The Premier League has the commercial heft of any global corporation. It has shareholders too, which comes with the added need to maximize profits… at any cost. And one of those costs, it would seem, would be the fans that support their clubs through thick and thin… and, to some extent, who bankroll the entire division.
The Premier League has announced that it recorded nearly £6 billion in revenue for the 2023 financial year – almost double that of the German Bundesliga and La Liga combined. That comes against the backdrop of rising ticket prices, which are increasing at a rate of around 7% from one season to the next.
Of course, each Premier League club sets their own ticket prices independently. Given that they are the main shareholders of the EPL, which continues to make huge sums of money each year, isn’t it about time that such a strong financial performance was passed on to fans in the form of cheaper, or at least frozen, ticket prices?
The Premier League Profit Machine
The numbers from the most recently reported period, that 2023 financial year, make for great reading if you have a pecuniary interest in the Premier League. Annual revenue increased to £5.9 billion, which was both an 11% increase on the season prior and an all-time high for the EPL. It’s worth, for context, pointing out that the combined revenue of La Liga and the Bundesliga just about reached £6.1 billion.
The data is made all the more remarkable when you compare annual revenues of the Premier League now to the 2019 financial year, before the pandemic somewhat skewed the figures. In 2023, the EPL made 17% more than four years prior, highlighting the incredible popularity, and commercial appeal, of the competition.
What makes these gains even more eye catching is that some costs for Premier League clubs have, typically, risen. Player and staff wage bills have reached all-time highs, while the trend for amortisation of transfer fees is also contributing to considerable outgoings on an annual basis.
EPL clubs have never been more attractive from a commercial standpoint, with revenue generated from sponsorships and corporate agreements reaching £2 billion annually, allied to the increased profit from various media and broadcast deals around the globe; these account for around £3 billion a year.
Revenue generated on matchday – largely from ticket sales – is closing in on £1 billion a season for the first time, too. It’s data that could be viewed with positivity… if there wasn’t an underlying feeling that loyal fans are being punished for their undying commitment with increased ticket prices. But will supporters ever vote with their feet and boycott their clubs?
The Premier League Ticket Price Explosion
Ticket prices in England are absolutely INSANE. 🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/qqlPAtUEPs
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) January 30, 2025
Dig into the Premier League’s revenue report and you notice that, in 2023, revenue generated at the turnstile rose 14% year on year. That’s a double hander, with average attendance levels at games also increasing… allied to a rise in season tickets and matchday admittance.
There’s also been a noticeable increase in the number of ‘fans’, which is code for overseas billionaires and successful companies, taking up expensive corporate hospitality packages. As reported in an independent study on the 2023/24 season by Deloitte:
Matchday revenue increased 14% to £867m as stadia were largely full, a new record average league attendance of 40,291 was set and the majority of clubs increased their ticket prices.
When the next set of figures are released, you can expect those numbers to have increased again. Only one Premier League club in 2024/25 decided to lower season ticket prices: hats off to Everton. Crystal Palace and Wolves, meanwhile, froze prices at their 2023/24 rates. Elsewhere, the other 17 EPL clubs decided to increase their season ticket prices: Some by a marginal amount, but others – including Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Newcastle United – by 10% or more, which is way above the UK’s 3% rate of inflation.
Ticket Prices Surge and Yet Tickets Still Sell Out
All of which means that if you wanted to watch every home game played by Arsenal in 2024/25, you’d have to fork out £1,023 for the cheapest adult package. Given that season ticket sales account for around 75% of all matchday seats sold, a price increase of 10% or more will see each club considerably enhance their profitability. Even so, as of January 2025, a whopping 99% of all the available tickets for every Premier League game, on average, had been taken – suggesting that, as a product, watching EPL football live is price resistant.
If ticket prices continue to rise – but fans continue to attend games in their droves, what incentive is there for clubs to drop their rates? Like all markets, the Premier League operates very much on a supply-and-demand basis. If demand is sky high and supply (i.e. the available number of seats) remains the same, then the price will automatically increase. While that remains the case, you can expect EPL ticket prices to continue to rise accordingly.
Balancing the Books
There are efforts on the part of fan groups to tackle the issue, with the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) launching a campaign during the 2024/25 season named ‘Stop Exploiting Loyalty’. But the jury is out on whether clubs are actually heeding the wishes of their fans. Some have removed concessionary prices for youngsters and the elderly, while Newcastle United are just one of the teams to announce a rise in season ticket prices – by a cool 5%, no less – for the 2025/26 campaign.
As reported by the BBC, Premier League clubs made a collective £830 million from ticket sales alone in 2023. A handful of sides, including Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United, made more than £100 million each. It’s worth remembering that we’re in an era of financial sustainability; UEFA in particular wants clubs to live within their means. When calculating how much a team can spend on transfer, wages, etc, commercial revenue is one of the variances that appears on the profit side of the balance sheet.
The more commercial revenue generated – which includes ticket sales, by the way – the more a club can invest in players, staff and infrastructure. So by raising ticket prices, the club increases their commercial revenue, which will then be offset against their losses.
There really is no incentive for Premier League clubs to be sensitive to the needs of their fans. Until supporters vote with their feet and stop buying tickets, the situation will only worsen for the group of people that love their clubs more than any other.
