Liverpool owners U-turn on £77 tickets
THE owners of Liverpool Football Club have bowed to the tide of protest which followed their planned £77 ticket and apologised for the distress caused by the announcement.
Thousands of fans walked out of Anfield 77 minutes into the Sunderland match on Saturday in the wake of news being released of the £77 ticket in the new main stand.
In a 900-plus word statement on the club website, owners Fenway Sports Group said: “Message received.”
Currently, Liverpool’s most expensive ticket is £59. This will now be frozen along with the highest-priced season ticket.
Principal owner John W Henry, chairman Tom Werner and FSG president Mike Gordon, in an open letter to Liverpool supporters, said: “The three of us have been particularly troubled by the perception that we don’t care about our supporters, that we are greedy, and that we are attempting to extract personal profits at the club’s expense. Quite the opposite is true.”
Liverpool has also scrapped game categorisation which means fans will pay the same price for matchday tickets irrespective of the opposition.
The frozen prices will now be effective for the 2016-17 and the 2017-18 seasons.
Next season, Premier League clubs will start to benefit from a new three-year £5.1bn domestic television rights deal – rising to about £8bn with overseas rights contracts.
Meanwhile, Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) chairman Malcolm Clarke has been campaigning for clubs to pass on the huge revenue boost by reducing ticket prices.
