Let me make one thing very clear right from the start: I hate Bayern Munich and most of their fans with every fibre of my being. I hate their dominance in German football and the way they are signing key players from most other clubs in Germany, not necessarily to improve their own team (as usually they end up warming a place on the Bayern bench occupied by other superstars already) but rather to weaken those teams that could seriously start challenging Bayern for domestic titles.
I hate the way they attract plastic fans a la Chelsea, people who claim to be fans, but have never seen Bayern Munich play at home or have any kind of attachment to Bavaria or Munich for that matter.
But there is one thing I seriously admire them for: And that is the way they are catering for their most loyal fans and their families by making sure there are affordable tickets on offer. And when I say affordable I mean extremly cheap, compared to Premier League and especially West Ham ticket prices. The following examples are no typos by the way.
I’ll start with the most expensive season tickets for us normal folk for the current season (no corporate boxes including free food, drink and halftime entertainment).
It’s 580 pounds for an adult and 290 pounds for children up to and including the age of 13. Again, that’s the most expensive seats.
At the other end of the scale you have the season tickets in the safe standing areas: Tighten your seatbelts! 108 pounds for both adults and children.
That’s the season ticket covering 19 Bundesliga home games. That’s just 5.68 pounds a game! Not quite kids for a quid, but remember, this is for a season ticket, so most people can afford not only to still go and watch the football, they can also afford to take their wife and kids if they are so inclined.
Of course there are medium priced tickets available that give you a better view while still being reasonably cheap.
The thing is: Bayern could charge a lot more for their tickets and the Allianz Arena would still be packed to the rafters. Former Bayern president Uli Hoeness (currently let out of prison on parole after being jailed for tax evasion, he still has to return to prison at night) has a very clear stance on ticket pricing.
Quote: “We could charge more. Let’s say we charged £300 (for the cheapest season ticket). We’d get £2m more in income but what’s £2m to us?
In a transfer discussion you argue about that sum for five minutes. But the difference between £108 and £300 is huge for the fan.
We do not think the fans are like cows, who you milk. Football has got to be for everybody. That’s the biggest difference between us and England.”
I know that Bayern’s finances are far removed from our current position whatwith the debt and Bayern having played in the Champions League for dozens of seasons.
But I think the principal approach alluded to in the above quote also applies to a certain degree to English clubs, West Ham included.
The big money in football is no longer made from the ticket sales. It’s mainly coming from massive TV deals, from sponsorship, merchandise sales and catering.
The counter argument seems to be that our club could be losing out on transfer targets if we charge significantly less for tickets than other clubs. Which doesn’t really explain why West Ham tickets at this point in time are among the most expensive in Britain.
I still think it is overall a good concept and could eventually even improve West Ham’s financial status. First of all affordable tickets would allow more of the normal football fans back into the stadium, them and their kids (it’s always good to get ’em hooked early). At that point the club loses a bit of money due to the cheaper tickets.
But the money making machinery starts once those fans (including kids) are through the turnstiles, food, drinks, a programme, a Sakho shirt for the dad, a scarf for the wife, Adrian style goalkeeping gloves for the junior and the West Ham till goas ka-ching!
I have no doubt that people spend more money on these things when actually attending games instead of watching the game at home or in a pub.
Filling the ground to the rafters and generating subsequent income from catering and merchandise will become more difficult, yet more important once we are in the OS.
The TV money is likely to become even a bigger part of a club’s income, so West Ham should seriously reconsider their ticket pricing policy.
They don’t necessarily have to do a Bayern there – but it should be possible to make West Ham ticket prices average again compared to other teams in the Premier League.
West Ham tickets among the most expensive in the country ? It doesn’t fit our heritage and needs to change.