Football ticket prices up sharply

The cost of season tickets for next year at Premier League clubs has risen by 7.2%, more than twice the rate of consumer price inflation.

Research by the BBC reveals that the average cost of a mid-priced season ticket has risen to £590.

Premier League clubs are currently benefiting from television revenues which have gone up sharply.

But that has not prevented most of them from imposing substantial increases in season ticket costs.

That average hides considerable variations with some clubs making double digit increases and Chelsea making no change at all.

Some fans of champions Manchester United have complained about hefty price increases since the club was taken over by American owners.

For the next campaign a season ticket in the upper east stand will be £665, a 6% increase on last season, but still a lot less than a similar seat at the big London clubs.

The reasons for sharp increases vary, with Sunderland pointing to previous seasons when ticket prices have not risen at all.

A statement from Tottenham Hotspur said: "In order to progress both on and off the pitch, we need to be able to continue to raise our level of investment in the squad and all areas of the club's operations and facilities."

Season tickets at FA Cup winner's Portsmouth are rising by approximately 5 per cent with the club saying that fans have experienced price freezes in previous seasons.

The BBC compared season ticket prices in middle priced stands between the 2007/8 and 2008/9 seasons.

This story on the increase in football ticket prices was based on information obtained from football clubs.

A couple of those clubs gave the BBC information that meant we were not comparing like-for-like ticket prices in an earlier version of this story and we have now corrected this.