MUST letter to Minister for Sport (Gerry Sutcliffe - A Salford Red and MP for Bradford)
Dear Minister
Your recent comments regarding ticket prices at Manchester United struck a chord with many of our 32,000 members and many supporters at other clubs too judging by feedback we’ve received. We wanted to put on record our support for your comments and issued a statement (attached) to that effect which was picked up by PA/Sporting Life and also circulated to our members.
We believe that the time has come for the Government to intervene over ticket prices because club owners (and the FA, PL, IFC etc) have been given ample time to put their own house in order and bring prices under control and yet price increases have actually accelerated to unprecedented levels. This has created hardship for many long term supporters (as well as potential new fans) who’ve given loyalty to their club for so many years only to be rewarded with an ultimatum to pay up or be replaced by someone else who can.
This presents a similar challenge for many of the local supporters who are being priced out and end up watching their club in the pubs around Manchester and Salford. I wonder what percentage of season ticket holders live in Salford now compared to 20 years ago?
Your comments suggest you are well aware of this situation. We understand that the Government sees intervention as the last resort but we believe that the case for such intervention is now overwhelming.
1. Clubs occupy a monopoly or dominant market position
Each football club is a discrete monopoly having complete control over the supply and pricing of tickets for their games. You can’t buy the product – e.g. Manchester United tickets - from anyone else and there are no effective substitute products available elsewhere. As a United supporter you will know that tickets for Manchester City would not be an acceptable substitute. The clubs know this too and they are exploiting it to their commercial advantage and to the detriment of the consumer.
2. Clubs are abusing a dominant market position
The level of price rises, with increases way above inflation over the last 15 years and around 50% in the last 3 years alone at United, is compelling evidence that this is not a healthy competitive market. Could a business operating in a competitive market get away with these kinds of increases? I’m sure you’d agree that the answer is no and the reason is that it is not a competitive market. Further evidence of abuse of a dominant market position is demonstrated by the imposition of unfair terms.
This can be clearly seen at Manchester United where the terms and conditions of both the Compulsory Automatic Cup Scheme and indeed the Season Ticket itself are riddled with terms which are blacklisted under the Unfair Contract Terms Regulations relating to contracts which are not individually negotiated. Like any other market where a business has a monopoly or dominant position the solution to protect the consumer is to apply regulation. We believe that consumers (supporters) are clearly being exploited and that the only solution is regulation of both prices and the terms and conditions.
With your previous experience at the DTI as Minister for Competition and Consumer Affairs you must surely be uniquely well placed to argue the case for such regulation and strike a historic blow for the ordinary football supporter. I know that it would receive a huge groundswell of support from football fans and supporters’ groups as well as the media, so I feel sure any move to address this would receive strong backing in the media.
In closing I would like to say how encouraged we are that we now have a Minister who clearly has his finger on the pulse of supporter issues. We would welcome the opportunity to meet you to allow us to put forward some constructive solutions to some of these issues that you have identified if you can find time in your busy diary?
Duncan Drasdo
MUST chief executive
