Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The True Cost of Manchester United Season Tickets

By Paul Ross

Buying Manchester United football tickets never easy because the team has a huge following and ticket demand always outstrips supply. That means for many supporters, an opportunity to obtain a single Manchester United ticket is something they can only hope for, and a season ticket to Old Trafford, the stuff from which dreams are made.

However, on closer examination, despite the obvious advantages season ticket holders have of being guaranteed a seat for games at Old Trafford, and priority for the Red Devil's away games, some aspects of owning a season ticket to Manchester United games might be less than ideal. Including:

One example of this is the Manchester United policy called the Automatic Ticket Scheme. This policy ensures that every season ticket holder is guaranteed a ticket for all Champions League and FA cup home games. At first glance this might appear to be a good thing, but further examination shows that the season ticket holder is charged for each of these tickets even if he has no intention of attending any of the games. In the each of the 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 seasons, there were 10 of these extra games - and with a single game ticket starting at almost 50 pounds, this is a huge extra cost on top of the already very significant price paid for the season ticket.

There is a Manchester United Club policy known as the Automatic Ticket Scheme which ensures that every season ticket holder is guaranteed a ticket for all Champions League and FA cup home games. Although this might appear to be a good thing, further examination shows that the season ticket holder is charged for each of these tickets even if he has no intention of attending any of the games. In the each of the 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 seasons, there were 10 of these extra games - and with a single game ticket starting at almost 50 pounds, this is a huge extra cost on top of the already very significant price paid for the season ticket.

Those Manchester United fans who invest in a season ticket thinking they can sell their tickets for games they cannot attend might find that that is not as easy to do these days as it once way. Manchester United does have an official ticket exchange where season ticket holders can list their unwanted tickets for sale at face-value, but tickets cannot be listed there until the club announces that the game in question has been sold out. This means that there is no guarantee that the tickets put up for sale get sold, so the prospective seller not only loses the ticket he is unable to use, he is out the substantial listing and handling fee it cost him to post the seat for sale.

Once cannot deny that the price of a season's 19 single tickets is more expensive than a season ticket, when the other costs - approximately 500 extra pounds for the Cup games; the possibility of getting a seat in an undesirable part of Old Trafford; and the lack of guarantee of being able to sell any unwanted game tickets are added up, investing in season Manchester United tickets might not be worth it to even the most fanatical fans.

About the Author:

0 comments:

Post a Comment