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It was on the fictional island of Isla Nublar, somewhere off the Pacific coast, that Dr Ian Malcolm, over lunch in a space-like cabin, delivered an ethics lesson that has proven relevant in the real world over the past week. Until Aston Villa released their exorbitant Champions League ticket prices, a comparison between the club and a Jurassic Park cutline would have seemed far-fetched. “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could do it, they didn’t stop to think whether they should do it,” Malcolm, played by Jeff Goldblum, said as the park’s philanthropic founder enthused about bringing dinosaurs back to life.
The 1993 film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and Villa’s ticket prices appear to have been set by Chris Heck, the president of commercial operations, who doubled the prices in a statement on Tuesday, almost a week after the storm broke. He blamed the Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) and the “need to generate” maximum revenue from sponsorships, merchandise and, er, ticket sales. Unai Emery said he sympathised with the fans and hoped they would see the increase as fair come May if it meant they retained their status among Europe’s elite. [are] not comfortable [with the] “We will increase the price but hopefully it will be worth it at the end of the season because they appreciate this level and we maintain it,” the Villa manager said on Friday. “I know and respect the efforts of our supporters.”
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First, the numbers: a family of four in premium zone 1 seats, where there are no concessions, will pay between £316 and £376 per game, the former if they are season ticket holders, with home games against Bayern Munich, Juventus, Celtic and Bologna on the schedule. Most fans are charged between £70 and £97 per home game, with some offered a 55% increase, prompting the Football Supporters’ Association to accuse Villa of exploiting fan loyalty. PSR has proven difficult but in this case practical. “There was a bomb with the countdown and we were there to cut the cable,” Villa’s director of football operations Damian Vidagany said of complying with PSR rules in an interview published the night before Villa confirmed their ticket prices.
The numbers are well documented, with the original social media post sharing the prices viewed over 6.4 million times. The prices are riling up a lot of fans, but now for the interesting part: how will fans react to Everton on Saturday, Villa’s first home game since the big reveal? When the pre-match fireworks go off and the plumes of smoke rise, how will they really feel? It’s hard to know whether fans will vote with their feet given that the Bayern game, a replay of Villa’s greatest day, the 1982 European Cup triumph in Rotterdam, was a sell-out. It turned out to be the fastest cup game in Villa’s history. Perhaps that’s the crux of the matter.
There seems to be a division among the crowd this weekend; some are reluctant to make a splash with a team in such poor health, a clear connection between fans, players and Emery, while others feel marginalised. Some of those who five years ago made trips to Reading and Rotherham feel the club only cares about catering to a certain type of supporter. Heck’s insistence last year that it has a “fans first mentality” seems rather hollow. The Villa Academy fans group set up a crowdfunding campaign to pay for 16,000 red cards and encouraged supporters to wave them in the direction of the directors’ box for the first 97 seconds of Saturday’s game. Prices rising, mood low? “We have to accept that someone is going to protest,” said Emery.
Heck, who did not attend a meeting with the supporters’ advisory board on ticket prices, suggested the need to accelerate growth if Villa are to remain at the top of the domestic and international leagues. He spoke of a desire to increase revenues to £400m by 2027 (from £218m in 2022-23) and explained how record commercial deals from this season have doubled growth. They have signed a kit deal with Adidas, a front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with gambling company Betano, and extended their partnership with sleeve sponsor Trade Nation, which specialises in “low-cost betting”.
The revenue streams are everywhere. There was the pre-season tour of the United States, with the faces of Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins on digital billboards in New York’s Times Square. This summer, the club informed hundreds of supporters that it would have to move seats to make way for hospitality areas. On Tuesday, Villa are hosting a ticketed screening at Villa Park for the start of Villa’s Champions League adventure, which begins in Bern.
So Villa find themselves in a special position on their 150th anniversary and certainly in the best position since 1982. The good probably outweighs the bad, but there is friction and fans who, for the opening game against Arsenal, endured overflowing urinals in the Holte End or arrived to find their usual seat no longer existed are asking questions about the Villa hierarchy. There were also teething problems that day with digital ticketing and the club did a U-turn after it was revealed that it had doubled the cost of disabled parking for the season to £380.
Until recently, there were only positive headlines: qualification for Europe’s most prestigious competition for the first time since 1982-83; the unwavering support of billionaire owners Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris, who have transformed the club since buying a majority stake in the Championship in 2018; an elite manager in Emery, who signed a new contract in the summer; a squad brimming with international stars; a new fan zone for kids that will open this Saturday. And then there’s the club’s new shop on the Villa Park pitch. “I think it’s the best in the country,” said Heck. But now Villa supporters have the chance to show the powerful what really matters.
