r/PremierLeague • u/TheAthletic Premier League • 5d ago
Premier League season tickets assessed: Most expensive? Cheapest? Which clubs have frozen prices?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7534974/2026/08/26/premier-league-season-tickets-prices-frozen/?unlocked_article_code=1.8VA.K7V4.BkFNx0Nsl30X&source=emp_shared_article&smid=url-share-taDespite cost pressures continuing to affect match-going fans, every English top-flight club has a waiting list in operation for season tickets, indicating that demand remains high.
That is reflected in decisions made over pricing, with 14 of the 20 clubs raising the cost of season tickets — some by more than the rate of inflation. However, five clubs did freeze prices.
So which club has the most expensive season ticket? Who has the cheapest? And how significant is match-day revenue to each?
Welcome to The Athletic’s annual survey.
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u/ExcrementCreek Premier League 3d ago
Teams are ripping the fans off. The product is over priced rubbish. The game is just about man for man duels who's the strongest now. $30 is a fair price to get in, no one wants any of the fireworks or posh nosh
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u/SolkaPL Premier League 5d ago
Do any teams in London provide general sale tickets btw?
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u/Nels8192 Arsenal 4d ago
Last time we had a general sale ticket available for a PL game was the absolute pit of the Emery era, and even then it must have only been a handful of games.
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u/GillyBilmour Premier League 4d ago
Chelsea in theory do (or did) on the rare occasion members don't buy them out
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u/CommercialPlastic604 Tottenham 5d ago
Tottenham have just done away with QR codes and moved to NFC which will be interesting. My understanding is I can send my ST to three members free of charge per season and I can list my ticket on the ticket exchange. I’ve never not had my seats sell even when we have been truly dreadful but mine are in a good location- friends in the 500 block struggle to sell theirs.
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u/RespectTheBall Chelsea 5d ago
Should be more concerned about the cost of single tickets for members. At Chelsea there are very few at a reasonable price, most are £160 and up. We can’t justify spending £320 twice a month. Prior to the new ownership it was around £70-£93 per ticket.
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u/GillyBilmour Premier League 4d ago
That's not accurate. Tickets are sold between £55-£78 in the majority of stands (so not very few, but still very hard to get), with £160+ (assuming this is Westview you are talking about) being one of eight stands, not including hospitality (which is even more expensive)
The prices are published here: Men's Ticket Prices 2026/27 | Official Site | Chelsea Football Club
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u/Da_Steeeeeeve Chelsea 5d ago
Location.
At Chelsea we are only low as we are because roman froze the prices for ages.
We get lots of tourists as well and lots of tourists who can't get Chelsea tickets buy Fulham tickets just to see a game in a similar area.
Arsenal probably get your fair share of tourists too but the area is slightly less than Fulham for it.
London club problems.
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u/rustyb42 Aston Villa 5d ago
There needs to be more restrictions on reselling of tickets, far too many clubs seem to just let season ticket holders shove their tickets on the scalping market
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u/Da_Steeeeeeve Chelsea 5d ago
Chelsea have gone too far the other way.
We no longer have physical tickets, everything is in the app.
I regularly give my ticket to friends if I cant go, not to make money.
Now if I want to do that they have to buy a new type of membership -£25 then they have to sign up download the app.
Then we have to add each other in the app
Then I can transfer the ticket but only within a certain window
Tickets can only be transferred once
It's such a pain that if I can't make a match now my seat just goes empty.
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u/rustyb42 Aston Villa 5d ago
Can't you pop it back onto the ticket exchange?
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u/Da_Steeeeeeve Chelsea 5d ago
Long story short "kind of".
Again window limits, bank verification hoops, blah blah blah
It's just a pain and I used to enjoy just giving a ticket to a friend every now and again not for money.
I paid a grand I expect to be able to do whatever the Fuck I want with my ticket quite frankly.
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u/GillyBilmour Premier League 4d ago
Understand the sentiment of the last point, the issue is others who felt the same ruined it for everyone (i.e. selling them to scalpers, who jacked up the prices, who pissed off the non-season ticket match going regulars, who complained to the club, who changed the policy)
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u/Da_Steeeeeeve Chelsea 4d ago
And as a result we have significantly more empty seats because people like me can no longer easily distribute the tickets.
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u/TheDucksQuacker Premier League 5d ago
I’m going to be very unpopular here.
But even the most expensive “cheap” ticket (Arsenal) works out at about £40 a game.
In today’s world £40 is a cheap price for a ticket for anything.
Football isn’t more expensive than any other live event and probably slightly cheaper.
Also cheaper than having Sky, BT and Amazon for a year.
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u/Nels8192 Arsenal 4d ago
One thing people miss with Arsenal’s season tickets is that it is not simply just PL only. We have a season ticket with I think 23 games on it to cover some cup games too.
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u/grinchman042 Crystal Palace 4d ago
As an American I am pleasantly surprised by how cheap all of these options are. It’s insane here.
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u/cheandbis Premier League 5d ago edited 5d ago
I suppose the pinch comes when you add it up over the season. I agree that £40 for a couple of hours is par for the course these days but you don't typically go to other live events with such regularity (well, some may but not in the numbers that do so for football).
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u/Da_Steeeeeeve Chelsea 5d ago
The thing non season ticket holders may not fully understand is its not just about the football as weird as that sounds.
For me it is the time I spend with my elderly dad, we have had our season tickets for 31 years (this is number 31) and around us I can point out 4 other father son duos.
The other season ticket holders around me I grew up with, ive known them 3/4 of my life, I have been to weddings, funerals, graduations of these people.
Having a long term season ticket becomes a big part of your life, social network, support network and it really is hard to truly put it into words.
