LIBPOP-1: Fairness in Football

A Proposal for Legislative Control Over the Price of Premier League Football Tickets

Football is an institution in the United Kingdom. The world’s first football club was from the United Kingdom, Sheffield FC. The first professional club was Notts County. The history of football is rooted in this country. Indeed, football accounted for 71% of all sport viewership in the UK in 2024, as women’s football saw a 38% annual increase in viewership. Nearly one third of the population in the UK expresses a keen interest in football; football is part of the beating heart of UK society.

Football transcends any issues of class, race and gender and brings people together from all walks of life. This is how football should be: breaking down barriers, closing gaps, promoting and inspiring the youth from every corner of the UK to engage and get active. Accessible to all.

The Problem: Fans Priced Out

When it comes to watching football live, roughly 800,000 people attend Premier League matches each Saturday, significantly more than attend Anglican churches on Sunday. In this, though, traditional fans have effectively been priced out in contemporary football with prices rising up to 800% since the 1990s.¹ Much of the growth in ticket revenue in the last few years has come from expensive corporate hospitality, VIP boxes, and premium seats rather than regular fans.

When Gary Lineker headlined Match of the Day, a further 3 million watched free football on the BBC on Saturday evening, but this is now in decline, it costs £480 a year to watch the matches on Sky.

Accessibility to football in the UK has undeniably taken a downward turn. Notoriously, should England make the World Cup 2026 final in the U.S., the cheaper tickets will be in the range of $8,360. Back home in the Premier League, ticket prices have increased dramatically, though thankfully not into the thousands.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Prices have been steadily rising over the past few decades across all Premier League clubs:

• Liverpool FC ticket prices have increased by around 800% since 1990¹
• Manchester United in November 2024 stopped their scheme of members’ concession tickets, children’s tickets which had previously cost £25 increased to £66 per ticket, a 164% increase
• Fans chanted at games when their tickets increased in price midway through the season at Manchester United in 2024

This increase is not sustainable for the average fan and shows a lack of respect by teams for their fanbase.

Instead of doing something bold and effective about this, the current government passed the 2025 Football Governance Bill which just created more fairly pointless and ineffective bureaucracy.

The Policy: Fairness in Football

The purpose of this proposal is to ensure “ordinary” football fans are not being priced out of attending football matches and being part of the atmosphere at stadiums.

This would be achieved by legislating that the current average price of Premier League match tickets must be halved to £30.

Evidence and Analysis

There is a problem within football with clubs being owned by billionaire businessmen, corporations, and in some cases, foreign nations, who are more concerned with turning a profit or having a plaything than in supporting the fans who make the game what it is.

Dubious financial decisions are on the increase. Owners of clubs are seen to be adding them to their portfolio of investments without any true expertise in the game itself.

The Financial Reality

Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance 2025 reported that Premier League clubs are estimated to have made over £900 million in matchday revenue in the 2023-2024 season.²³

Key findings from Deloitte’s Football Money League 2025:

• Matchday is the fastest-growing income stream for clubs²
• Hospitality seats take up around 5-10% of stadium capacity but generate 3-6 times the revenue of standard tickets
• A conservative estimate suggests 20-30% of total Premier League matchday revenue comes from hospitality and premium ticket sales

While this may be good for the bottom line of the club, these corporate hospitality tickets are far beyond the reach of the real fans.

Why This Works Financially

Despite the above, ticket sales only make up 10-20% of total revenue for Premier League clubs.³ Halving ticket prices would only affect revenue by around 5% while:

• Ameliorating the relationship between clubs and their fans
• Raising attendance
• Selling out more matches

Europe Already Does This

Rich people tend to respond with arguments about “realism” but the supposed financial consequences of this policy are simply inaccurate:

All European leagues charge half or less compared to their British counterparts.²

While Premier League clubs generated £909 million in matchday revenue in 2023/24, the Bundesliga made £341 million. Even if ticket prices were halved, the Premier League would still come out more than £100 million ahead of Germany.

Sellouts: The Proof Is in the Numbers

Evidence suggests that lowering ticket prices would result in more seats sold:

• 2024-2025 Premier League season: Only 42 out of 380 fixtures (11%) were totally sold out
• Bundesliga (with much lower prices): 187 sold-out matches

Data scientist Dan Tracy has looked at Premier League price elasticity. His findings: even just a one percent decrease in ticket price tends to lead to an increase of more than one percent in attendance.

Theoretically, halving the current average ticket price of £60 to £30 could attract far more supporters. It would certainly mean selling out stadiums at every match.

What About Hospitality?

Under this proposal, clubs might still be allowed to sell a set percentage of hospitality seats for a higher price. These tickets would not be affected by any reduction in ticket prices, frankly, we do not care how expensive the tickets are for the very wealthy.

A Rare Example of Good Practice

Brentford FC is a rare example of a club that has taken the initiative to freeze ticket prices for this season and implement a £10 limit on the price of tickets for under-18s. With the more expensive clubs, freezing ticket prices is not sufficient, and most of them are not doing even this.

The Legality of the Proposal

There is little doubt that Parliament could achieve this goal. There are already a number of legislative instruments in place concentrated on the management of sporting events:

• Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975
• Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Act 1985
• Football Spectators Act 1989

These evidence that regulating sporting events is not beyond the scope of Parliamentary authority.

The Football Governance Bill which has been approved at all stages and is now awaiting a date for Royal Assent has missed an opportunity to regulate the price of ticket sales. However, the Bill provides a solid grounding for expanding regulation in this area, mandating fan engagement which includes consulting fans on relevant matters.

Likewise, the Sale of Tickets (Cultural and Sporting Events) Bill is currently in the process of going through Parliament. The Bill aims to foster transparency on the price of tickets for sporting events, yet this is surely not enough.

Conclusion

LibPop.Org calls on legislators to consider a new legislative instrument which will halve the current price of Premier League football tickets to £30, to ensure that football continues to be an important cultural element of British society as it has been for many years, by allowing football fans and inspired youth to attend as many games as possible at an affordable price.

How This Meets the Four Principles of Liberal Populism

1. Appeals to the majority positively — Millions of football fans would benefit; this resonates with Red Wall voters especially
2. Doesn’t cost the government much — This is regulation, not subsidy; billionaire owners absorb the cost
3. Rapidly deliverable — Legislation can be passed quickly; prices can change next season
4. Tips scales toward the underprivileged — Takes from billionaire owners, gives to ordinary fans who’ve been priced out

References