Championship club Reading FC continues to lead the way, when it comes to ticket prices for away fans visiting the Madejski Stadium.
Since 2016, the club has been charging £20 for all away fans.
The club claims there has been no noticeable change in revenue, as the losses from higher ticket prices are off-set by larger attendances and concession purchases.
Head of operations at Reading FC, Jackie Evans, told fcbusiness: “We continue to stand by this price cap principle in the Championship and promote across the EFL; our ‘Twenty’s Plenty’ pricing strategy demonstrates that Reading Football Club are listening to its supporters and football fans across the country. “It is a structure which visiting supporters admire and one we hope more clubs consider and adopt.”
Other clubs in the Championship and lower leagues of England continue to gauge away fans at exorbitant prices.
For example, Cardiff City fans who visited Elland Road in December were charged £39 for a league game against Leeds.
The EFL looks to be falling behind other leagues across Europe, including France’s Ligue 1 and the Dutch Eredivisie, who have both introduced ticket caps for away fans.
Last season, the average cost of an away ticket in the Championship was around £27, with clubs like Leeds charging more than £37 on average.
However, there has been some progress in the EFL in recent seasons.
Coventry City previously capped their away ticket prices at £20, whilst Swansea City away fans are partly subsidised by the club. The Welsh Club don’t let their fans who travel to away games pay more than £22 for entry.
Despite these highlights, cultural change at the EFL continues to move at a slow pace.
The EFL claims it will not consider implementing competition-wide price caps into its rules.
Therefore, it looks like it is up to supporters to pressure clubs into making the changes.
At this stage however, Reading FC are riding solo on the £20 cap.
“When we launched this price cap commitment for visiting supporters, we encouraged other clubs to follow our lead,” added Jackie. “And some did, allowing Royals fans to also benefit from reasonable ticket pricing when they journey up and down the country. “We hope ‘Twenty’s Plenty’ and a pioneering matchday ticket pricing policy takes one step in the right direction.”
