The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust have criticised the club for their failure to freeze ticket prices for the upcoming season. The Gunners announced a series of ticketing changes on Tuesday, which will result in an average increase of 3.9 per cent for general admission season tickets.
This marks the fifth year in a row that Arsenal have chosen to hike prices, coinciding with a period when the Football Supporters’ Association has been advocating for a ticket price freeze across all Premier League clubs.
The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust expressed their disappointment at the club’s refusal to « seriously engage » with the concept of freezing ticket prices for next season.
In a statement, the trust said: « We are disappointed that the FSA’s ‘Protect the Fans, Protect the Game’ proposals calling for a ticket price freeze across all Premier League clubs has not been taken up.
« Neither the Premier League nor Arsenal have seriously engaged with the idea that a freeze at all clubs would help stop the ‘arms race’.
« We firmly believe that with the football sector benefitting from ever-increasing broadcast and commercial revenues it is time to stop squeezing match-going supporters so hard.
« Arsenal recently reported to Deloitte a big increase in last season’s total revenue to £691m (up by 10 per cent) and ticketing income of £154m (up by 19 per cent).
« It is frustrating for fans to see football clubs and leagues do so little to combat increasing costs in the game, with ticket prices continuing to rise.
« The AST has led efforts through the FSA and FSE for regulation to control agents’ fees. Yet the football authorities and clubs seem incapable of collectively addressing this.
« We now expect both Arsenal and the Premier League to give more explanation as to why they have chosen to ignore the compelling case for a price freeze put forward by the ‘Protect the Fans, Protect the Game’ campaign, which was overwhelmingly backed by supporters including all representative members of the Arsenal Advisory Board (AAB). »
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