Phil SumblerSwansea City will reveal this Friday their pricing structure for the 2022/23 season tickets with fans already wondering what the cost of watching football next season at the Swansea.com Stadium will be.
As has become traditional with the club, season tickets will go on sale before Christmas and you would imagine that an ‘early bird’ window will be available certainly through December and January but has often been as long as the end of March for supporters to get their tickets at a reduced price for the full season ahead.
For this season the club announced – due to football being played behind closed doors – a £299 adult season ticket with further reductions for those who either took the option for streaming and kept revenue in the club during the pandemic, as well season ticket holders who have opted for monthly refunds – tickets in this category were £99 for adults, a deal I am sure taken up by many.
Commenting at the recent structured dialogue meeting on the pricing for this current season, the Swans head of commercial, Rebecca Edwards-Symmons explained that “we were the only club who did any kind of discount. All of the Supporters Trust were wowed with what we were doing, with £1.7 million in discount. It was a difficult time because of the streaming costs the club incurred to deliver this service to its supporters.
“We tried to produce a show rather than the basic coverage with a four-camera mix instead of one. We tried to find the right mix of being able to financially reward the season ticket holders, and at the time there was an option of a retail bundle, streaming and other options. I genuinely believe we went over and above other clubs.”
Following those fantastic gestures for this season it will be interesting to see just what the pricing structure is for the 2022/23 season when the announcement is made on Friday morning. Julian Winter was giving no hints last month when he said “The marketing and media teams have been working hard in recent weeks on a new season ticket campaign, and we will be going out with half-season tickets on December 1 for the remainder of the current campaign before launching our 2022-23 season ticket renewals on December 10.”
The £299 deal will likely be too good to be replicated so we can all, I think, anticipate an increase on this but with many families still feeling the pinch of the pandemic and, in particular, increased costs of living being seen everywhere it will be interesting to see what balance the club manage to strike with their pricing for next season.
Back in May the club announced that they had 13000 season ticket holders already secured for this season, with a maximum of 14000 season tickets always made available that was a great take up and one they will look to repeat for next season.
At that time Winter said “This season the club has focused on making tickets affordable for all fans, with a spotlight on children’s tickets. Tickets for under-12s start from £49, which works out as just over £2 per game.
“It is important for us to future proof our fan base and ensure more of our local children choose Swansea City to be their club when they are growing up. Therefore we have really tried to make the experience affordable for families for the 2021-22 season.”
The mantra around attracting families and youngsters along with long standing supporters is indeed the correct one and speaking again at the recent structured dialogue meeting Rebecca Edwards-Symonns said she was “hoping we can keep children’s pricing as low as possible. However, there are some pinch points in certain areas of the stadium which may include people moving, for example there are some areas of the stadium that only have drinks and no food.”
She added “Research shows the age of a fan that chooses the club they will follow is seven, so we strategically work with the Swans Foundation as that is the age they have the most interaction with children in schools. Again, it is about building and encouraging our future fan base.”
From my opinion the club have largely managed to strike a good balance in recent years between the cost pressures felt by those in the area – even pre the pandemic – and, of course, the recognition that ticket monies are one of the largest sources of revenue of any football club. Last season they did a superb job of rewarding all fans in good measure – whether they chose to leave the money in the club or not – and I remain confident that, even with a price increase, this year will see similar value for money announced.
Let’s see what Friday brings
Pensioners, of which I am one, are being worst hit with price rises everywhere and even more so when Gas and Electric increases take place over the next 12 months and is very frightening.
Unfortunately the Old Age Pension Increase made in the last ‘Budget’ was way way below the current inflation rate leaving many many OAP’s in a very vulnerable financial situation and looking around the Swans supporters who turn up, many are OAP’s. So I would urge and hope the club would carefully consider pensioners financial situations when deciding on the ‘Season Ticket Cost’t for this group of probably the longest serving supporters of the Swans. I myself have supported them from the time I moved from Gloucester to Swansea in 1971, 50 years ago.
I just hope the club will not ‘PRICE ME OUT’ of continuing my support.
Completely agree with that Roy and hope that has been considered
I agree with Roy,I had a Season ticket for both my wife and myself even thuogh my wife has not been to a game this year and I can’t see her going for the rest of the season.