Can you really watch league football for less than twenty pounds?

When the BBC’s “Price of Football” survey named Watford as the cheapest club in the Championship, it was cause for a double take. The report claimed a supporter could get into Vicarage Road for just £10, making a day out including a pie, a coffee and a programme comfortably less than £20. But a quick check of the club’s website reveals the lowest price for their upcoming league games against Burnley and West Ham is £26. The only £10 ticket advertised is not even for a Watford game; it is for an England Under-21 international against Azerbaijan Under-21s.

This is the fundamental flaw running through the BBC’s survey, rendering it almost useless as a guide for supporters. The editor of the BBC Sport website, Stuart Rowson, confirmed on his Twitter account that “the aim was to find the cheapest day out” and that clubs provided their “cheapest, and most expensive, single adult ticket for a league match”. The problem is how loosely “cheapest” has been interpreted. While some clubs have provided their lowest standard league price, many others have submitted figures relating to one-off promotions, cup ties against lower-league opposition, or even, in Watford’s case, a different team’s match entirely.

A Tale of Two Prices

The discrepancies are widespread. At Ipswich Town, the survey claims an adult ticket costs £15. This price is indeed available, but only for the upcoming League Cup game against Northampton Town. For league fixtures, the pricing is a different story. The club uses a grading system, with the cheapest advertised league tickets being £26 for Grade B games. Supporters of Leeds United visiting Portman Road at the end of the month will face a charge of £36.50 if they buy on the day. The survey’s headline-grabbing figures simply do not reflect the typical cost of attending a league match.

It is a pattern repeated across the Championship. Cardiff City’s lowest advertised price of £18 is, commendably, available for every match in their Grange Stand, making their day out cost £25.50. This should make them the cheapest in the division, but the headlines have already gone to Watford. Bristol City’s survey price is £15, but their regular lowest is £25, while Barnsley’s £16 offer is only valid for three specific games this season. After the report’s publication, Doncaster Rovers informed the BBC of a discretionary £15 ticket, making them the second “cheapest”, yet this new category is not mentioned on their website. Oddly, Preston North End's website notes that clubs were not permitted to include regular meal deal offers, even if available at every game, which would arguably give a more accurate cost for refreshments.

Promotions and Conditions

In League One, the report claims seven clubs offer a day out for under £20. The reality is that none of them do so on a regular basis. Rochdale, named the cheapest club in the entire league, have a lowest league price of £15, not the £10 cited in the survey, which is presumably for a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy fixture. Preston’s £10 tickets are available for just two league games this season as part of “PNE Day promotions”. Pride of place for convoluted pricing, however, must go to Notts County. Their £12 ticket is only available to members of their “Member 75” scheme who live over 75 miles from Meadow Lane and buy in advance. The scheme itself costs £75 per season.

A more honest reflection of value comes from Scunthorpe United. Their £14 tickets are available to members, and with membership costing £14 a season, it pays for itself after just five games, bringing their day out cost to £20.70.

The One True Figure

In League Two, the picture is slightly clearer, with fourteen of the twenty-four clubs surveyed providing their standard league price. Yet it is again the clubs at the “cheaper” end of the survey that have used the loosest definitions. Rotherham United and Plymouth Argyle’s £10 tickets are only for next week’s League Cup ties. Torquay United, also cited at £10, have no games advertised at that price at all.

So, of the eleven clubs championed by the BBC, how many actually offer a league football day out for under £20 on a regular basis?

The answer is just one, and it is a club not even named in the original eleven. Yesterday, Macclesfield Town launched a new incentive for early ticket purchases, reducing the cost of standing at Moss Rose to £12 for every single game. With a programme, pie and coffee costing £6.20, the Silkmen are the only club in the top four divisions where a supporter can attend a league match and still get change from a twenty pound note.