Premier League money for away fans
22 August 2013
This evening we have been advised by our friends at Spirit of Shankly, that the Premier League has made available some £4 million a season for the next 3 years (taken from their increased revenues) which has been split equally between all Premier League clubs. This fund has been created so that clubs can use the money towards initiatives which help their fans travelling to away games. This equates to around £200,000 per season for each of the 20 Premier League clubs.
As far as we are aware, each club gets to decide how they use this funding, be it subsidised ticket prices or deals on travel. However, we've already seen Stoke City offer their fans free coach travel to all 19 away games, and Chelsea have offered to subsidise travel costs for their fans, for at least 10 away games. As yet, there has been no indication from Arsenal as to how they will allocate this money.
We applaud the Premier League's decision to make this money available to all 20 clubs. It comes in response to the campaign by supporters' groups across the country and our meeting with Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore. We pushed for cheaper away tickets, adding the fact that away fan attendances are falling in the Premier League; figures show a 10% decrease in the last 5 years. The fact that the Premier League has acted shows that they are aware of the pressure being felt by fans up and down the country.
Of course, we have asked Arsenal how they plan on using this income from the Premier League. With our fans paying the highest ticket prices in football at Emirates Stadium and charged premium prices at most away grounds, it is important that this funding is used to give something back to our loyal supporters. We hope that Arsenal and indeed all Premier League clubs realise their responsibility to set fair prices for all match tickets, recognising that fans are the lifeblood of the game and have been leaned upon for too long.
Naturally we will report back to our members on any form of response we receive from Arsenal.
Up The Gunners
This evening we have been advised by our friends at Spirit of Shankly, that the Premier League has made available some £4 million a season for the next 3 years (taken from their increased revenues) which has been split equally between all Premier League clubs. This fund has been created so that clubs can use the money towards initiatives which help their fans travelling to away games. This equates to around £200,000 per season for each of the 20 Premier League clubs.
As far as we are aware, each club gets to decide how they use this funding, be it subsidised ticket prices or deals on travel. However, we've already seen Stoke City offer their fans free coach travel to all 19 away games, and Chelsea have offered to subsidise travel costs for their fans, for at least 10 away games. As yet, there has been no indication from Arsenal as to how they will allocate this money.
We applaud the Premier League's decision to make this money available to all 20 clubs. It comes in response to the campaign by supporters' groups across the country and our meeting with Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore. We pushed for cheaper away tickets, adding the fact that away fan attendances are falling in the Premier League; figures show a 10% decrease in the last 5 years. The fact that the Premier League has acted shows that they are aware of the pressure being felt by fans up and down the country.
Of course, we have asked Arsenal how they plan on using this income from the Premier League. With our fans paying the highest ticket prices in football at Emirates Stadium and charged premium prices at most away grounds, it is important that this funding is used to give something back to our loyal supporters. We hope that Arsenal and indeed all Premier League clubs realise their responsibility to set fair prices for all match tickets, recognising that fans are the lifeblood of the game and have been leaned upon for too long.
Naturally we will report back to our members on any form of response we receive from Arsenal.
Up The Gunners