‘Loyal fans take brunt of Rovers ticket cost’

The BBC this week revealed the results of its survey on the cost of watching football. The main conclusion was something all of us know already: it’s very expensive to go to a football match.

It was also noted that Bristol Rovers offer the most expensive season tickets in League Two. Whilst this is true, there needs to be some context. It’s only the West Stand where tickets cost an arm and a leg. For the rest of Rovers tatty, past its sell by, unfit for purpose stadium, ticket prices are not that unreasonable.

It is also fair to point out that Rovers, like all League Two and indeed many Conference clubs, charge more than most Bundesliga clubs for matchday tickets. But if you think lower league football is expensive, just take a look at the Premier League.

Arsenal have a matchday ticket, which does not include anything other than a seat, which costs the best part of £100. So three matches at the Emirates is equivalent to a whole season at the Rovers and they don’t even sell pasties.

For those of you hoping for cheaper tickets, do bear in mind that the only way that will happen if Rovers are unsuccessful. As Bristol City have found, the higher you get, the more you need better players in order to compete. To do that, you need more money. To get more money, you end up charging more to your loyal supporters. There is, we are told, no alternative.

Remember when Southampton were in League One not that long ago? They had players on five-figure salaries, which sounded like and of course was a small fortune.

Then they went to the Championship and they had players on six figure salaries. Now they are in the Premier League and they have a squad of millionaires. If Rovers ever reach the upper echelons of football, these will be the kind of figures Nick Higgs and the board will end up paying players in order to remain there.

Bristol Rovers need a new stadium more than ever. The Mem will never represent a sustainable future beyond League One, which is the very lowest we should be. Do not imagine for one moment that moving to the UWE will bring about lower ticket prices.

It may enable to the club to use incentives and initiatives to bring more people through the gate, but one of the main reasons for the new stadium is to dramatically increase income.

Ticket prices, whatever anyone says, will be far higher, unless Rovers stumble across a sugar daddy with more money than sense.  (Many would argue that we currently have a board with neither money nor sense. I couldn’t possibly comment, other than to agree.)

At least in the lower leagues, football remains the preserve of the working man (and woman), but at the top a whole new generation of more affluent people have moved in. That is the way of the world and don’t imagine that Rovers would be any different if they one day entered the promised land of the top flight.

Picture from Bristol Rovers