I was with you all the way Athletico, until you suggested PL clubs will start cutting admission prices. I can't see that happening.
I hope you are right CE but the inflation of TV deals shows no signs of abating as the PL becomes ever more global. These funds seem to stay vastly within the PL (ie solidarity payments are peanuts). If you are Palace turning over £4M say on ticket prices and getting £60+m in TV money (assumes they stay up of course and my figures are guess work to be fair) then I would have thought you start to think about increasing capacity, halving prices to fill, making a turn on the additional revenue streams and building a growing fan base to further improve the value of your investment. As people have said football in other countries is comparatively cheap and I would be amazed if it did not go that way in the UK sooner or later unless the PL monopoly changes which appears unlikely.
I agree re West Ham and because of the improved transport links, DLR, Jubilee and HS1, they are likely to focus in on our part of SE London and Kent. They will have spare capacity and can put together a business case to fill it.
I'm not so sure about Palace in the short or medium term because the additional cost of building extra seats is significant, it would be speculative investment, and the ancillary revenue (barring corporate hospitality) is pretty marginal next to the income from tickets. Plus they will hopefully be in the Championship next season!
Yes, obviously, I accept West Ham, in a 50,000 (is it ?) stadium, will be knocking out cheap tickets, as there's no way, they will sell out, apart from 6 or so games per season.
West Ham aside, I don't think Premiership ticket prices, will be falling, any time soon.
Regarding increasing capacity, I agree with Airman above.
I don't understand why we pay so much in the UK to watch football when it is so different in the rest of Europe. In the premiership revenue from tickets is not even the most important aspect of club finances, so why charge so much?
As a Burnley fan interested in all aspects regarding FFP, I found this thread fascinating reading.
I was appalled when a couple of weeks ago, the FFP rules were changed with clubs like Brighton "bottling it" and doing a U-turn.
In one way, it is a shame Burnley got promoted last season as we would definitely have voted to keep the rules the same like Derby, Ipswich, Charlton etc.
I hope Derby, Ipswich and yourselves get promoted rather than Forest, Bournemouth and Boro who are trying to "buy" promotion - Bournemouth particularly irritate me because of Eddie Howe who might have got us relegated 2 seasons ago if he stayed much longer.
This piece from the Bournemouth Daily Echo speaks volumes about the impact of the new FFP rules.
CHERRIES chairman Jeff Mostyn said he felt “common sense has prevailed” after Football League clubs yesterday agreed to amend financial fair play rules.
Speaking on behalf of Cherries, Mostyn told the Daily Echo: “We are delighted with the outcome of the vote. A great deal of hard work has gone into this matter over the past few months and this is a positive result for our football club and the whole of the Football League.
“It will mean we can continue to invest in the club and retain the current status quo. Had the vote been negative, it would have severely affected our ability to invest in the club going forward under the current FFP rules.
“I would like to reassure our supporters that the club will continue to invest wisely while keeping to the FFP regulations.”
Mostyn also said he was “confident” Cherries had complied with financial fair play regulations this year."
Loosely translated, Mostyn said the following,
"We've won. Our wealthy owner will now be able continue to fund significant losses, enabling the club to progress. I can reassure you that he will continue to do that.
We'd have been in deep shit had common sense prevailed because we'd been ignoring the rules and had they been enforced we'd have had to cut our budget significantly.
We've had another stroke of luck. Having lost £15m in the year to end April 2013 we were destined to fail FFP this December and face sanctions in January. However, Southampton, a club which does things properly, unlike us, sold Adam Lallana to Liverpool and we bagged a £5m windfall which, along with some clever accounting, has bailed us out.
I'm feeling very smug."
What Roland Duchatelet will do now is hard to say, but we won't be able to compete with Bournemouth without a change in strategy.
Top post - I hope Bournemouth crash and burn like their near neighbours Portsmouth.
Catching up with "recent" posts - many thanks, Lancy, for reviving the discussion.
Regarding the Bundesliga, things haven't always been so sweet. For example, see the Wiki article on Dortmund - the club was effectively broke less than ten years ago, having to flog their stadium and borrowing cash short-term from Bayern to pay salaries. I recall mutterings at the time from rival fans of financial legerdemain to keep the club afloat.
Maybe that was a serious wake-up call - if Dortmund could go, anyone could go. There is no doubt that the Bundesliga exerts a powerful hold - despite years of disappointment teams like Hamburg retain huge, if sullen, support. If HSV have a Sunday away-day their fans swamp the autobahn in their thousands.
(In The Netherlands, Feyenoord fans answer ruefully to the epithet "cockroaches" - because they are to be found everywhere [in the whole country]. How long since they won anything?)
