£1,705.
For your own club.
Not a final. Not a once-in-a-lifetime game.
Your club.
That number isn’t a price.
It’s a signal.
This Is Not a Scandal. It’s a System.
Everyone wants a villain.
So they point at Todd Boehly.
Owner here. Investor there.
Looks wrong.
But even if you remove him, nothing changes.
Because this was never about one person.
It’s about a machine that rewards higher prices and punishes access.
Follow It Without Emotion
Tickets are released.
Limited. Controlled. Predictable.
They call it fair.
It isn’t.
Because the real market starts after that.
Tickets move. Platforms list. Prices rise. Fees stack. Investors benefit.
No fixing required.
No conspiracy needed.
Just incentives doing their job.
Economists have been clear for years. When supply is fixed and demand spikes, secondary markets drive prices well beyond face value. Often multiples higher (Courty, 2003; Sweeting, 2012).
Football didn’t miss this.
It industrialised it.
The Line That Ends the Debate
A fan who’s been there 20 years pays £50 and sings.
A one-off buyer pays £1,705 and spends all day.
From a boardroom view, there is no debate.
Football didn’t price fans out by accident. It priced them out because they were the cheapest part of the product.
Stop Calling Them “Legacy Fans”
Legacy is a nice word.
It doesn’t pay.
Those fans built the game.
Now they queue digitally while their seat is sold elsewhere for ten times the price.
That’s not poor execution.
That’s a different target.
You’re not being excluded. You’re being outbid.
What This Really Breaks
Football is repetition.
Same people. Same seats. Same noise.
Take that away and you don’t just lose atmosphere.
You lose identity.
UEFA and supporter research has already warned this. Rising prices reduce real fan presence and erode long-term engagement.
You get a cleaner broadcast.
And a weaker product.
How They Reset the Market
£1,705 looks extreme.
That’s the point.
Because next time:
£700 feels acceptable. £300 feels reasonable. £150 feels like value.
Markets don’t jump.
They move the line.
Stop Hiding Behind “The Market”
Football says it’s supply and demand.
It isn’t.
This is a protected system:
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Closed leagues
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Guaranteed broadcast money
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Public infrastructure
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Controlled access
It’s managed.
So manage it properly.
What Regulation Should Actually Do
If the game wants credibility, not just cash:
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Cap resale margins on major fixtures
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Ringfence allocation for real supporters
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Force disclosure between clubs and resale platforms
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Treat ticket access as fan protection, not premium yield
Right now, there is no protection.
Only extraction.
The Role That Fixes the Blind Spot
Every club protects revenue.
No one protects the fan.
That’s not an oversight.
That’s a design flaw.
Fix it with one role:
Chief Supporter Officer.
Not symbolic. Not PR.
Power.
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Ticket allocation
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Pricing structures
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Access rules
Someone in the room whose job is to say:
“No.”
Because without that voice, fans don’t decline.
They disappear.
I’m Not Here to Complain About It
This is exactly why I’m building Football Is For The Fans.
Not as an idea.
As a system.
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Affordability built in
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Access first
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Fans involved, not targeted
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Value flowing back, not just up
Because if you don’t design it this way from day one…
You end up here.
Every time.
Final Word
£1,705 isn’t outrageous.
It’s rational.
That’s the danger.
The system is working exactly as intended.
Just not for you.
So stop asking if it’s fair.
Ask who it’s built for.