Feeling the post-Christmas pinch, George Sessions counts the cost of a ticket to London’s Premiership games.
Using data published by BBC Sport , this is a survey of the prices you’ll pay at the top clubs in the London area – Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham….and QPR.
The cheapest Premiership season ticket from these six is Fulham’s – a snip at £399. Some may see be surprised by this since Fulham is an established Premiership club. In comparison, QPR’s cheapest season ticket is priced at £499, and West Ham’s £480.
Among the top trio of London clubs, cheapest season ticket prices vary: Chelsea’s costs £595; Tottenham is next with £730; and finally Arsenal, the most expensive London club and the most expensive Premiership club, totting up at £985.
N.B. This is for the cheapest season ticket on offer.
The most expensive season ticket is again from Arsenal – at £1955; but Tottenham’s top flight fee of £1845 is not far behind. Both these sides are known for playing good football, but paying close to £2000 to see a maximum of 26 matches, seems a bit over the bar.
Champion’s League winner Chelsea’s most expensive season ticket is £1250 – still expensive but compared to Arsenal and Tottenham, it’s almost bargain-basement stuff.
QPR and Fulham are on a par, with top of the range season tickets costing £959 and £949 respectively. West Ham’s is £850 – a responsible price from the East London club.
Fulham is the least expensive team to watch in London; a ticket for one of their home matches costs as little as £20.
The cheapest ticket at QPR’s Loftus Road would cost you £25, which makes them second cheapest among London’s Premiership posse.
You can get an Arsenal ticket for just £26. Bearing in mind that they consistently finish in the top four and play good football, this is very good value for money.
Then you have Tottenham, West Ham and Chelsea. It’s no great shock that Chelsea’s is the most expensive single ticket: £41 for the cheapest seat in Stamford Bridge.
Astonishingly, West Ham‘s cheapest single ticket costs more than Tottenham’s. A ticket for the cheap seats at Upton Park will be £36 compared to £32 at White Hart Lane. The recent history of both clubs would suggest Tottenham’s should cost more.
Moving onto the most expensive single ticket at each of these Premiership clubs, i.e. the ticket that fans want most: the most expensive match day ticket in the Premiership, let alone just London, is Arsenal’s – a staggering £126.
Next on that list is Chelsea: their most expensive match day ticket costs £87; and this is closely followed by Tottenham Hotspur’s £81 ticket.
QPR’s most expensive match day ticket is the cheapest out of all the London clubs, costing just £55, which is only £30 more than their lowest match day price.
In between QPR and Tottenham’s most expensive match day tickets are Fulham and West Ham’s, costing £75 and £67 respectively.
Overall a breakdown of London Premiership club ticket prices reveals that Arsenal fans pay the most to watch their team, closely followed by Tottenham Hotspur; whereas Chelsea fans pay less, despite their side being more successful recently.
Finally, looking at the other London clubs, Fulham fans pay less than both West Ham and QPR, although Fulham is the most established Premiership club out of these three.
But surely no one would even consider changing their team on account of the cost of a ticket – or would they?