Arsenal have today announced that they will be freezing all general admission and Club Level ticket prices for next season, 2016/17. Naturally we welcome this announcement given the high prices our fans have to pay to watch their team both home and away, across the course of each season.
However, given the new £5.14 billion Premier League TV rights deal which comes into play from next season, Arsenal could have used some of their increased broadcast windfall to reduce prices (even by a fraction) and give something back to our loyal supporters. A gesture to make matches more affordable would have been the right thing to do, but instead we get the usual spin from Ivan Gazidis:
"It will be the seventh time in 11 seasons at Emirates Stadium that prices have been held flat, meaning the cost of season tickets has fallen around 19 per cent in real terms against inflation in that time".
Each time Arsenal freeze prices we get the same kind of "look how much of a favour we're doing you" statement. Only thing is, it's generally bollocks.
A crude way of looking at it would be a shop pricing a loaf of bread at £300 then freezing the price for a few years; every year they could then say "See? Inflation elsewhere and prices are rising, but we're keeping this bread at £300. So in real terms, the price of this bread's going down!". Cheers, but it was too expensive in the first place.
The fact is our prices have been too high for some time now, and even after record kit supplier deals, increased sponsorships and now the gargantuan TV rights windfall, the club try and paint a price freeze like they're handing out £50 notes.
So thanks for not spanking us for even more money, but let's face it - it was the least you could do.
Up The Gunners.
Highbury Harold
However, given the new £5.14 billion Premier League TV rights deal which comes into play from next season, Arsenal could have used some of their increased broadcast windfall to reduce prices (even by a fraction) and give something back to our loyal supporters. A gesture to make matches more affordable would have been the right thing to do, but instead we get the usual spin from Ivan Gazidis:
"It will be the seventh time in 11 seasons at Emirates Stadium that prices have been held flat, meaning the cost of season tickets has fallen around 19 per cent in real terms against inflation in that time".
Each time Arsenal freeze prices we get the same kind of "look how much of a favour we're doing you" statement. Only thing is, it's generally bollocks.
A crude way of looking at it would be a shop pricing a loaf of bread at £300 then freezing the price for a few years; every year they could then say "See? Inflation elsewhere and prices are rising, but we're keeping this bread at £300. So in real terms, the price of this bread's going down!". Cheers, but it was too expensive in the first place.
The fact is our prices have been too high for some time now, and even after record kit supplier deals, increased sponsorships and now the gargantuan TV rights windfall, the club try and paint a price freeze like they're handing out £50 notes.
So thanks for not spanking us for even more money, but let's face it - it was the least you could do.
Up The Gunners.
Highbury Harold
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