Share TV Wealth
This lunch time football supporters led by the Football Supporters Federation will hold a demo at a meeting of the 20 Premier League shareholders in the name of reducing ticket prices and more consideration towards grass root football funding. The ‘Share the Wealth’ demo will focus on asking the clubs to consider directing more of the upcoming 5.6 billion TV deal to supporters via reductions in ticket prices and also helping grassroots football.
As an affiliate member of the Football Supporters Trust (FSF) My Old Man Said was asked to sign the below letter that will be presented to the Aston Villa representative at the meeting of the 20 Premier League shareholders, which we have done.
The Aston Villa Supporters Trust has also backed and signed the letter.
Share TV Wealth Letter
For your information, this is the letter presented to all 20 Premier League shareholders/clubs today:
Dear Aston Villa FC,
The Premier League has been a phenomenal success story. It is one of the world’s most competitive leagues, with some of the greatest footballing talent in the world playing largely in front of packed crowds generating a vibrant atmosphere. As fans, we appreciate that, and clearly so do the broadcasters, and their audiences of millions domestically and around the world.
As a result, the Premier League’s new TV deal is worth an extraordinary £5.14bn for domestic rights alone – the equivalent of £46 for every ticket sold for every Premier League game.
It is our belief that away supporters make a particular contribution to the spectacle that is Premier League football which has proved so attractive to broadcasters. Away fans generate much of the atmosphere, often sparking the home support into life. They are among the most loyal of supporters, often travelling long distances at difficult times while generally being regular home fans and consumers of merchandise and TV packages too.
Over recent years however there has been a general decline in the numbers of away supporters, and this has much to do with the high price of tickets. This is why the Football Supporters’ Federation has campaigned around the idea of “Twenty’s Plenty”, seeking a maximum ticket price for away fans of £20 a game. We estimate the cost of this to be around £20million a season across the league – a modest figure in the context of the new TV deal.
We welcome the current Away Fans’ Initiative, which has demonstrated that it is possible for clubs to decide to act collectively in the interests of fans, while retaining enough flexibility in implementation at club level. Our general view is that the main focus of this initiative should be in reducing ticket prices for away fans, as irrespective of how they’ve travelled, the one thing every away fan has in common is the purchase of a ticket.
We therefore call for:
- An Away Fans Initiative Mark 2, with £1m per club per season set aside primarily to subsidise ticket prices for their away fans;
- A structured engagement with supporters at every club to consult on how to spend this money;
- An end to the application of match categorisation to away fans – all away fans to pay Category C match prices;
- No reduction in away ticket allocations or relocation of away fans to inferior
Further reading: FSF Chief Exec on the Share the TV Wealth issue and why prices need to drop
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Follow the FSF on Twitter – @The_FSF
