'A Premier League survey of season ticket prices reveals that spectators at three of its 20 clubs pay more than £1,000, with Arsenal charging the most at £1,724. Tottenham Hotspur even charge adults and children the same £1,265 for some seats. In a stark illustration of football's pursuit of high-earners, Arsenal have begun taking orders for a new season ticket costing a record £4,750 a year.
Arsenal are doing most to lure the well-off. At their new stadium in Ashburton Grove, north London, 7,000 of the 60,000 seats have been reserved for people prepared to pay between £2,500 and £4,750. They are believed to be the most expensive seats to watch any club in the world.
Buyers of these 'club level' seats will receive a prime view, free drinks at half-time and use of separate bars, lounges and restaurants.
'Club level provides an opportunity for supporters to enjoy the atmosphere of a top match while also relaxing in the kind of surroundings not really experienced at football stadiums in this country before', says Keith Edelman, Arsenal's managing director.
Edelman insists that 'ordinary supporters' are being given priority over businesses in the allocation of club level seats and that they will make up 75 per cent to 80 per cent of fans in that section of the ground, which opens in 2006. But even well-off Gunners fans believe the cost is too high.
As a lawyer earning several hundred thousand pounds a year, Glyn Taylor, 43, is far better off than most 'ordinary supporters' Edelman refers to. Yet even he believes club level is too dear. 'I understand why Arsenal are doing this, and I'm not against them on principle, but it is an awful lot of money,' he said. 'My four season tickets already cost me about £1,700 each and I'd like to exchange them for four of the £4,750 club level seats, because the view would be great. But you have to buy it for a minimum of four years and pay all the money in advance, which would mean I'd have to give Arsenal £76,000.'
Adults buying the other 37,000 season tickets at Ashburton Grove will pay a minimum of £900 to £1,000.'
