Arsenal Football Club has announced the outcome of a major review of its ticketing approach ahead of the 2012/2013 season.
The move follows extensive discussions with supporters and supporter groups including AISA has led to changes designed to provide thousands of tickets at lower prices, reward season ticket loyalty and improve the Ticket Exchange service.
Barclays Premier League matches at Emirates Stadium will be re-graded into ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ categories, which will create approximately 90,000 lower-priced matchday tickets for non-season ticket holders across the season.
Ticket prices in the ‘C’ category matches will be on average 28% lower than last season’s equivalent games. For example, a match ticket in the north bank lower for the Premier League home match against Sunderland on Saturday 18th August 2012, will now be priced at £25.50, compared to £35.00 last season.
Also as part of the ticketing policy changes, member sale prices for ‘A’ category matches, where demand for tickets is highest, have increased on average, by 23% from last season. For example, a match ticket in the north bank lower for the Premier League home match against Chelsea on Saturday 29th September 2012, will be priced at £62.00, compared to £51.00 last season.
The lowest priced matchday ticket for next season will be £25.50 for a ‘C’ category match, with the highest priced ticket for next season being £126 for an ‘A’ category match. This top price ticket represents just approximately 1%, on average of available tickets in ‘A’ category matches.
The introduction of 90,000 lower-priced tickets follows the Club’s announcement of a price freeze on Gold Level season ticket renewals for the 2012/2013 season. This is the fourth year out of six that Arsenal has held season ticket prices flat despite continuing pressure to keep pace with rising operational and player costs.
The moves follow consultation with the Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Association and the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust. Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis said: “We have listened to our supporters and these moves respond to some of their key feedback.
“It has been a long-standing aim of the Club to find a way to provide more tickets at lower prices for some of our fixtures. We already significantly reduce prices to our home League Cup matches and now we have been able to offer around 90,000 lower-priced tickets to selected home Premier League matches.
“We constantly aim to strike the right balance between offering tickets at affordable prices, while ensuring we have sufficient income to reinvest in the squad. This is crucial as we look to compete at the top of the game in Europe.”
The Club has also announced enhancements to the Ticket Exchange service to make it easier for season ticket holders who are unable to come to matches to sell their tickets online to fellow Arsenal fans.
More than 20,000 tickets were exchanged by supporters during the course of last season and from the start of the new campaign supporters will also be able to use the Ticket Exchange service to:
- Exchange tickets for UEFA Champions League matches. (this excludes supporters who need to move through UEFA requirements)
- Use a new interactive seat map booking process. The booking process has been simplified for silver and red members, so that available seats can be easily viewed and purchased.
During the first half of the 2012/13 season, the Club will also be launching a new service for supporters named ‘Ticket Transfer’. This is designed to make it easier for season ticket holders to transfer their ticket to family and friends if they are unable to attend a game. More detail on ‘Ticket Transfer’ will be issued in due course.
The AISA and AST supporters’ groups welcomed the moves in a joint statement saying: “Lower prices for Premier League games are something that AISA and AST have been calling for. Today’s announcement is an important step forward in enabling many supporters who have previously been unable to afford tickets to attend matches at the Emirates Stadium. We welcome this development and urge the club to continue to improve and develop its ticketing arrangements, building further on ideas submitted by supporters.”
Match categories
The match categories are ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’. Details of the categories of matches from the start of the season until the end of 2012 are as follows:
| Date (subject to change) | Opposition | Category |
| Sat 18th August | Sunderland | C |
| Sat 15th September | Southampton | C |
| Sat 29th September | Chelsea | A |
| Sat 27th October | Queens Park Rangers | B |
| Sat 10th November | Fulham | B |
| Sat 17th November | Tottenham Hotspur | A |
| Sat 1st December | Swansea City | C |
| Sat 8th December | West Bromwich Albion | C |
| Wed 26th December | West Ham United | B |
| Sat 29th December | Newcastle United | B |
‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ categories are only applicable to home Premier League fixtures.
UEFA Champions League and FA Cup fixtures will be based on A and B pricing.
Pricing for the Capital One Cup (formerly the Carling Cup) will be similar to previous seasons.
Match details for fixtures from January 2013 will be communicated in due course.
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It is good to hear about positive results coming out of meetings between supporter groups and the administration of the club.
Well done AISA 🙂
What do you think of this, Tony? I’m pleased there are going to be some cheaper tickets, but then I was disappointed to see that some other tickets – for the more attractive matches – were going up. But maybe I’m missing other positive features.
Pat: the pricing of the individual games is hard for me to comment on as I am a season ticket, and have had no change in my season ticket price. What affects me greatly is the fact that older supporters get no discount – which may seem trivial to anyone under 60, but when one hits retirement money changes.
A person who has been a supporter all his life, given a fortune to the club, travelled home and away etc etc, has less money in retirement quite often. He then is told by Arsenal – yes you can have a discount – go and sit with the children in the family section. It is the ultimate insult.
I agree with you totally about the lack of older supporters’ discount, Tony.