About a month ago I asked esteemed football journalist Gabriele Marcotti his opinion on ticket prices, and this was his answer:

“I think clubs make their own decisions about ticket prices, based on what the market can bear... they are running a business after all... that said, I think it's smart business to have strong local ties, to incentivize kids going to games, to have a socioeconomic cross-section of support. Plus, it's good for TV if the grounds are full...”

Now I expected no less from a man who is known to insert economic jargon into his arguments, but what I was most perturbed by was the fact that he didn't acknowledge that clubs should be held accountable for the prices they charged and that he inferred that clubs are perfectly within their rights legally and most importantly morally to charge what the market could bare; unfortunately his reasoning for why clubs should have lower ticket prices comes back to smart business rather than responsibility too. Mr Marcotti's rationale is that football clubs are businesses, but the point is that football clubs aren't any normal business and you can understand that by looking at the concept of choice and the way it is provided in football.

Choice is something that we all value in everything we do. When we go to a supermarket and say want to purchase some eggs we generally have the choice between the free range variety, or the “normal” variety, we also generally have the choice in size and in quantity. That choice isn't just about personal preference but also about affordability, for example someone with strong views about the treatment of chickens may want purchase free range eggs but their budget may not allow them to do so as these are usually the most expensive; the same is true of a whole range of goods and service, none more so than football.

The service football clubs claim to provide is the opportunity to watch football live and that the choice on offer is between their venue and other sporting venues and this is the argument used to justify their pricing policies. Unfortunately this argument relies on the assumption that football fans are normal consumers who choose the football club they support or the matches they watch based upon the same criteria as those choosing food or clothes, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Whilst some people may have chosen to support a team based upon success this choice is usually made at a young age and isn't changed when that team goes through a leaner period; for example those in England who chose to support Liverpool in the 1980s because they were the team have remained Liverpool fans despite the fact that they are no longer that team and have not won the English league title for 20 years.

The point is that football clubs generally have monopolies over their fan bases, that is once their fan is a fan they rarely change for another club. Going back to our eggs example it would be like someone who is so loyal to the cause of chickens that they will only eat free range eggs, thus having to go without any when they can't afford to rather than switching to cheaper versions. Generally with monopolies some form of regulation is needed to stop the monopoliser from abusing their position and exploiting those in which they have monopoly power over. Within football however this isn't the case, football clubs limit the supply of seats (in many cases through no fault of their own) and charge high prices, thus excluding those who cannot afford or just don't have the chance from watching their team live or even live football in general.

The limited supply is generally due to the outlawing of standing areas (terracing) by footballs major bodies FIFA and UEFA in their competitions which forced any team wishing to participate to convert these terraces into seated areas or relocate; in England this changeover happened a few years earlier when terracing was banned under the recommendations of the second Taylor Report. This meant in many cases large capacity reductions, for example at Arsenal the capacity of Highbury was reduced from approximately 57,000 to 38,500 (and that was with the rebuilding of the goal stand known as the North Bank). With these reductions and increasing demand for live football those who couldn't cater to this increased ticket prices to compete financially with those who could do or didn't need to, this left many people priced out and many others stretched financially just to follow what they considered their team.

Now if you agree with me that clubs are monopolies then hopefully you would agree that it is wrong that clubs should make their own decisions about ticket prices. This is because inevitably it means clubs in high demand abuse their monopoly position by charging higher prices than those with lower demand; for example someone who is a Chelsea fan is charged more for the privilege than his neighbour a Fulham fan a situation which is totally unfair to Chelsea fans especially those who supported the club when the demand wasn't there. Therefore it is only right that clubs don't charge what the market can bare but instead like with many other monopolies they should have their prices regulated from above and this regulation should link prices to average wages and/or inflation, just like Lord Taylor recommended in his report.

Of course I haven't taken certain factors into account like corporate seating and the return of terracing, but hopefully the point is clear; it is time for people (including Gabriele Marcotti) to stop giving football an easy ride because its "business", clubs are monopolies, they abuse their power and they need to brought into line, don't hold your breath about anything happening though! Until then I'm Arsenal 'til I die, and Arsenal will surely milk me for all they can get 'til I die too!