The Club also has the cheapest matchday programme
The cost of watching football in Britain has dropped or remained the same for the majority of fans, a study by BBC Sport has found.The Price of Football, the largest study of its type in Europe, looked at costs at 230 clubs in 13 leagues across Britain.
Fleetwood Town have the second cheapest season ticket in League One, and also have the cheapest matchday programme.
Chairman Andy Pilley said: “We give excellent value for money at Fleetwood Town and the season ticket price was something we decided on a long time ago.
“We knew we had the smallest population in Football League and that we operate from a peninsula with the sea to the North, East and West.
“It’s not easy filling your ground with such a small population, therefore we have to make it appeal and offer good value for money.
“We want that feel good factor and want the stands to be as full as they can possibly be. We want supporters who spread the gospel of Fleetwood Town.”
More than 700 tickets were analysed, with 70.15% seeing a price freeze or reduction for the 2015-16 season. Some 51.91% were held, while 18.24% of tickets were reduced.
Just less than 30% of tickets surveyed were more expensive this season.
The average cost of a football shirt is £42.18 for adults and £33.66 for children. In the Premier League this rises to £49.68 and £38.42 thanks to a 4.82% increase in the average price this season.
Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, was -0.1% in September and has been almost flat since hitting a then-record low of 0.3% in January.
The Price of Football surveys the cost of the cheapest and most expensive match day and season tickets, as well as the cost of a pie, programme, cup of tea and adult and junior replica shirts.
Now in its fifth year, the study found:
- Two thirds of Premier League tickets were frozen or reduced in price.
- However the cheapest match-day ticket now costs more than £30 on average for the first time after 11 clubs put up prices in this category.
- Conversely the Scottish Premiership's cheapest ticket now costs £20.17 on average after a 1.2% fall in price. This is less than England’s Championship and League One.
- In the Welsh Premier League and Irish Premiership fans pay less than £10 per match.
- Tickets in the Women’s Super League in England, which saw attendances increase by 48% after the World Cup in June and July, cost less than £5.
In the Premier League:
The average cost of the cheapest match-day ticket in the Premier League has passed £30 for the first time, the BBC's Price of Football has found.
Eleven clubs in the top flight put the price of this ticket up, contributing to a 6.54% year-on-year rise. It now averages £30.68, up from £28.80.
The cost of the most expensive match-day ticket fell slightly to an average of £56.63.
In the season ticket category, both the cheapest and most expensive rose about 1% to £513.95 and £886.21 respectively. That works out at £27.05 and £46.64 a game.
Premier League grounds were 95.9% full last season – a record level.
Swansea were the only club out of 230 across the UK who declined to take part in the study.
Of the 19 Premier League clubs studied, 55.26% of tickets were frozen in price this season, while 11.84% were reduced and 32.89% were increased in price.
A Premier League study of ticket prices released last week found season ticket holders, who make up 66% of top-flight crowds, paid an average of £32.50 for adults and £10 for juniors.
The average pie costs £3.35 in the top flight, up 1.82%, while a tea is £2.09, down 2.84%. A programme is £3.42, up 6.77%.
From next season, a bumper new television deal, worth £5.136bn, commences in the Premier League and will bring clubs tens of millions in extra revenue. Even the club which finishes 20th will earn an estimated £100m, up more than £30m.
The most recent analysis of Premier League clubs’ finances, found clubs made pre-tax profits of £187m, the first since 1999. In addition, the league's wages to revenue ratio fell from 71% to 58%, the lowest since 1998-99.
Ticket price highlights
- Arsenal again have the most expensive match day ticket in the Premier League at £97.
- The cheapest matchday ticket in the Premier League is offered by Leicester City at £22.
- Chelsea's cheapest match day ticket is £52, highest-priced of the Premier League’s cheapest.
- Derby County, Reading and Huddersfield’s £10 match day ticket is the cheapest in the top five leagues in England - only matched by Southport in the Conference.
- The average price of the cheapest match-day ticket in Scottish football’s top flight now costs £20.17 on average after a 1.2% fall in price. This is less than England’s Championship and League One.
- In Women’s Super Leagues One and Two, match day ticket prices average £4.94.
Season tickets
- Arsenal again have the most expensive season ticket in the Premier League at £2,013.
- Their cheapest season ticket remains £1,014, and is still the most costly in the Premier League - £249 more than the next highest.
- However both Arsenal season tickets include seven matches in cup competitions.
- Stoke City have the cheapest season ticket in the Premier League at £294.
- Reading’s £135 season ticket is the cheapest in the top four divisions in England, with only Conference side Eastleigh (£120) cheaper.
- The most expensive season ticket in Scotland is sold by Celtic, at £559, but that fell in price by £41 this season.
- In the Women’s Super Leagues One and Two, Notts County have the most expensive season ticket at £60, while London Bees Ladies have the cheapest at £18.
Replica shirts
- The average cost of a football shirt in the UK is £42.18 for adults.
- In the Premier League the average cost of the adult replica shirt is now £49.68, up 4.82% with 10 clubs putting prices up.
- Price of Football asked for the cost of junior shirts for the first time this year. The average price is £33.66 for children.
- The average top flight junior shirt is £38.42.
- Manchester United’s £60 adult shirt is the highest in the study, as is their £45 junior shirt.
- At the Old Trafford club, it costs £118 for a full adult strip, including shorts, socks and a number of the shirt at the club. A junior strip is £103.
- Bournemouth’s £40 adult shirt and Norwich’s £28 junior shirt are the cheapest in the Premier League.
- The 20 Premier League clubs brought out 50 strips this season, with 10 clubs putting new third strips on sale.
- Aberdeen’s £55 shirt is the most expensive in Scotland and the joint second highest in the UK, while their £43 junior shirt was the costliest in Scotland and third highest in the study.
- The cheapest adult shirt in the UK is at London Bees who charge £20.90.
Pies
- Kidderminster Harriers again have the most expensive pie among the clubs we covered. The National League club charges £4.50 for their award-winning pie.
- Championship club Brighton & Hove Albion are the next most expensive at £4.10.
- In the Premier League, Crystal Palace and Man City have the most expensive pie at £4.
- In Scotland, at £1.20, the cheapest pies are at Forfar and Queen’s Park.
- Conference side Braintree’s £1 pie is the cheapest in the study.
Cups of tea
- Birmingham have the most expensive cup of tea in the study at £2.20.
- The cheapest can be bought at Scottish League two side Elgin City for 60p. The cheapest in England is for 80p at Braintree.
- Chelsea at £1 and Watford at £1.70 have the cheapest tea in the Premier League.
- The most expensive cup of tea in the top four divisions of Scottish football can be bought at Celtic, Dundee, Dundee United, and Inverness at £2.20.
European comparisons:
- You can buy a season ticket at Bayern Munich for £104.48 and Barcelona for £73.88, less than the cheapest available in the top four leagues in both England and Scotland.
- Barcelona’s shirt is £89.55 – the most expensive out of the 227 teams in the study.
- You can buy a match day ticket for Bayern Munich (£11.19), Bayer Leverkusen (£11.19) and Borussia Dortmund (£11.94) for £34.32, less than the £36.06 cost of the average pie, tea and cheapest matchday ticket in the Premier League.
- PSG expensive season ticket for £2,113.46 – £100 more than Arsenal’s and the most expensive out of the 227 teams in the study.
- PSG offer a matchday for £186.57 -£89.57 more than Arsenal’s most expensive matchday ticket – which is the costliest in the UK.