I raised the question recently if the FL undersells itself. Well, the FL has very clearly shown its colours. Despite having a magnificent 72-team programme at their disposal they remain helplessly subordinate to the EPL, who, as is very evident, have room strictly for a 20-pig trough only.
The league have said they will fine any club and ban transfers. This remains to be seen, but these richer clubs (like QPR) just laugh at the any small fines, if any, and carry on spending until they get to the premier league. Why not dock them 1 point for every £1m over the FFP target. No matter how much money they have, if they were docked a lot of points, up to 60 (rumoured) for QPR, how will they get promotion then. Stand back and wait for reasons it could not be done..
Good to hear from you. When fans get together across tribal boundaries there is more chance of making our voice heard. So far the latest FFP change has not been much covered by the press, but we (the Supporters Trust) are trying to encourage one newspaper in particular to take it up. Mundell Fleming, whose post you like, has a full article on the matter in the latest Trust News, and that will be available 'free to air' on Monday at www.castrust.org. Our Trust is interested in friendly relations and idea sharing with other Trusts and fan groups, so if you are member of a wider group and feel like telling us about it, and maybe re-running MF's article somewhere, let us know. Personally I look out for Burnley every game and really hope they can stay up at the expense of some fat cat club. But how on earth is Sordell doing? I don't think anyone saw that move coming.
BBC website has comments from the Brighton Chairman talking about spending in January, will be interested to see if they do now go on a spending spree and if that is why they had the change of heart over the serious FFP rules.
Bloom is upbeat and optimistic for promotion this season because "The cost of our squad this year, in terms of salaries, is higher than it has ever been in our history". So Bloom believes that the players' salaries rather than their performance on the field is what guarantees success. Tells you all you need to know about the madness of some football club chairmen and why they make the decisions they do.
Comments
I can't see that happening.
Nailed on certainty, as predicted by messrs Varney and Murray years before.
See TNT8....
I'm not so sure about Palace in the short or medium term because the additional cost of building extra seats is significant, it would be speculative investment, and the ancillary revenue (barring corporate hospitality) is pretty marginal next to the income from tickets. Plus they will hopefully be in the Championship next season!
West Ham aside, I don't think Premiership ticket prices, will be falling, any time soon.
Regarding increasing capacity, I agree with Airman above.
I was appalled when a couple of weeks ago, the FFP rules were changed with clubs like Brighton "bottling it" and doing a U-turn.
In one way, it is a shame Burnley got promoted last season as we would definitely have voted to keep the rules the same like Derby, Ipswich, Charlton etc.
I hope Derby, Ipswich and yourselves get promoted rather than Forest, Bournemouth and Boro who are trying to "buy" promotion - Bournemouth particularly irritate me because of Eddie Howe who might have got us relegated 2 seasons ago if he stayed much longer.
Top post - I hope Bournemouth crash and burn like their near neighbours Portsmouth.
Catching up with "recent" posts - many thanks, Lancy, for reviving the discussion.
Regarding the Bundesliga, things haven't always been so sweet. For example, see the Wiki article on Dortmund - the club was effectively broke less than ten years ago, having to flog their stadium and borrowing cash short-term from Bayern to pay salaries. I recall mutterings at the time from rival fans of financial legerdemain to keep the club afloat.
Maybe that was a serious wake-up call - if Dortmund could go, anyone could go. There is no doubt that the Bundesliga exerts a powerful hold - despite years of disappointment teams like Hamburg retain huge, if sullen, support. If HSV have a Sunday away-day their fans swamp the autobahn in their thousands.
(In The Netherlands, Feyenoord fans answer ruefully to the epithet "cockroaches" - because they are to be found everywhere [in the whole country]. How long since they won anything?)
I raised the question recently if the FL undersells itself. Well, the FL has very clearly shown its colours. Despite having a magnificent 72-team programme at their disposal they remain helplessly subordinate to the EPL, who, as is very evident, have room strictly for a 20-pig trough only.
Good to hear from you. When fans get together across tribal boundaries there is more chance of making our voice heard. So far the latest FFP change has not been much covered by the press, but we (the Supporters Trust) are trying to encourage one newspaper in particular to take it up.
Mundell Fleming, whose post you like, has a full article on the matter in the latest Trust News, and that will be available 'free to air' on Monday at www.castrust.org. Our Trust is interested in friendly relations and idea sharing with other Trusts and fan groups, so if you are member of a wider group and feel like telling us about it, and maybe re-running MF's article somewhere, let us know.
Personally I look out for Burnley every game and really hope they can stay up at the expense of some fat cat club. But how on earth is Sordell doing? I don't think anyone saw that move coming.