The owners of West Ham today acknowledge that their decision to change their ticket price policy when the team relocated to the former London 2012 Olympic Stadium in 2016 was incorrect.
Concerned about selling out the then-52,500-seat converted stadium, they offered up to 50,000 season tickets for a low price, with adult tickets starting at £289 and junior tickets at £99. Season tickets at the Boleyn Ground are cheaper for many than they were the previous year.
The new Band 5 season ticket, which costs £289 and is equal to £15.20 per game, and the £99 under-16 season ticket were among the changes.
For the 2016–17 season, adult season tickets in Bands 1 and 2 decreased marginally to £899 and £799, respectively, while Bands 3 and 4 saw a modest decrease to £599 and £499.
Season tickets for the disabled were also reduced, with spots in Band 4 falling by almost 45% to £250.
They called everyone who initially signed up as founders and successfully promoted this as “family affordable football.”
It wasn’t easy to nearly double the Boleyn Ground’s 26,000 season ticket holders, but they succeeded mainly because of their pricing strategy, and at the time, they even claimed to have a 50,000 waiting list.
Pricing? It was all wrong
The pricing mechanism put us significantly behind other London Premier League teams we wanted to compete against, which is problematic in retrospect.
The Hammers made £28.6 million from ticket sales in their debut season at the London Stadium, a mere 6% rise over the £26.9 million they made the previous season at the 34,000-seat Upton Park stadium.
Due in major part to our Europa League Conference cup run with many more home games, West Ham’s ticket sales increased to £41 million last season (2022–2024).
With a ticket revenue of £41 million, we are far less than Spurs, who reported £106 million, Arsenal at £103 million, and Chelsea at £76.5 million—all with smaller stadiums that hold 40,000 spectators.
In order to remain competitive and adhere to financial fair play requirements, West Ham must close the revenue gap, which is challenging to achieve in the absence of growing ticket prices and a commitment to providing family-friendly games.
Price increases are disliked by all, but the truth is that we must find other sources of funding if we wish to increase our spending in the transfer market.
The previous season, West Ham discreetly discontinued offering “founder discount pricing” for season tickets. This year, the club is enforcing stricter measures against those who fail to attend and relist their seat, in addition to above-inflation price increases and the restriction of concession discounts in the most expensive ticket bands.
As a fan base, we must choose between paying more to compete with the top six and push for Europe every season or settling for less expensive tickets and merely hoping to avoid relegation every year and possibly even mid-table oblivion at most.
