Everton today announced their Season Ticket prices for the 2012/13 campaign. It saw a slight increase for adults and a freeze on prices for those aged 11-15. The main headline however was the new £95 season ticket for under 11s. This is a fantastic initiative by the club and will make it much more affordable for parents to take their children to games and makes sure they become Evertonians for life. However hidden amongst this great initiative is a change to concession prices. Previously 16-21 year olds have been able to buy tickets at a concessionary price, for next season this changes to 16-20, meaning anyone who is 21 years old on August 31st must pay full price for a ticket.

There has been no explanation for this decision, in fact the club have almost tried to hide it by not actually mentioning anywhere that a change has been made, when I first looked through the prices and saw 16-20 I thought it was a typo, however upon seeing the same age range written again on a different section it became apparent that it is not. A large number of 21 year olds are likely to be 3rd year University students, these are the people who most need a cheaper season ticket to be able to afford one. These are people who have no regular income and who are spread across the country at different universities and have to pay hefty travel costs to get to Goodison for a home game.

If this has been done to recoup costs from the Under 11s cheap tickets then there is a good chance it will backfire as the club will lose season ticket holders who would have bought one but now can’t because of the new age bracket. There are very few students if any who can afford to pay the full price. Perhaps if they had changed it 16-20 whilst including those in full-time education irrespective of age it might be a bit fairer and see more people renew, since its not unreasonable to assume a 21 year old with a full time job is able to pay the full price.

Quite why the change has been made we don’t know, but it is a low point on what otherwise is a good price structure, despite the slight increase in adult tickets. After a large decrease in sales last season the question is, will you be renewing?

5 Responses »

1. Ste on February 28th, 2012 at 11:31 pm:

   Why should free loading students get cheap tickets?

2. Robert on February 29th, 2012 at 1:11 am:

   Why should I give the club an interest free loan from April?

3. Sandra casidy on February 29th, 2012 at 7:56 am:

   Free loading students? Maybe because their parents have been footing the bill for years. When mine were young we forked out for season tickets and continued to through Uni, four seasons tickets is a big drain especially in today’s climate some reward for loyalty. Students are skint, thought EFC was all for inclusion, and these are also the future of the club.

4. Loz on March 6th, 2012 at 1:41 pm:

   @Ste, research before subjecting people to your uninformed views. Free loading in what context? Student get NOTHING free. They get DEBT and cannot physically afford nearly a 200% increase in season ticket pricing. It’s the club that will suffer when renewals are down. Most places do student concessions, don’t you think there’s a reason? Business sense.

5. Loz on March 6th, 2012 at 3:59 pm:

   *100%