The price of a day out at the football, combined with the soaring cost-of-living is leaving some fans with no choice but to stay at home this Season.
Fan’s View
The cost-of-living crisis has caused AFC Bournemouth to lose a loyal customer, Mr Ashley Blunden, who said: “Going to watch Bournemouth is too expensive for me at the moment.”
Mr Brookman told me that he has stopped going to watch football all together, as he said: ‘’I’m saving over £30 a week by not going, which is precious at these times.”
Spare money that people normally use to go to watch the football, is being swallowed up by the rise of food and household bills.
Wimborne Town fan, Chris Brookman said: “As much as I love Wimborne, feeding my family and paying my bills on time is obviously a lot more important than watching the football.”
Expenses of a day out at the football
In the 19/20 Premier League season, the average ticket price was £32.
Going to watch a game is an expensive occasion, once you factor in the cost of your ticket and travel, plus other common expenses at football grounds like food, drink and matchday programmes.
AFC Bournemouth fan Ashley Blunden has swapped the Premier League for the eighth tier.
Mr Blunden has started going to watch non-league side, Wimborne Town, instead of AFC Bournemouth, he said: “It’s more than half the price of going to watch Bournemouth.”
He added: “The only reason I’m even coming to watch these (Wimborne Town) is because I need to watch football, it is my form of escapism.”
Before this season, both Brookman and Blunden told me they had been going to watch their respective teams on a regular basis.
However, they are not alone in choosing to sacrifice watching their team to counteract the cost-of-living crisis.
It is becoming a common theme amongst football fans and is causing EFL clubs to consider dropping their ticket prices to keep more fans attending games.
