Industry News

Bradford City owner to charge £1 per game if club returns to Premier League

The owner of English League One football club Bradford City has stated that if the team was to return to the Premier League, tickets would cost £1 per game.

Edin Rahic, the club’s co-owner, explained that if his club reached the top level of English football for the first time in 16 years, revenue from television deals could allow them to subsidise ticket prices.

“It’s our dream, of course, to be in the Premier League and, if we get there, the tickets will be £1 per game,” Rahic said, according to the Daily Mail.

In the Premier League, matchday revenue rarely exceeds a third of turnover, and at smaller clubs, the reliance on ticket sales is even less.”

Rahic said: “You already get at least £100m from the TV money. The income of the ticketing would be a small percentage compared to TV money.

“When you look at ticket prices in the Premier League, when even the bottom of the table gets £100m in TV money, I think it’s a shame to charge so much.

“So why would you not give something back to the fans? I want to have the best atmosphere in England.”

Bradford are currently three points off an automatic promotion place in League One, which would bring them into the Championship, one tier below the Premier League.

Currently, a season ticket for Bradford City costs £149.

Before Rahic bought the club, which has an average gate of 18,000 – the second highest in League One – it was already committed to affordable ticket prices, more often posting the lowest season ticket prices, according to the BBC Price of Football survey.

A report published by the Premier League in October last year, revealed that the average ticket price for games is £31, while as many as 25 per cent of seats cost less than £20. For the first time, England’s top 20 clubs were asked to provide full details on stadium allocations, ticket prices, sales and the availability and take up of discounts.

It also added that season-ticket holders account for, on average, 71 per cent of supporters inside Premier League stadiums, while four million tickets this season will be sold at discounted prices.