Fenway Sports Group have scaled back their plans to increase ticket prices after collective action from Liverpool fans, but the data from across the Premier League shows the way the wind is blowing.
Liverpool had announced that general admission prices would rise in line with inflation up to a maximum of five per cent over the next three seasons. But after backlash from the Spirit of Shankly supporters’ trust among other campaigners, FSG have decided to limit the rises to three per cent next term, followed by a freeze in 2027-28.
Last season, when Liverpool won the Premier League, reached the Champions League quarter-finals and played three times at Anfield in the domestic cup competitions, they earned a club-record £116m through the turnstiles, up by 14 per cent on 2023-24.
That was the fourth-highest in the Premier League, behind Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham. Across all revenue streams, however, no one earned more than Liverpool, whose £703m turnover last season was the fifth highest in world football.
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While matchday income was once seen largely as an irrelevance given the huge revenue on offer in the TV, sponsorship and retail markets, it is increasingly becoming the income stream that clubs with big, loyal fanbases are using to gain a competitive advantage over their rivals in the finance department.
Once all 20 Premier League clubs had filed their financial accounts for 2024-25 at the end of April, it revealed that they had collectively surpassed £1bn in matchday income for the first time ever, up by almost 100 per cent over the same period a decade ago
Premier League clubs – several of whom have either moved into new stadiums or have undergone major expansion projects – are maintaining record attendance figures. And Liverpool, who expanded the Anfield Road and Main Stand in recent years, are in that bloc.
The obvious problem is that many bedrock supporters on Merseyside and beyond feel priced out.
Speaking exclusively to Rousing The Kop, University of Liverpool football finance lecturer and Price of Football podcast host Kieran Maguire offered his verdict on FSG’s U-turn on ticket prices and what it says about the wider trends across the English game.
“FSG have a tin ear at times. They tried to trademark the word ‘Liverpool’, for example. There was also the £60-70 tickets which sparked the walkouts. Then there is Super League and Project Big Picture.
“It’s noticeable that Anfield has been expanded twice in the last decade and there has been barely any change in the number of season ticket holders. FSG see the Kop as a historical anachronism. In an ideal world, they would like to replace those fans but they know they couldn’t get away with it. Therefore, their approach is to genuinely squeeze people out on affordability.
“Including VAT, Liverpool’s average yield is £82 per fan, per match. That’s their matchday income divided by their home games, 50 per cent of the proceeds from domestic cup games, Champions League games and so on. Multiplied by the average attendance, that makes Liverpool’s matchday yield £4.1m, which was one of the highest in the Premier League. They are doing well without price increases.
“Spurs and Man City have announced price freezes and Liverpool haven’t delivered on the pitch this season, so it’s difficult to justify increases this season. Also, it’s the compound effect of year-on-year prices, so it isn’t just three per cent each year.
“Spirit of Shankly are superb when it comes to holding the club to account and it’s encouraging to see supporters resist.”
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