Young fans sticking with the Toffees
Football club Everton is trumpeting its commitment to “affordable football” which has resulted in a significant increase in season ticket retention among its supporters aged between 22 and 24.
The total number of season ticket holders aged 24 and below amounts to 28% of its entire regular crowd at Goodison Park, the home of Everton whose nickname is the Toffees.
The BBC Price of Football survey highlighted the cost of football for young people in particular, with 55% of fans polled in the 18 to 24-year-old demographic saying they had stopped going to games completely or go to fewer games because of pricing.
Four in five (82%) said the cost of tickets was an obstacle to them going to more matches.
Everton says this challenge for young adults was identified early by the Blues and for this season a new young adult pricing category for supporters aged between 22 and 24 years old was introduced, with tickets priced at £380, equivalent to £20 per game.
This resulted in an increase in season ticket retention for supporters in this age group to 90% from a five-year average of 74%.
The Price of Football survey indicated that in the Premier League overall young adult fans bought 4% of all season tickets this year. At Everton that figure has been doubled.
“All of us at Everton see ourselves as custodians and helping to create the right circumstances and culture for the next generation of fans and the next custodians is integral to everything we do as a Club,” said Everton chief executive Robert Elstone.
“Our current pricing structure, we feel confident, represents great value for money. It also holds up well in comparison to our rivals. Most significantly, it makes football at Goodison affordable for young adults and for young fans overall, so that the next generation of Everton fans are watching games and supporting the team and in this area I’m really pleased with the progress we continue to make.”
