Hi everyone, My friend Clyde (admin on “Royals Rendezvous”) is petitioning the FA and Premier League to require Premier League club to offer fans free away travel to matches - before hopefully expanding to the Football League and cup competitions. The main aim is that the increased TV money isn't spent on player's wages. See here Recently, the Premier League announced a new television deal showing an increase of 71% on the previous deal. With this massive increase in revenue for the clubs - they should be able to offer away fans free travel to away matches without increasing ticket prices. Ticket prices are already too high and put people off travelling to the games. Including the travel with the match ticket would enable more people to be able to travel to matches - especially younger people, who may not be able to travel to matches otherwise. In Germany, away travel is included as part of the match ticket - and is subsidised by the clubs. Some Premier League clubs, such as Stoke City, have already implemented a free away travel scheme for their supporters. Stoke started the scheme for the 2013-14 season and saw a 26% increase on away attendances for like-for-like matches when compared to the previous season. This shows how well this can work. Additionally, the increased away ticket money would offset the cost of the transport to the games. The Premier League should force clubs to offer free away travel - as part of the rules of the league. This could, later, be expanded for Premier League sides playing in the FA and League Cups, as well as Championship sides. Please take a second out and give a hand …
I don't like it. We've discussed this at City a few times. If money is available to subsidise something, why do it on travel that many fans prefer to avoid? It makes far more sense to subsidise tickets, which excludes no one.
Every home game is like an "away" game for me, any chance of having my travel subsidised so its free for that? Ta.
I agree. People campaigned against enforced bubble trips, preferring to make their own travel arrangements.
I'm not in favour of this as fans travel in a variety of ways to matches so this is not a practical action. I would much prefer to see a subsidy used to reduce the price of away tickets which would then benefit all equally.
I travel 500 miles round trip to home matches and away travel has no value to me. Reduce the cost of my season card first!
Totally agree. 'Free' away travel? Why do you think anyone has a right to ask for that? Cheaper match day tickets yes but 'free travel' will be abused. What is to stop the one-game- a -season armchair Premier League 'supporters' from Hull ( and elsewhere) from booking on a free bus from the KC to watch City at the Premier League club of their choice and 'supporting' that club? The PL would be just handing out free bus trips to anyone who fancies a day out. If the fans are going to get something out of this new deal then let it be cheaper tickets across the board.
Similar to Omega Man I travel a 500 mile round trip from Wiltshire to Home Matches. Reducing the cost of my Season Pass would be the better option.
Very hard to argue with responses so far, but isn't this proposal only benefiting those who can already afford to watch PL teams in the flesh ? It won't be applicable to many of the "big" PL teams, but wouldn't it be much more forward thinking for football in general ( throughout the divisions), for the FA & leagues to try to encourage future supporters e.g. kids, who's parents may not be able to afford to take them to games, by offering free tickets for kids to help fill unoccupied seats on match days ? TV etc is killing the game to some extent, so getting future supporters, with parental encouragement and club inducement (free tickets) might help save the lifeblood atmosphere of the game...i.e. actually being there. ? Some of this vast increase in TV money surely could go to something like that, not to subsidizing those who've already become supporters and in the main probably can afford the travel costs selectively ?
Can you imagine Liverpool & Man Utd fans. They'd be complaining coming from Norway to home games, but if they put on a bus to an away game at Man City or Everton....
The weakness in these arguments is that over 98% of seats are occupied in the PL. The biggest clubs don't have any spare seats. Of course the people missing out may well be lost to the game in the future but the owners and those in charge of the PL only think about what is happening now. And all the see is "the product" being bought by "customers". Last season had the highest attendance figures in the top flight since 1950. The figures for the other 3 divisions and the FA Cup were the highest since the early 1960s. So it is hard to convince those in charge they have a problem. Looking at those figures it is also hard to believe that there are regular discussions by the idiots on Radio Humberside that football is in decline and fans are being driven away. If only their preferred out had the same problem. Yes, there is a problem but large numbers of empty seats isn't it.
Agreed on the problem at the highest level (top 10-12 in the PL, maybe even more), but very few in the lower divisions are at capacity for their games. All I'm suggesting is that some of the money from the absurd TV revenue stream should be directed to subsidizing (even to the extent of being free) the building of interest in the game via kids who would otherwise miss out of the experience & potential life-long addiction. It's the same old story...the rich get richer. The FA perhaps should be diverting more of the extra revenue to lower divisions anyway. No grass roots, no product. Unless of course we import foreign players & foreign ownership ?
But the money is going to the PL clubs. So the FA can't divert more to the lower divisions as the PL and the Football League are two separate things.
Yeh, I forgot...I still live in the past. Maybe they should introduce a new form of "parachute" payment that trickles down further.
You should invest in Facebook or Apple then. You will make a lot of money by the time you arrive in 2015.