Arsenal have been able to give more supporters access to watch the team after continuing to fight touting
Arsenal have been able to give more supporters access to watch the team after continuing to fight touting(Image: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
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Arsenal are helping more of their supporters watch games in the war against ticket touts.
football.london understands that more than 100,000 members who entered at least one of the ballots for a match were successful during last season, with Arsenal crowned Premier League champions. This represents an increase of more than 10% on the previous season.
The club switched to a ballot system to address the impact of touting, and the change has yielded mixed results. While more than 270,000 tickets were allocated to fans last season through the system, some fans have been left frustrated that they can no longer access tickets as regularly for matches.
The old system required members to sit in an online queue screen on designated mornings, before entering the site to book tickets. The system had its benefits for some, but many others were prevented from accessing games due to personal circumstances and working in specific job sectors, such as the NHS or teaching.
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However, the continued work to tackle touting means that, despite gripes with the ballot system, more fans are gradually able to watch their team play. Arsenal have been very active in tackling the match-by-match challenge by installing software that helped ban around 19,000 accounts last season for breaching ticketing policies.
To date the club is understood to have banned around 74,000 accounts for such breaches. That in itself details the scale of the battle the club continue to fight.
In March 2023, football.londonreported that the club had banned more than 300,000 bot accounts, which had been used to scalp tickets away from genuine supporters. Since then, the club has continued the fight.
football.london understands that ID verification is under consideration in order to prevent further to discourage touting and keep tickets in the hands of genuine supporters.
The club is also making away matches more accessible for members too, with six away matches selling out at zero credits last season, which is believed to have included five Champions League games. In addition, red and silver members will be able to both retain and use points themselves to gain access to away games, giving more fans the opportunity to witness an away day with the club.
It is clear that the investment in tackling the problem of touting means that more Arsenal fans are able to watch games, which is definitely a positive. However, many supporters who have been attending matches for many years, through far worse times than a Premier League title-winning campaign, are, these days, not able to watch as many matches as they were before.
The waiting list for season tickets is extremely lengthy, with very little movement whatsoever when renewals are made. football.london understands this is something the club are investigating how the system might move forward in the future.
The measure of ‘loyalty’ remains very emotional and very subjective among supporters. Should a passionate Arsenal fan who has only just come of age to be able to become a member and purchase a ticket have the same opportunity as a supporter in the same member category who has been attending games for decades? This is where the question mark still remains as to how and to whom tickets are allocated.
But seeing is believing, and what is being seen is discouraging, touting to a greater extent, and putting more Arsenal supporters in the position to watch their beloved Gunners play.
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