Chelsea fans slam club’s ‘exploitative’ new ticket policies
Chelsea fans have blasted a controversial new ticket pricing strategy, accusing the ownership of “exploiting the loyalty of those people who are the lifeblood of the club”.
The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust says season ticket prices have increased by an average of 17 per cent in the last two years and that polling of its members revealed anger at new measures including booking fees per ticket, decreasing concessions and a £60 “priority” membership.
As a result of the survey, the CST said it would be joining the Football Supporters’ Association’s nationwide Stop Exploiting Loyalty campaign.
“Piece by piece, Chelsea FC is alienating a large part of our core fan base with decisions that will slowly force supporters to pick and choose which games they attend,” a spokesperson for the CST said.
“The exploitation of members is also a worry, and we are deeply concerned that the increasingly bad deal that members have will negatively impact our club for generations to come.
“This should be a huge wake-up call to the owners and the senior leadership team within the club. Supporters are rejecting the decisions made by the club and are evidently unhappy with the current path being taken.
“Not only is it ethically wrong to exploit the loyalty of the lifeblood of our club, but it is strategically short-sighted and obliterates any trust or goodwill that had started to be built by recent positive initiatives.”
Chelsea making poor choices, say fans
It comes after it emerged that the Premier League had contacted Chelsea over complaints that a ticket resale company part-owned by chairman Todd Boehly, Vivid Seats, was listing entry to home games for far in excess of face value.
Chelsea reported a pre-tax profit of £128.4m last year and could earn close to £100m from participating in the current Fifa Club World Cup in the US.
“Despite record-breaking profits, Chelsea FC has broken its commitment to ‘maximise all other revenue streams before increasing costs for supporters’ by introducing a range of new policies that hit the pockets of loyal supporters,” the CST added.
Less than 30 per cent of members said they thought ticket price increases were acceptable or trusted the club’s hierarchy to spend the money effectively.
“The CST has consistently warned the club that time after time they are making poor choices that infuriate supporters,” it said. “This statistic is therefore really alarming and cannot be ignored.”
When Chelsea announced pricing for next season last month they pointed out they had consulted their Fan Advisory Board over the changes.
A spokesperson said: “As a club, our priority is to ensure that we are making the right decisions for the long-term sustainability and success of the club.”