a match. For weekend fixtures, tickets listed 16-25 days in advance regularly achieve conversion rates of 75%-90% or higher.
As the fixture approaches:
7-14 days out still perform relatively well
The final week sees a clear drop in conversion rates, with the highest volume of listings but the lowest likelihood of resale
Across the season, more than 3,600 seats were listed on matchday itself, by which point many supporters have already made alternative plans.
Tickets listed more than two weeks in advance are around three times more likely to sell than those listed on matchday.
Midweek fixtures can be more challenging due to work, school, travel and family commitments, which often leads to later listings. However, the principle remains the same - earlier listings significantly increase the chances of a ticket being used.
Seat Unique and occupancy
There has also been some discussion around Premium seating. Our partnership with Seat Unique has performed strongly in its first season, with nearly 95% occupancy across their seats.
Refining the Family Area
Looking ahead to next season, we have made refinements to the Family Area.
It has been really encouraging to see families spread across the stadium, supported by flat pricing for Kids and Junior tickets. However, what we have found is that the original Family Area was larger than required for the level of specific demand.
During 2025/26:
Fewer than half of Family Area seats were held by Season Ticket Members
Remaining seats were sold via ballot on a match-by-match basis with eligibility criteria
Some fixtures saw unsold seats due to restricted eligibility
The refined Family Area will better match demand while maintaining a dedicated space for families who prefer that environment.
Away support and visiting fans
Evertonians continue to set an exceptional standard away from home. Everton has always been one of the best-supported clubs on the road, and that backing is hugely valued by the Club, the manager and the players.
Demand for away tickets remains extremely high, with allocations distributed based on established match credit criteria.
This season:
50,624 away tickets sold
Average of 2,664 tickets per game
Purchased by 3,339 individual supporters who met eligibility criteria
We are also continuing to prepare supporters for the wider move towards digital ticketing across the Premier League. Digital away tickets have already been used for some fixtures, but from the 2026/27 season digital ticketing will become a mandatory requirement for all existing Premier League clubs. We will continue to communicate clearly with supporters as this transition progresses, including how digital away tickets will be issued and used next season.
It is also important to clarify that tickets for players’ families are provided separately through Premier League arrangements and do not come from supporter allocations.
At Hill Dickinson Stadium, visiting clubs have taken the full allocation for all but one fixture, with a 94% average admittance rate.
Listening, improving and expanding ticket transfer
Ticketing will always be a key focus for us because we know how much it matters to supporters. The move to Hill Dickinson Stadium has created new opportunities, as well as new habits and new challenges as everyone continues to adjust to a different stadium and matchday experience.
What is clear from the first season’s data is that:
More Evertonians are getting the opportunity to attend matches
More supporters are attending more often
The Club’s official resale and transfer platforms are helping thousands of tickets to be used across the season
We also know there are areas where we can continue to improve. Having listened to feedback from Season Ticket Members during the 2025/26 season, we are pleased to confirm that Ticket Transfer will be available for home cup matches from next season.
This means that if a Season Ticket Member purchases their cup ticket but later finds they are unable to attend, they will be able to forward that ticket to any Forever Blue or Forever Blue+ Member. Once the fixture has been played, the match credit will be applied to the recipient of the ticket.
This is one example of how supporter feedback is helping us refine and improve the ticketing experience at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
There is still more to do, and we will continue to listen, learn and improve. We remain committed to being transparent and to working closely with supporter groups as we shape the matchday experience in the seasons ahead.
Thank you once again for your outstanding support throughout our first season at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Andrew Middleton
President of Business Operations