An impartial regulator ought to have a job in setting soccer ticket costs as a result of top-flight matches are sometimes too costly for working class supporters to attend, an MP has claimed.
Labour’s Ian Byrne, who represents Liverpool West Derby, instructed fellow MPs: “The fact is that costs are far too excessive already, particularly for youthful followers.”
Referring to Liverpool sealing their twentieth top-flight title on Sunday, Byrne stated: “I witnessed 1000’s of working class supporters, younger working class supporters, priced out of Anfield, with some tickets going for over £1,000.”
The Division for Tradition Media and Sport (DCMS) and Premier League have all been approached for remark.
Byrne, who was talking throughout a Home of Commons debate of the second studying of the Soccer Governance Invoice, added: “We have to sort out the problem of the pricing out of working class supporters.”
The Liverpool supporting MP added: “For 2025-26, of these introduced, nearly all of costs have been frozen at Premier League golf equipment, but it surely has solely occurred following the concerted and co-ordinated efforts by fan teams led by the Soccer Supporters’ Affiliation.”
Byrne instructed MPs he was involved that some top-flight golf equipment have been decreasing the variety of season tickets accessible.
An FSA spokesman stated this was a covert approach for golf equipment to cost premium costs for the most important video games.
Beneath the invoice, an Impartial Soccer Regulator (IFR) could be created to supervise golf equipment within the high 5 tiers of males’s soccer, guarantee their monetary sustainability, shield membership heritage, and facilitate higher fan engagements.
Byrne urged Tradition Media and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy to think about two amendments.
Firstly, he stated he needed the IFR to be concerned in ticket pricing choices, and to supply updates in periodic “State of Soccer” experiences.
The goal could be to make sure followers have real enter into their membership’s ticketing coverage via structured engagement.
Secondly, Byrne stated the IFR ought to undertake an intensive evaluation of concessionary ticket costs throughout the sport to make sure that loyal followers of all ages should not priced out of their sport. Common progress experiences ought to once more be offered, he stated.
“We can not enable the greed of some homeowners with no concept of how vital [the] working class recreation is to the very communities that it ought to all the time serve.”
Liverpool FC stated it had frozen costs for the previous eight out of 10 years.
The most affordable Kop match ticket continues to be £39 whereas the most costly stays at £45, “precisely the identical as they have been nearly 15 years in the past”, the membership stated.
The Premier League declined to remark.
