NEWCASTLE UNITED have increased season ticket prices by 5 per cent for the third season running, ignoring a request from the Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust (NUST) to freeze prices.
Earlier this year, NUST wrote to the club requesting a freeze, not even a reduction, of season ticket and member ticket prices, but last week they were hit with the announcement that season ticket prices will be increasing.
On top of this, an estimated 10,000 or more fans whose ticket prices had been frozen for the past 10 years will now face a considerable increase in the price to renew.
“We are incredibly disappointed by this news of another 5 per cent increase,” Newcastle fan groups said in a joint statement on Thursday night.
“The club was already benefiting off approximately 10,000 Season Tickets increasing upwards of 60 per cent; they did not need to add more on top of this.
“We appreciate that demand will be high, and we know the majority will renew. People will sacrifice things in their lives to prioritise supporting their team and the club are exploiting this.
“Clearly in the communication released by the club they have ignored the requests of the Fan Advisory Board, which immediately brings into question how seriously they take feedback from supporters on something that impacts us the most.”
Sadly, reports on these types of issues seem to be turning into an ongoing series.
This is just the latest episode of rich football club owners exploiting fans and seeing what excuses they’ve come up with for doing so.
It’s unlikely this one will pop up on Netflix, though, alongside all the bland, polished, in-house, club or league-edited shows that now litter streaming services.
There’s also a trend of clubs using profit and sustainability rules (PSR) as an excuse to raise ticket prices. But, regardless of opinions on PSR, it is their own mistakes and poor running of clubs in other areas that lead to those problems.
Newcastle point out that “the maximum increase experienced by an individual adult season ticket holder will be £4.85 per month / £3.06 per game,” but cumulative 5 per cent rises in the past three years on top of increases around the 2018-19 season add up to much more than this.
In 2017, a season ticket in the Gallowgate or Leazes ends cost £598 at the standard price. In 2025 it will cost £763 — an increase of £165 in eight years, or 28 per cent.
The club also stated that junior ticket prices will remain frozen and that concession pricing will remain in place, which is a positive, but that the retaining of concession pricing is mentioned at all, in an attempt to soften the blow of increases elsewhere, shows how low the expectations of Premier League clubs are when it comes to ticket pricing.
The Newcastle supporters groups added in their statement: “Season tickets in the Gallowgate End will be more expensive next season than most seats in The Kop at the presumed Champions of England, Liverpool. This is a completely unnecessary and unfair price increase.
“The cost of being a football fan doesn’t just end at the price of a ticket, it costs more than ever before to follow your team with the impact of late fixture changes, unsociable kick-off times and rising travel costs. Clubs fail to recognise this.
“Brentford, Liverpool, West Ham and Wolves led the way with freezing their prices. We could, and should, have followed them.”
Newcastle aren’t the worst club on this issue, but the bar is low.
Arsenal also announced 2025-26 season ticket price rises last week.
Arsenal are one of many clubs at this level who like to boast about increased revenue and commercial results via numerous channels, but despite these record revenues, they are still making matchdays more expensive for fans.
Arsenal, like Newcastle, have retained concession pricing and on top of this announced that 1,000 tickets will be available free of charge to the local community for each match via Arsenal in the Community.
Admirable work that deserves praise, but buried within this is the main story that most regular match-going fans will be hit with more expensive tickets.
The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust said in a statement: “In recent years Arsenal has seen its revenues increase greatly from both broadcast and commercial activity, while ticketing revenue has also increased as fixture lists have expanded and categorisation has increased.
“Just this week the club reported a surge in total revenue from £467m to £616m for the 2023-24 season.
“We understand that costs are increasing across football — especially for player wages and agent fees — but feel that Arsenal and all Premier League clubs should be making greater efforts to control these pressures rather than relying on supporters to take the strain.”
Maybe more clubs should use the example set in Germany. As former Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness once said: “We could charge more than £104 \[for a season ticket\], let’s say we charged £300, we would get £2 million more in income but what is £2m to us?
“In a transfer discussion you argue about that sum for five minutes but the difference between £104 and £300 is huge for a supporter.”
Supporters’ groups across the Premier League continue working with the Football Supporters’ Association to collectively push for lower ticket prices and a more accessible matchday experience for more fans.
Progress has been made at some clubs including Brentford, Liverpool, West Ham and Wolves, showing that this fan-led movement can be effective, but as other clubs ignore the reasonable request for price freezes, when price reductions would be more appropriate, it shows the collective effort needs to continue.