Football League World
·18 October 2024
Football League World
·18 October 2024
FLW's Baggies fan pundit has praised the club for the ticket prices currently on offer at The Hawthorns
This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...
In recent years, ticket prices across English football have become a hot topic.
In the Premier League, it is well-publicised that no single matchday ticket within the general admission zones of the 20 stadiums set any supporter back more than £30.
However, when it comes to some clubs in the EFL, that is far from the case at this moment in times, with no pricing limitations currently in place from the governing body.
West Bromwich Albion are one of the most well-supported clubs in the Championship. And, with the aforementioned topic in mind, we asked our fan pundit, Callum Burgess, for his assessment on the club's current ticketing structure.
Burgess stated that the ticketing structure at The Hawthorns is one of the aspects of fan communication and connections which the club have so often nailed, in comparison to some of their divisional and local rivals.
"I think West Bromwich Albion have some of the fairest ticket prices, not just in the Championship but in the country," he began.
"You see some of the prices in the local area, such as Wolverhampton Wanderers, who have caused a storm with some of their price rises in the most-recent season, with Albion being able to provide a much-more affordable price for season tickets."
"They could easily put the prices up when you look at some of the others in the Championship. You think of Leeds United, Bristol City and Coventry City," Burgess added.
"You see some of their away ticket prices - off the top of my head they're some of the most expensive, not to just single those clubs out - and you see Albion offering in the regions of £20-25 (for some age groups) I believe."
"It really shows they try to make it affordable for everyone, although they could easily put them up in retaliation to what our fans are sometimes charged away from home."
At present, adult season ticket pricing at The Hawthorns sees the cheapest price come in at £399 to sit in the Smethwick End, which has been reported as the 12th-cheapest adult price across all 24 Championship clubs, with the most expensive in that regard coming the form of Middlesbrough's £574.
In terms of matchday tickets, the cost of an adult ticket ranges from between £30-£32 for home supporters, with the cheapest of those coming in either the Smethwick End, Birmingham Road and East Stand Lower sections of the 26,850 capacity stadium.
Burgess pointed out the cost of tickets at other Championship clubs, with Albion yet to face any of Leeds, Bristol City or Coventry on their travels.
However, when the Baggies travelled to Hillsborough for a 3-2 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday on September 28th, adults were charged £39, nine pounds dearer than what Cardiff City supporters will have to garner as they embark on one of their closest away trips of the season to the West Midlands.
Albion's average attendance last season was a figure of 23,006, and besides the 2020/21 season where games were played behind-closed-doors due to the Coronavirus pandemic, such numbers haven't dropped below the 20,000 mark since the 2000/01 campaign.
This season, over 20,000 supporters had purchased season tickets in the lead-up to the opening encounter in B71 against Leeds United on August 17th, which led to strong praise from Carlos Corberan.
“Like I always say, West Bromwich Albion Football Club never stops growing, it’s unbelievable," he said.
“It’s growing because the fans never stop supporting the team, and every year they make an unbelievable effort, and the next year they go and make even more."
The Baggies have had a mixed bag of results on home turf so far, failing to score in their last two games against Middlesbrough and Millwall, and they will look to put that right against Cardiff after away trips to Oxford United and Blackburn Rovers.