12 Sep 2018 08:33:27
Apparently lots of premier league clubs are inflating their attendance figures with even City not being able to play to a full house last season despite having the best premier league season ever.
Is this the first signs of beginning of the premier league bubble busting?
If so what in your opinion is the reason, high ticket prices, over exposure on TV or are people simply struggling in general financially and football is simply a victim of household cost cutting measures?

{Ed001's Note - it is not true. The attendance figures are the tickets sold, as they always have been. Nothing inflated. There is an issue with people who buy season tickets then can't go and can no longer pass them on to friends or family like used to be done.}


1.) 12 Sep 2018
12 Sep 2018 08:52:12
Fair comment Ed001 but some of the percentages of non attendance are quite high so is it simply a case of season ticket holders either not being able to afford the travel costs on a regular basis or simply people picking and chosing thier games? Or maybe it's the corporate seats that are not being used.
What ever the reason attendances are much lower than ticket sales upto 25% in West Hams case and even 13% in City's, that's a high percentage of people suddenly becoming busy elsewhere.

{Ed001's Note - I would say it is a bit of everything but the whole issue is being made more of a problem because of the measures in place to stop resale.}


2.) 12 Sep 2018
12 Sep 2018 11:30:07
Ah that would certainly have a huge impact on attendance figures, If only those who own the tickets can usee them easily and passing them on fairly easily isn't possible it makes more sense of the empty seats.
60,000 seats take some filling every week and if your relying on the same 60,000 people to attend every game then obviously 75% attendance isn't as unexpected or a fair guide as it first appeared.

{Ed001's Note - I should have explained more clearly what I meant the first time. It is those measures that are causing the issue. I remember I shared my season ticket with my uncles. The one whose ticket it was actually worked at Anfield as a matchday entertainer when he was at home or would be in a box with people from the club, so never actually needed it. However he didn't want to give it up, it was next to his childhood best mate and they are impossible to get again if you do need one. So his brother and myself would share it. My other uncle could only get to one or two games a year, so I would pretty much have a free season ticket to every home game, with the only ID I needed to show being the season book itself. However nowadays that can no longer be done easily. It has become a process to go through, as the ID has to match with the buyer and the person going through the gate! If you don't know for sure you aren't going to be able to go until the last minute, that ticket just goes to waste. At least that is how it was explained to me by a commercial director last season. They have official resale partners that you can flog them through, but the process of just handing them off to friends or family when you can't make it is not as simple as the old days sadly.}


3.) 12 Sep 2018
12 Sep 2018 12:35:04
I don’t understand the situation at Liverpool but I don’t actually have a season ticket but the three people I know who do have give it to me when one of the three can’t go and I usually get to go about 80% of the time and have never had a problem. I just scan the card at the turnstiles and walk in. I could just be missing the point. Sorry I’m advance if I haven’t read correctly.

{Ed001's Note - I don't know what it is like now at Liverpool, it was another club that told me they have to produce documentation when a card is sold on. He did tell me that the others would be going that way as well though.}


4.) 12 Sep 2018
12 Sep 2018 12:41:43
What a shame that tickets go to waste when people want them.
I know clubs don't like the idea of fans trading tickets through other sources other than themselves as obviously there is decent money to be made in being the supply and demand middle man especially if you have a monopoly on the market.
I called Arsenal ticket office once about some tickets that a courier had delived to a wrong adress, to say they were unsympathetic is an understatement:-) they simply told me they didn't encourage season tickets being loaned unless it was through them, obviously at a higher price to cover their overheads of course:-)

{Ed001's Note - and that is the issue is that they all partnering up with companies to earn some extra money on resale.}


5.) 12 Sep 2018
12 Sep 2018 12:44:11
Oh god I hope not.

{Ed001's Note - as g62 mentioned, it is the extra money they can make that is changing things. They pretend it is about keeping touts and protecting against terrorism etc but the issue is money. They want a cut of the touts market.}


6.) 12 Sep 2018
12 Sep 2018 15:24:15
I have used a mates season ticket before at the Emirates, it’s just a credit card and once I scanned it to get in I gave it back to him through the turnstile.

As a red member I get tickets and they obviously just activate my membership card for that game.

They also have the ticket exchange on the Arsenal website where you can buy someone’s ticket whose not going and again they activate your card for that match.