Season tickets are an important part of what is considered the core business of football clubs: matchday revenues. Although this flow has been losing weight compared to commercial revenues and television rights (in 2011/2012 only represented between 14% and 28% of Deloitte Football Money League’s clubs figures), especially in the case of most renowned clubs, the amounts received for season tickets are very important in an early stage of the season (in most cases are paid in cash) and provide a minimum guarantee of attendance throughout the year.
Thus, Football Industry gathered the minimum prices of season tickets for 2013/2014 of the clubs competing in the following leagues: Liga ZON Sagres (Portugal), Bundesliga (Germany), Serie A (Italy), Barclays Premier League (England) and Liga BBVA (Spain).
Portuguese top division clubs charge a minimum average price of 81 Euros for their season seats, a substantially lower amount compared to the ones charged in the other countries included in this analysis. While the Italian and Spanish clubs present minimum average prices and average occupation rates relatively similar (see table below), the English and German ones, despite having high and similar average occupation rates, practice different prices (see table below). This situation has to do with a different strategy and mindset as the clubs from Bundesliga seek to be fully oriented to their fans and, thus, do not follow policies of price increases. This mindset allows, for example, a club like Bayern Munchen to offer a season seat for only 120 Euros.
Regarding the financial impact of buying a season ticket based on the monthly GDP per capita (purchasing power parity), we can conclude that in the Portuguese case, the average minimum price represents 5% of this indicator while in England a fan would have to make an investment equivalent to 25% of the country’s monthly GDP per capita.
Simultaneously, the lower occupation rate presented by Portuguese clubs requires them to perform adjustments on prices. For example, Portugal has 62% of Germany’s GDP per capita while its season tickets minimum average price only corresponds to 37% of the average Bundesliga’s amount (average occupation rate: 40% vs. 92%).
The substantially higher prices charged in England, Italy, Spain and Germany are also related to the fact that the clubs from these countries tend to include other matches besides the national league in their season tickets offer (e.g. national cup matches).
Minimum Average Prices and their Financial Impact
[table id=294 /]
LIST OF CLUBS’ MINIMUM SEASON TICKETS PRICES
 
Notes: (1) Exchange Rates as at August 06, 2013: 1 USD = 0,751496 EUR; 1 GBP = 1,15813 EUR; (2) Were only considered minimum adult standard prices (without any discounts); (3) No prices were considered for season seats renewal.