UEFA have been lambasted over the last few days the for "killer" price plans they have put in place to be able to go and watch the biggest game in European club sport. A growing number of influential managers have gone against the decision to charge such high prices, and the FA have decided to distance themselves completely away from the decision as well.
The truth behind these prices however are not all that shocking, when compared to the ticket prices charged for last years final in Madrid. The cheapest ticket last year was €90 (Roughly £81 on exchange prices at the time), compared to the £80 tickets available this year in the "Category 4" seats. However, the main difference is that this year, these seats are only going to be available to fans of the two clubs participating. Last year, all ticket bands were open to all fans. This is a sneaky move by UEFA, and unfortunately for them has backfired in the short term at least and has made them look like money grabbers.
The secondary issue a lot of fans face who might have considered applying is the £26 booking fee (For fans inside the UK at least, this is of course higher in Europe, and then even higher for worldwide fans) if you are successful for any tickets. This to me stinks of adding on as much extra to the tickets as they possibly can to bring in any extra revenue milking the cash cow for all it is worth. It wouldn't surprise me if postage was asked for as well once the tickets have been secured, just to really kick the boot in.
The main prices for this years final for the general pubic start at £150, and go up through three different categories right up to £330. However there are only 11,000 of these seats available. In a 90,000 capacity ground. 25,000 fans of the two finalists, giving us a grand capacity total of, 61,000. Just over two thirds of the ground. But wait, the "European Family Of Football" is large and all want to come as well to the prestigious game. Lucky for them there is more than enough tickets left over. This really does annoy me that sponsors have dictated the final once again to make sure there is more seats for sponsors, and UEFA delegates and guests than there will be fans. This seems to have become the norm however in recent years, and won't stop until UEFA stop selling this game out, which of course they know will never happen, no matter what the ticket prices are set at.
There are however two main winners in this whole fiasco regarding the ticket prices, The Football League, and also The FA. The Football League have employed some PR employees who seem to have got some common sense, and have kept their ticket prices for the show piece event of the season (The three playoff finals), at exactly the same prices as last season, with the most expensive ticket to the League Two final this season costing £60, 25% less than the cheapest ticket at the Champions League final for a fan who will be sitting in a comparatively worse seat. Of course, The Football League has played second fiddle to UEFA and have uprooted to Old Trafford this season (Not sure why, Cardiff and the Millennium Stadium had been hosting for a good number of years, and know exactly how to do it) for the first two finals, before the main Championship game of the season takes place under the arch at Wembley. The other main winner of the ticket debacle is The FA, who have managed to dissolve themselves of absolutely any responsibility for these prices, which is fair enough, considering the damage they would have caused themselves by being involved. However, lucky for them, the arrangement with UEFA sees them not only take a rental fee for the stadium for the game, but also 20% of the total ticket revenue, so these high prices have resulted in an even nicer windfall for The FA, even if they don't want it.
The UEFA motto is "We care about football", whilst this may be the case on the field. Off it, to many people it looks as if they care a lot more about making sure they bring in as much revenue as possible first, and have a game of football second.
(Ed -Thank you to "Ottawa Green" from PASOTI, who posted about the Plymouth situation on the messageboard, and included my blog in their post, this was massively appreciated.)
I was lucky enough to go to the last final at Wembley between Sampdoria and Barcelona and remember paying the same as the participating clubs' fans - about £30 at the time (1992). This is pure daylight robbery from UEFA but the only effective measure against it would be a boycott and the number of seats is so small, there will always be sufficient bankers, touts or toffs who will snap them up.
ReplyDeleteApologies Rouge, I meant to comment back to this sooner, and my phone's internet conked out.
ReplyDeleteDaylight robbery sums it up really, I feel the main problem is a boycott is pretty much impossible, as for example, if Reading ever got to the Champions League final, there would be a sufficient amount of people who would pay whatever it costs to get there to make sure they could say they were there.
You mentioned postage as a 'sneaky' add on.........no doubt another surcharge for paying with various cards....hardly making football 'famly friendly' unlesss your family member works for the sponsors or UEFA?
ReplyDeleteWouldn't surprise me if you try to pay with Visa not Mastercard that'll cost you extra as well. Your probably right, I know that for the Euros next year, you can only pay Visa. Just seems so stupid, why should I be forced to have more than one bank card just to avoid fees?
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