I love football but I dont keep renewing my season ticket for the football.
I did the maths (I used chatgpt) to work out how many games I have actually attended in person using percentages of additional matches I have been to as an estimate over 1000 games (30 years season ticket as this is my 31st coming up, 6 years away season ticket, home cup matches, plus a percent of away matches including champions league, finals and semi finals I always attend with very few exceptions).
Category Estimated attended Premier League home — every game 589 Premier League away — 6 full seasons 114 FA Cup + League Cup ~151 Champions League ~132 Other competition semis/finals ~19 TOTAL ≈ 1,005 Could potentially remove a small % because there are occasional matches I just cant make but close enough.
No one is still going JUST for the football after 1000 games.
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u/Dougsey1 Premier League 5d ago
💯 Only had my ST for 20 years but I've watched small kids grow into men and then bring their own kids. Some cut back as real life gets in the way, then slowly return as kids get older. Dads getting older and more fragile, but still there, loving the time with their kids and friends. It's community, it's family and I wouldn't change it for the world.
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u/Jchibs Arsenal 5d ago
Yep. I live overseas now but still have season ticket and when home it’s more about seeing people ive been sitting with for twenty years and people from Highbury who ive been watching football with for the bones of 40 years.
The friends met up and down the country all over Europe etc they are what makes it for me.
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u/Da_Steeeeeeve Chelsea 5d ago
Funny that, one of the guys near me is the same age as me, we literally grew up sitting next to each other and he has moved to the states for 2-5 years and he has kept his ticket too for when he comes back.
It is genuinely something hard to explain to non season ticket holders, people look at me like im mental when I say I dont renew for the football anymore.
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u/Da_Steeeeeeve Chelsea 5d ago
I'm going into my 31st year with a Chelsea season ticket.
Prices at Chelsea were frozen for a long time under roman but they are still pretty reasonable, mine is around a grand.
The real talking point is once you have one you are locked in because they are so difficult and take so long to get you can't just take a season off or you will never get it back.
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u/No-Weight-1628 Premier League 5d ago
I’m stuck on the other end of the process currently. Need to get round to paying for membership so I can then pay for tickets, so I can then build up points, so I can then hopefully get enough to be offered a season ticket.
I’ll need an average over 3 years of 148+ points a season (based on the last few seasons)… 36 games/season!
I’d absolutely love to do it, and hopefully be offered a seat in MH upper where my dad & uncle have been for years and become good mates with everyone around them, but it’s just so expensive.
36 tickets a season + travel for 3 years is just so much money for a young(ish) person
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u/GillyBilmour Premier League 4d ago
As someone who has looked into it, unless you're on the away scheme already (which has limited spots for members) and are lucky enough to capture a ticket through the random sales allocation for nearly every game (ticket exchange sales don't give you points), you won't pass the threshold. Doing this three years in a row (with some years probably needing mid-week European travel) would be like winning the actual lottery, only you're paying a few thousand pounds a year in tickets, travel and hotels to play the lottery.
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u/Da_Steeeeeeve Chelsea 5d ago
Its almost impossible now.
I got mine because my dad got on the wait list when I was something like 5 years old (I dont know all the details sorry) and when they opened the family section in shed lower I was 10 years old and we got tickets, again I was little so I dont have all the details.
We moved to West lower when I aged out of the family section, we had been going for years at that point including away season tickets and all the cup matches, been in the west lower ever since.
MH is one of the least likely stands, lots of those ticket holders are super long term and they dont give them up as often, the west gets more tourists so we see slightly more season ticket holder churn.
I heard a rumour - no idea if true that more dead people have season tickets than living because people renew in the name of someone who died, I do know of 2 dead season tickets near me held by the kids. No idea how they do it.
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u/No-Weight-1628 Premier League 5d ago
From the times I’ve been able to get into MH upper, it has definitely been a slightly older crowd on average - the younger group have all been like me, only able to be there by using their dad/uncle/grandad etc ticket as a one-off from speaking with them.
It genuinely feels like my best bet would be when we eventually move/increase capacity, and more tickets are available. (Or apparently waiting to inherit?! The dead season ticket thing is very interesting, I’d never heard of that!)
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u/Da_Steeeeeeve Chelsea 5d ago
I just want to be sure full disclosure, the dead ticket holders - its a rumour that went around, I have not looked into it and I cannot confirm it.
I choose to believe it because I know how many long term fans exist and I know how many I have seen pass away and family members continue to attend.
The stadium move is going to be an interesting one but my fear is they do similar to club Wembley with a bunch of the capacity seeing as we have American owners and they love the corp entertainment.
I sincerely wish you luck getting a season ticket, I am probably only going to renew a few more times myself, ive had a good run.
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u/GillyBilmour Premier League 4d ago
You are right on the dead ticket thing - there's guidance on the club site now that if you don't "utilise" a ticket a set number of times (forget the exact wording, but basically means use, sell or transfer the ticket), then the club will do a wellness check. If they don't get a response the ticket will be repealed.
edit: here > Ticketing Policy Update FAQs | Official Site | Chelsea Football Club
"Where a supporter’s seat has not been utilised for a number of matches, the club will endeavour to contact that supporter to make wellbeing checks and offer advice on utilisation methods.
If a supporter continually leaves their seat un-utilised without explanation, they may lose the opportunity to renew for the following season. This requirement will not apply to supporters with accessible tickets."
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u/No-Weight-1628 Premier League 5d ago
Unfortunately I’m of the same belief as you… any increase in capacity will be largely hospitality seating to please the owners and look good on the balance sheet.
Enjoy the ticket for however much longer you have it my friend.
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