This summer, some of English football's richest clubs, including Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool, sparked controversy by revoking season tickets and imposing lifetime bans on thousands of supporters. Recent investigations have examined how the growing commercialisation of English football, accelerated since competition resumed after COVID lockdowns, threatens the future existence of football stadiums as intergenerational spaces.
Officially, the clubs' actions form part of a crackdown against ticket touting, as rising demand has created a lucrative secondary market for resellers to sell tickets at enormously inflated prices. Ticket resale has been illegal in English football since the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 was introduced. However, there is evidence that ordinary supporters are being caught up in this crackdown. Outcry has erupted among Manchester United supporters, with thousands of season ticket holder accounts restricted or threatened with closure after being flagged for vague accusations of "sustained activity".
In many cases, this appears to be caused by supporters helping friends or family members unfamiliar with online ticketing systems to manage their accounts. Several supporters have expressed concern about the indiscriminate use of automated software and artificial intelligence to identify their accounts and the lack of adequate resources, highlighting the club's contempt for its most loyal followers.
The three clubs have defended their actions and point to successes in fighting illegal ticket resale. Manchester United admitted to some errors and promised to refine its processes. However, in recent years there appears to have been a shift in Premier League clubs' approach to maximising revenue at the expense of maintaining a core group of local and intergenerational supporters. Whether through price increases or cuts to discounts for young and older supporters, the clubs have taken active steps to reduce the proportion of season ticket holders.
At the start of the 2024-25 season, amid a broader cost of living crisis, 19 of the 20 Premier League clubs raised ticket prices. At some clubs, increases reached 28% and included one reported case of a 111% increase in children's season ticket prices. These rises represent an acceleration of a long-standing trend, with ticket prices rising 800% between 1990 and 2025.
There was a sense that clubs were actively seeking to undermine the season ticket model through prohibitive pricing to free up seats for more profitable foreign "tourists" willing to pay higher prices and spend more money on merchandise. Supporters of rival teams united in protest, calling on clubs to "stop exploiting loyalty" and invest in ticketing policies that do not undermine long-standing community ties and make football more accessible for future generations.
In investigations carried out, activists among supporters expressed general suspicion that clubs were colluding to adopt similar ticketing policies and minimise reputational damage. This suspicion was reinforced by the decision of some clubs to cut discounted prices set for younger supporters, such as under-18s and students, and those over 65. Along with hyper-inflated ticket prices, these new measures could irreversibly alter the composition of match-day audiences by pricing out older and younger supporters.
The irony here is that these clubs appear to be motivated by the same logic as resellers: displacing season ticket holders and maximising revenue by reselling to foreign supporters. In the context of the most expensive World Cup ever held and FIFA president Gianni Infantino's ill-fated plan to sell a 20% stake in the competition, a growing proportion of English football supporters feel alienated and actively excluded by ever-growing commercial interests in the sport.
