With the new season fast approaching the new trend for Elite League clubs appears to be raising ticket prices, with Manchester, Edinburgh, Coventry, Belfast and now it seems Sheffield announcing price increases for the new season. In these times of economic hardship, is this really a good idea?
Obviously clubs have to cover costs, but will an increase have a negative effect? As people’s (and more crucially families) disposable income decreases, luxuries and leisure spending will have to be reduced, especially if you want to use your car!
The average walk up ticket price for an EIHL game is now £14.50. Let’s compare that to some other sports/entertainment. On Friday night I went to see The Dark Knight at the cinema at a cost of £7 for 2 and a half hours of top class entertainment. Yesterday I went to see Nottingham Forest v Reading in the Football League championship, and while I borrowed a friends season ticket, if I had purchased a ticket on the day it would have cost me £25, and while it was a good game, I’d have begrudged paying £25 for it (but not as much as a Notts County supporting colleague who paid £25 to see them lose at Bradford in league 2, ouch!!) However, the difference is I will probably be going to the next Forest game, I might not go back to the cinema for 6 months. The reason is sport.
It has always been my opinion that you cannot compare sport to other forms of entertainment, you just can’t have the same passion watching a film as you can following your particular sporting team. While I don’t believe that the EIHL owners could get away with charging what they like, £15 is a fair price to pay for what is the top level of hockey you can see in this country, and when compared with the 2nd tier of English football (and the fourth come to that), comes out quite favourably. I have no doubt that prices may put off the casual fan and may reduce away support (which clubs really shouldn’t be relying on), but by and large I expect the attendances to remain pretty much the same, after all, sport has been a form of tribalism for centuries and that isn’t going to change, regardless of the price.
Written by Jono#72
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