The news that Arsenal have decided to raise ticket prices for 2025-26 was buried by the avalanche of goals they scored in Eindhoven.
In the build-up to Tuesday’s game, it emerged the club are set to increase men’s-team ticket prices by between three and five per cent for next season. Arsenal’s official confirmation followed the next day — if there’s ever a good time to break bad news, the day after a 7-1 victory in the first leg of a Champions League knockout-phase tie might well be it.
The headline is that Arsenal have decided to raise prices at a time when some other Premier League clubs have agreed to a freeze.
The Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) has led a nationwide campaign calling on teams to ‘Stop Exploiting Loyalty’ and several of them, including Liverpool, Brentford, Wolves and West Ham, have confirmed they will not be raising prices for 2025-26. There will undoubtedly be some frustration among supporters that Arsenal have not followed suit.
The cost of a general admission 23-match season ticket in the Emirates Stadium’s upper tier will increase by three per cent, and by five per cent in its lower tier. Fans in the upper tier will pay an average of £44 ($56.60) more next season; in the lower tier, it will average out to an additional £56.
Arsenal’s most expensive general admission season ticket, for 23 home games in the centre of the upper tier, will cost £2,112.50 in 2025-26. A seat behind the goals or in a corner of the lower tier will cost £1,126.50.
The club’s 2023-24 financial results, released in February, showed revenues increasing from £466.7million to a record £616.6m. Matchday income rose by 28 per cent to £131.7m for last season, taking them above neighbours Tottenham to be second only to Manchester United in the Premier League. This price hike could see income rise again by several million pounds.
Manchester United fans have protested against rising ticket prices this season (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
At a time when the club speak proudly of diverse revenue streams and improving commercial performance, supporters may understandably ask why they are being squeezed. Explanations about the costs of running an elite football club would doubtless fall on more sympathetic ears if they did not follow so soon after a winter transfer window which left many Arsenal fans aggrieved at the club’s decision not to buy.
The club did engage in considerable dialogue with fans before declaring the price hike.
Three meetings were held with the Arsenal Advisory Board (AAB) — a group comprised of elected supporter representatives. Managing director Richard Garlick was present at all of those meetings, while executive vice-chair Tim Lewis attended one and co-chairman Josh Kroenke, whose father Stan owns the club, contributed to another.
While there was naturally disappointment at the decision to raise the cost of admission, Arsenal did at least engage in meaningful dialogue and show a willingness to adapt plans to address fans’ concerns.
A poll by the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust from May 2024 showed 80 per cent of their members backed the introduction of a 19-game season ticket — that is, one which is for home Premier League matches only.
Arsenal have now agreed to meet this long-standing request. This will mean reducing the upfront cost of a season ticket by approximately 20 per cent. A statement from the supporters’ trust said they “recognise the goodwill the club have shown in following up on their commitment last year to carefully review the case for this change”.
This tweak will have the added benefit of making more cup-tie tickets available to the club’s silver and red members — two different tiers of paid membership schemes which give access to ticket ballots and other perks. Nineteen-game season-ticket holders will be entitled to purchase their seat for domestic cup ties too, but for any European matches these seats will go into the silver member ballot. Arsenal will monitor and review this policy over the course of next season.
Alternatively, fans can purchase a 23-game season ticket, which includes four European games as standard, assuming Arsenal qualify for one of the three UEFA competitions.
Season-ticket holders of any kind must use or sell their ticket for at least 85 per cent of games, or risk losing their seat for the following season. Arsenal also continue to battle touts. So far this season, they say they have identified and cancelled more than 26,156 accounts attempting to obtain tickets in unauthorised ways.
One aspect of the Stop Exploiting Loyalty campaign the club did address was fears over the removal of concessions. Arsenal upheld their commitment to concessionary tickets for under-18s, 18-to-24-year-olds, disability access members and seniors. They have also increased the size of the 18-24 allocation by 1,000, enabling 4,000 young adults to attend games at reduced prices.
The club will also recognise the 40th anniversary of their Arsenal in the Community charity by making 1,000 tickets available free of charge to local fans.
One outstanding issue surrounds the classification of games in the Champions League’s opening phase as category A or B matches, assuming Arsenal qualify for that competition. This makes them among the most expensive fixtures to attend, even though many supporters will see qualification to the knockout rounds via the new 36-team league format as little more than a formality.
There is good news and bad news, then, amid this ticketing update.
Arsenal have undoubtedly made concessions, but it is difficult to look beyond the hard fact of the price increase.
The club point to the spiralling costs of competing at the top ends of both the Premier League and Champions League. Those 2023-24 financial results saw the club’s overall wage bill balloon by some 40 per cent to £328million but that is still only the fifth highest in the Premier League — Arsenal are aware further investment will be required to make them serial winners again.
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There may also be a clash of cultures at play here.
Arsenal are owned by Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, a company which also runs several U.S. sports teams. Compared to the cost of watching live sport in North America, where dynamic pricing models are often in play, the Premier League can appear good value. The average ticket price in the National Football League (NFL) was $120 (£93.30) for the 2023-24 season, according to Statista, and there’s been a steady rise in their cost over the past 15 years. That sits at odds with the English tradition of football being an affordable game for working-class people.
The price hike is yet another factor that adds pressure to a summer at Arsenal that was already going to be under considerable scrutiny.
If supporters are being asked to pay more, they will expect to see that outlay turned into considerable investment in the team — and for success to follow.
(Top photo: Visionhaus/Getty Images)
