As prices continue to soar in the cost of living crisis, transportation and prices for football tickets are no exception. We researched the prices of the top teams in the Championship, home tickets and transportation to the games from Leeds railway station. The results told us how much it costs you to follow your favourite club. Every football match costs you time and money – and if you’re following your team it all adds up. With the data we’ve uncovered it shows us how Sheffield Wednesday are the worst value for money in Yorkshire, the data below confirms with this.
Sheffield Wednesday have the highest home ticket prices with an adult’s ticket starting at £42, just edging Leeds United’s which is £40. Whether it’s down to poor financial management or cost of living, Sheffield Wednesday has the highest season ticket prices in the championship, starting at £710. These prices are astounding for a championship team and are almost unheard of which begs the question: Is it worth it?
From Leeds railway station an adult return ticket to Sheffield stands at £16.30, which ultimately suggests that a trip to the Hillsborough stadium excluding food and drink would set you back a commanding £58. For a team currently sat 23rd in the championship with 3 wins and 13 scored in 20 games this season, it seems preposterous to charge fans the most for a home ticket in the league and clearly exploits the passion and tribalism Wednesday fans have for their club. A Sheffield Wednesday fan we interviewed stated that “With my dad going since he was a kid and the season tickets now being £710, I have no idea how we are going to keep on going”, in addition with the cost of living crisis on the rise as well it begs the question, will they reduce the prices?
With Leeds United being a single major team city and Leeds itself having over 700,00 residents the majority of population will support the local team. With tickets averaging at £42, are they worth the price? Statistically after playing 114 games, they have scored 152 goals, however, goals conceded levers out this statistic as in the total amount of games they have played they have conceded 211. This averages out as 3.1 goals per match, with the conceding record much higher than goal scored it seems the trip to Elland Road not to be worth price due to goals against.
Middlesbrough are another club in the Championship who have become infamous for expensive home ticket prices. Although comprehensively cheaper than Sheffield Wednesday, sitting 12th in the championship should see tickets at a more affordable rate. And it only gets worse for Boro fans travelling from Leeds as an adult’s return ticket to Middlesbrough would set you back £42 ultimately making it comfortably more costly than Sheffield Wednesday. In this instance this shows the difficulty that lies within the expenses of transportation and how football fans without a car suffer the major consequences.
Huddersfield Town is the cheapest second division journey to make from Leeds, with a train ticket costing £10.60 and a home ticket costing £21 it seems to be worth travel…right? Over the last three years 138 games have been played, 49 wins, 37 draws, and 52 losses have occurred , with a win percentage of 36% it shows that the £31.60 price tag not to be worthy despite the cheap pricing in comparison to other Championship clubs. With a minus 19 goal difference in those 138 games it guarantees you will see on average 2.4 goals per game (statistically).
