Season Tickets around The AP

By Whaley Shark
May 21 2011

Our season ticket renewal deadline has just passed, but I thought I’d have a bit of a nose around and see what the other Premiership clubs are up to. It’s actually not that simple to find out, especially since I’m not organised enough to have the 10-11 information tucked away, so thank you very much for your help, Mr Google.

It’s also not straightforward to make direct comparisons- some clubs offer discounts to renewing season ticket holders, some have membership schemes, and Bath seem to be so relaxed about renewals there doesn’t appear to be any information available yet. Anyhow, other than Bath, I’ve assembled some info for the ten teams who are carrying on in the Premiership and put the range of adult season ticket prices at each club in the table.

So what can we see? Wasps are the big movers, presumably trying to replenish the coffers to recover from what was, by their standards, a relatively unsuccessful season, and with mutterings about a new ground. Interestingly, Gloucester and Quins seem to be going in opposite directions. Glaws are pushing for numbers, with discounts for returners who’ve previously let their season tickets lapse, and a limited number of very competitively priced tickets. By contrast, Quins’ £ 99 entry level season ticket of last season has seen a £ 50 price hike. Tigers have opened up their price range a bit, notably squeezing the high end tickets and presumably ensuring that they stay ahead of the financial pack. Sarries, Saints, Falcons, Irish and we have kept costs frozen, while there are only minor changes at Saints, and, after the previous year’s big hike in costs to reflect their promotion, Exeter.

Closer to home, I suppose the most striking thing about us is that we have the widest range of prices. At one extreme, we have the BMI ‘seat but no roof’ Stand, which is now England’s most cost-effective way to watch Premiership rugby and, at the other extreme, we have my Platinum-coated, cushion-seated neighbours in the Prawn Sandwich stand who, presumably, are making a significant contribution to funding Dimes’s revolution. But, having said all that, we’re pretty much in line with the other clubs.

Overall, I don’t know what it all means, if anything. All the clubs have their own problems, priorities and needs and presumably price accordingly. It is notable, however, that there seems to be no correlation at all between season ticket prices and on-field performance.