The Cost of Football

[LDG]

They gave me a free Arsenal scarf at the beginning of 2009/10

[Xhaka Can’t]

Don't see what is so difficult to understand here, TBH. A club may have captive fans, but it doesn't prevent it from being subject to the rules of supply and demand on some level, which Arsenal is.

The way you talk you would think that football as a whole doesn't exploit its fan base - only AFC does. That's bollix, as you well know. Football sold its soul years ago, and if AFC wasn't trying to maximise its profits it would be regarded as commercially naive - in fact that's exactly what many were saying before we finally gave in to the lucrative pre-season tour model.

...and FWIW I disagree with Letters' point:



If as an Arsenal fan you don't like ticket prices, you can stay at home. If you don't like the food or drink prices, eat/drink outside the ground.

I don't see how you consistently fail to grasp the crux of the argument being made. You either don't understand or are ignoring the key point being made that the Club is progressively offering less for more, this is reducing demand and if this trajectory continues, supply will eventually outstrip demand. I honestly can't fathom your difficulty understanding this POV and like Letters I can't understand how you can make the same point as him yet disagree with it.

Bizarre.

[Niall_Quinn]

I don't see how you consistently fail to grasp the crux of the argument being made. You either don't understand or are ignoring the key point being made that the Club is progressively offering less for more, this is reducing demand and if this trajectory continues, supply will eventually outstrip demand. I honestly can't fathom your difficulty understanding this POV and like Letters I can't understand how you can make the same point as him yet disagree with it.

Bizarre.

Prices are up, performances and results are down, the only plus is fans now literally have a better pot to piss in given the facilities have been improved. But how many fans are living it up in the reserved sections? It's an indisputable fact the fans are now paying more for less, it's obvious, self evident, beyond argument. That said, power companies, rail companies, TV companies, telecoms companies, the petrol station, the lousy shit-stained, thieving, cuntish government, it's all the same - more cost, less delivery. The average citizen is being fucked up, down and sideways by an ever bloated gang of despicable corporate cunts. It's what WE have allowed to happen and if the people who are laughing at GB's letter and taking the piss had only bothered to stand up themselves, things could be different. And what of the constant moaning that seems to get on the nerves of those who apparently enjoy being fucked hard up the arse without even being offered a drink or dinner? Let me tell you, when we all go silent that's when the shafting will really get nasty.

[Coney]

They gave me a free Arsenal scarf at the beginning of 2009/10

Twice. I've got two of them.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Twice. I've got two of them.

That explains the 6.5% hike in tickets.

[IBK]

I don't see how you consistently fail to grasp the crux of the argument being made. You either don't understand or are ignoring the key point being made that the Club is progressively offering less for more, this is reducing demand and if this trajectory continues, supply will eventually outstrip demand. I honestly can't fathom your difficulty understanding this POV and like Letters I can't understand how you can make the same point as him yet disagree with it.

Bizarre.

Easy to explain. The club is exploiting its fans. But it is able to do so because of market forces. Why should it not try to increase its revenue, when demand remains high, and no fucker else in the top half of the EPL is doing anything different?

[Niall_Quinn]

Easy to explain. The club is exploiting its fans. But it is able to do so because of market forces. Why should it not try to increase its revenue, when demand remains high, and no fucker else in the top half of the EPL is doing anything different?

Dangerous game assuming demand is inelastic, plus there's an inertia because the board is gradually running the team down rather than dumping it in one hit. It's entirely conceivable that another couple of crappy seasons and a failure at the top level to change direction could see the stadium only half full.

[Xhaka Can’t]

I think the bigger shorter term threat is on revenue from Corporate Suites/Boxes. Corporate entertainers are hardly going to impress their clients by taking them to see pre pubescent losers in front of 55k groaning pissed off fans, a large proportion of whom will be weighing up whether or not to renew the following season.

[Coney]

That explains the 6.5% hike in tickets.

Also explains why they wanted nearly 70 quid for my Liverpool ticket.