Median age of EPL Season Ticket Holder: 44

[huhe888]

CNBC Europe stock editor Martin Baccardax (who is Canadian) mentioned on Squawk Box Europe on Friday August 15 that the English Premier League has a demographic problem: the median age of an EPL Season Ticket Holder is 44.

Translation: the fan base of EPL clubs is getting old because the traditional young, blue collar crowd are being priced out of EPL the way the working class have been priced out of pro sports in North America.

Any wonder why EPL has no choice but to look to the GMT+8 time zone (i.e. Chinese-speaking markets in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Mainland China; plus all those government officials in Vietnam who embezzle money from the treasury to gamble on matches) for young consumers, particularly those who have "new money" to spend?

[bigredfutbol]

Actually, it may mean that since EPL matches are expensive, football fans in England don't buy season tickets until later in life when they are more financially well-off AND the kids are grown and out of the house (or at least self-sufficient).

I'm 40; for the past two or three seasons I've ALMOST not renewed my season ticket just because my son plays travel soccer and what with practices, games, and tournaments I find myself missing more and more games. It's only going to get worse over the next few years, as the tournaments will be farther away and they'll start travelling for State Cup matches as well. I may very well revert to single-game tix for the next few years and then most likely get season tickets after he finishes high school.

What I'm saying is--I don't know if this necessarily means that the EPL fanbase is aging and fading away...what's to say that today's 24 year-old EPL fans won't be buying their own season tix in twenty years when they have cash and free time for it?

[RichardL]

I agree. While it's certain that it's much easier for a richer older fan to buy a season ticket than someone in their teens or early 20s, there's little to indicate that the games losing popularity among younger fans.

Those who can't afford season tickets - more likely to be the younger fans - will buy the tickets available on general sale, and therefore not be counted in such fan age averages.

I'm not 44 yet, thankfully, but despite being rather near 44 than 24, I don't exactly feel young as I look around the stadiums. Maybe it's different at Reading, but most fans look typically far younger than that.

The Asia tv revenue factor doesn't really come into play. The income generated through overseas rights is typically wildly over-estimated. The global rights are still far smaller than the domestic tv deal.

Besdies, the danger isn't younger fans losing interest, it's if older fans lose interest then the younger fans still won't be able to afford to buy tickets, and many won't have ever got into the habit of going to games anyway.

Yet amazingly, despite ticket prices now reaching prices per minute normally associated with pre-recorded adult chat lines broadcasting out of Aruba, crowd numbers aren't yet dropping.

[nancyb]

Actually, it may mean that since EPL matches are expensive, football fans in England don't buy season tickets until later in life when they are more financially well-off AND the kids are grown and out of the house (or at least self-sufficient).

I'm 40; for the past two or three seasons I've ALMOST not renewed my season ticket just because my son plays travel soccer and what with practices, games, and tournaments I find myself missing more and more games. It's only going to get worse over the next few years, as the tournaments will be farther away and they'll start travelling for State Cup matches as well. I may very well revert to single-game tix for the next few years and then most likely get season tickets after he finishes high school.

What I'm saying is--I don't know if this necessarily means that the EPL fanbase is aging and fading away...what's to say that today's 24 year-old EPL fans won't be buying their own season tix in twenty years when they have cash and free time for it?

My recommendation for you is a half season plan. I had the same problems as you and scaled back to half season. Now, I get my DC fix and don't feel like I'm wasting money and tickets.