Aston Villa stunned their own fans and indeed many others in football, when recently revealing their ticket prices for Champions League home matches.
For non-season ticket holders, Aston Villa charging adults £85 for the very cheapest seats, with ten two more price bands of £94 and £97.
I thought Newcastle United were stretching it when charging a cheapest adult price of £60 for non-season ticket holders buying Champions League tickets last season.
However, for Aston Villa charging £25 more only 12 months later, is pretty scandalous.
Aston Villa though have now released an official response to that criticism from their own fans and others via Chris Heck, President of Business Operations.
Heck blaming Premier League PSR/FFP for Aston Villa charging these ticket prices.
Not sure how credible it is, considering the Champions League revenues, including ticket money, is an extra this season, compared to last season and indeed many decades before that.
When Aston Villa are seemingly claiming these ticket prices were inevitable, what could they possibly have done differently…
It does sound a bit like the integrity-free Gallagher brothers claiming their ridiculous Oasis ticket prices, which even saw many ticket prices more than double whilst fans were queuing online to buy them, was nothing to do with them (the Gallaghers). Seen as pretty much all that extra cash is ending up in the brothers’ bank accounts. how can it possibly be nothing to do with them??? If they really aren’t as shameless as they clearly are, then surely they would be giving their fans all that extra cash back that they have tricked out of them, or at the very least give it to charity.
As for Aston Villa, they have got pretty lucky with a couple of big names (Bayern and Juventus) to face at home in the Champions League, as well as two much smaller unattractive opposition clubs in Bologna and Celtic.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if they got into the Champions League in the future and had four small unattractive clubs instead of two to face, then tried to charge these ridiculous prices again, or even more…
BBC Sport report on Aston Villa official statement on Champions League prices – 10 September 2024:
Aston Villa have defended their Champions League ticket prices after a backlash from supporters, and insist they must make “difficult decisions” to stay competitive.
The club were labelled “out of touch” last week after revealing they were charging up to £97 a ticket for home Champions League matches this season.
Adult tickets for their four home matches in the new 36-team league format will be £85, £94 and £97, while season-ticket holders get discounted rates of £70, £79 and £82.
The Premier League club host Bayern Munich, Bologna, Juventus and Celtic in their return to Europe’s top club competition for the first time in 41 years.
Aston Villa Supporters’ Trust (AVST) criticised the move, but president of business operations Chris Heck has outlined why the club have charged so much.
He said: “We recognise and understand the depth of passion felt amongst fans and their recent frustration around ticket pricing. Achieving our sporting ambitions while complying with financial stability regulations requires difficult decisions.
“Financial fair play (FFP) rules prohibit owners from covering shortfalls to finance this ambition, so we need to generate as much revenue as possible through sponsorships, merchandise and ticket sales to ensure that we can keep the club where it rightfully belongs – competing and winning at the top of English and European football.
“Our priority will always be to match our collective ambition while ensuring that we are able to increase stadium capacity each season and provide the best matchday experience for all our fans.”
