The Cost of Living Crisis - Spurs

[Archibald&Crooks]

This is something that might creep up on the club, well, football in general.

What with the cost of going to a game being so disgracefully high, uncertainty even over travel these days, will it have an effect on the club? If it costs £100 to go to a game surely more and more people are going to swerve? I mean, if we can't afford to pay the bills, something has to give, right?

And then, even those who do go might cut back on what they spend in the stadium.

I think it's your ticket buying fan more than season ticket holders, who'll still go regardless (in many cases) and i'm sure there are many aspects yet to be touched on.

Could this become an issue or do people think football will be one of those things that gets away with it?

 

[dontcallme]

I think football and Spurs will be fine.

The club are marketing to the high end with the expensive seating areas and bars etc. They also love the tourist fans who not only buy a ticket but plenty of merchandise.

The fan looking to go to semi-regular games might struggle more though.

 

[Gassin's finest]

I didn't renew for this exact reason. Too far, too expensive, too many day trippers and tourists. I don't get enough out of it to justify taking half a day out of my weekend with my family. I got a Nord VPN account and sky sports instead.

 

[Trees]

This is something that might creep up on the club, well, football in general.

What with the cost of going to a game being so disgracefully high, uncertainty even over travel these days, will it have an effect on the club? If it costs £100 to go to a game surely more and more people are going to swerve? I mean, if we can't afford to pay the bills, something has to give, right?

And then, even those who do go might cut back on what they spend in the stadium.

I think it's your ticket buying fan more than season ticket holders, who'll still go regardless (in many cases) and i'm sure there are many aspects yet to be touched on.

Could this become an issue or do people think football will be one of those things that gets away with it?

This is a great point and no one should underestimate what a tough time it will be for this country this Winter. Energy bills, food prices, general inflation are going to bite hugely. I genuinely hope that people will be ok. Time to look out for each other a bit.

 

[wspur]

I think for ST holders and fans based in or close to London won't have an issue with this. Takes less time and relative to income it is not much more pricy than other kinds of entertainment that you'd find in London.

However, for the fans that have to travel for a few hours it might be a problem, all the costs add up. The time spent on trains that most of the times don't work during the weekend is also an inconvenience. A couple of guys near me didn't renew for this reason.

 

[easley91]

I have to travel up via train, so add that to the ticket plus food and drink (depending where you go they may not be cheap either). I won't be going every game, but thankfully the ticket for Southampton was £35ish for my seat so it's doable.

Shirts are also ridiculously expensive these days and becoming moreso every year.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

I have to travel up via train, so add that to the ticket plus food and drink (depending where you go they may not be cheap either). I won't be going every game, but thankfully the ticket for Southampton was £35ish for my seat so it's doable.

Shirts are also ridiculously expensive these days and becoming moreso every year.

I think that's the kind of thing that could really bite, club merchandise and stuff like that. I think we'll possibly see cancellations of Sky and BT Sports etc and eventually, it'll maybe even have an impact on transfers down the line somewhere. The TV money will continue to roll in for now but what if so many people cancel that it no longer becomes viable?

I get that people might think this is doom mongering but as bad as things are right now it could very well get a lot worse. We'll see I guess.

 

[Tucker]

I think that's the kind of thing that could really bite, club merchandise and stuff like that. I think we'll possibly see cancellations of Sky and BT Sports etc and eventually, it'll maybe even have an impact on transfers down the line somewhere. The TV money will continue to roll in for now but what if so many people cancel that it no longer becomes viable?

I get that people might think this is doom mongering but as bad as things are right now it could very well get a lot worse. We'll see I guess.

Tbh we’ve already been looking at how expensive the sky subscription is. We should be ok to keep it going, but if energy prices get stupid it’s not going to be the sky that stays on, it’ll be the lights.

 

[riggi]

I didn't renew for this exact reason. Too far, too expensive, too many day trippers and tourists. I don't get enough out of it to justify taking half a day out of my weekend with my family. I got a Nord VPN account and sky sports instead.

