Trust statement on Fulham season ticket increase
| The Fulham Supporters’ Trust, the largest independent body representing Fulham fans, notes the Club’s decision to press ahead with a 2.8% increase in season ticket prices for 2025/2026. We share the Club’s ambition to achieve greater financial sustainability and laud the owner’s continued investment in the Club, the team, and the stadium. However, we remain unconvinced about whether increases in ticket prices will materially change the Club’s financial position. The total matchday revenue – not just tickets – amounted to a mere 10% of the total in the last financial results, dwarfed by revenue from the Premier League, commercial sponsorship, and broadcasters. This means that ticket price increases have a disproportionately small impact on profitability but a much more material impact on long-standing loyal supporters who have experienced substantial rises in previous years. This is why we argued for a price freeze, in line with the decision made by numerous other PL clubs, including most of the other London teams, which can be presumed to face comparable changes to operational costs. We regret the Club did not heed that call but acknowledge the welcome restraint in setting an inflation-anchored ceiling for any increases. The new world-class facilities offered by the Riverside Stand should have been prioritised as target areas for revenue increases, ahead of the hard-pressed match-going fans. We worry that the fans will effectively partially bear the brunt of the repeated Riverside Stand delays. We will keep monitoring matchday prices and call on the Club to make sure Fulham is affordable to all, particularly keeping in mind the interests of loyal fans who, for, a number of reasons, may not be able to buy a season ticket but still want to support the team whenever they can and must not be priced out. We welcome the decision to sell more season tickets, which will allow more fans to guarantee their seats across the season and benefit from a more competitive offer compared to matchday prices. We particularly welcome the continuing commitment to offering cheaper tickets for the youngest fans, which will ensure the continued support of future generations of supporters. We presume the Club intends to make no changes to concessions despite similar attempts at other Premier League clubs. If that’s confirmed, it is the right call, as we repeatedly argued in our representations to the Club. We are disappointed that the Club chose not to meaningfully engage with the Trust on the pricing, limiting that privilege only to its own Fan Advisory Board (FAB), whose members were not elected by the fans but selected by the Club. While a Trust representative sits on the FAB, we firmly believe the FAB process cannot be seen as equivalent to an open and constructive dialogue with the Trust and other independent fan groups, which represent the view of much broader and more diverse groups of its members than the hand-picked FAB. We may not always agree, and the Club has the indisputable right to make the final decision as it sees fit, but engaging in dialogue means all parties are better informed and fans are more involved in Fulham’s future. We encourage all Fulham fans to join the Trust to strengthen its independent voice as we continue to make our representations to the Club in the best interests of our supporters. |