Agreed. I still have my ST as I can afford it but as the years go on, I can see myself giving it up. Very hard to justify that sort of money.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

I’d say those that are still ST holders for the most part aren’t that effected by the cost of living crisis and those that are hope to recoup quite a lot of the price via ticket exchange - many are still desperate not to ‘lose’ their ST

Obviously there will be a % who will be looking at the costs now but over the many years of ST price increases the supporters on lower incomes have been priced out

Covid also played a part in people re-evaluating the experience as well as most games now being televised

Like other walks of life the higher end of the markets are not effected and we do have one of the wealthiest sets of supporters

Whether it’s budget gyms or Country Clubs/Waitrose or Aldi it’s the middle that gets squeezed out

Members will undoubtedly go to less games and depending on how we’re doing some televised games won’t sell out but there are supposedly 160odd thousand members to share the load

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

Reckon crunch time on spending will be the winter when the energy bills start to climb and really start to bite into people's spending. Personally with concession ST and London freedom pass nothing has changed for me apart from gas/electric but I am sure many will be effected.
First three games have all sold out, don't know how many seats available on TE but at the moment things looking good for Spurs.

 

[marion52]

For me the fact that as a senior my ticket is half price is a big deal.
However train travel is really becoming a problem. I travel from Rugby and the fares have increased, some games more than double what I was paying pre Covid.
The fares for the first 2 combined is over £45, and was about £20-25 in 2019
On top of that so many trains are cancelled due to staff with Covid and then the strikes, don’t even know if I will make the Wolves game!
The club must be affected by fuel prices, floodlights, heating etc.
The biggest gain for them is the capacity increase in the new stadium, so increased incomings should overtake the increase in outgoings?

 

[Spurs 1961]

It's become seriously expensive. For me the four hours travel, cost of fuel as it is now - with the weird timing of games public transport is often a non starter - the need to get some food/drink makes it very expensive. In comparison playing golf is actually cheaper

 

[spursfan77]

What an easy win it would be for the club to drop the prices of the concessions further. They won’t of course but I wonder if some clubs will. Trouble is, when they want to put them up again in the future they’ll be a furore.

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

What an easy win it would be for the club to drop the prices of the concessions further. They won’t of course but I wonder if some clubs will. Trouble is, when they want to put them up again in the future they’ll be a furore.

Highly unlikely to reduce anything , if you look at section 2 in newsletter concessions for some seniors withdrawn..

THST News - June 2022 - Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Club

A note to start: Changes at THST As those of you who regularly read our website will know, the Trust Board’s three longest-serving members

www.thstofficial.com

 

[cusop]

I have always believed that ENIC are on top of the price elasticity curve and the demographics curve. The pie and pint for a fiver was the first to go, this year the seniors concession was quietly kicked into touch. Its not cheap to go to spurs but it's not impossible to go. I am waiting to see if they drop the price of safe standing in order to drive demographics towards younger fans. The one thing I do know ENIC is on top of this. If YOU are unable to go for financial reasons then someone else is, to think we all used to worry as a fan base / club might not be able to fill the ground. Yet our first three home games are already sold out

 

[scat1620]

My football-related spend has dropped off a cliff in the last couple of years.

 

[Clockspur]

Certainly not the working man’s game anymore, even my local non league club is £16.50 - although they do let kids in for free.

Tottenham Being based on London will always find someone willing to pay - plenty of Tourists

 

[Clockspur]

I have to travel up via train, so add that to the ticket plus food and drink (depending where you go they may not be cheap either). I won't be going every game, but thankfully the ticket for Southampton was £35ish for my seat so it's doable.

Shirts are also ridiculously expensive these days and becoming moreso every year.

DH Gate - the knock offs these days are very very good and almost the exact same quality - difference is that a knock off costs £14.

I consider myself a collector so only try to buy the real deal - honestly the only difference on our Nike kits that I am able to tell between the real thing and a moody kit these days is the serial number

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

I think finding fans willing to go is one thing but there are probably a shitload of other things to take into consideration that would have a far greater effect, not right now, but maybe at the turn of the year or something. Fans not going to games won't have the same effect as TV money being slashed, people spending less on the club and a whole host of things that added together could very well see football reach the shit hit the fan scenario that people have been predicting (and hoping for) since the Russian rocked up at Chelsea.

I don't think focussing on fans going is actually looking at what the real problems might be, it's a bit ostrichy. IMO of course.

Of course, we might go into some miracle economic recovery and nothing will come of it all ?