Chelsea keep most ticket prices frozen, reduce Westview pricing

Chelsea have essentially kept (general admission) ticket prices frozen for the past decade, and that trend has been confirmed to continue for at least another year, with the official pricing announcement today for the upcoming season. Prices in most sections of the stadium thus remain frozen, despite prognostications last year about potential price hikes of 5 per cent or more. Booking fees have also been removed, which where incongruous with the whole concept anyway, since the booking system is “in-house” rather than sourced out to a third party.

The one area of the stadium that diverges from that trend however is “Westview”, which is the recently upgraded area of the West Stand for a more “luxury” / “modern” / “consumer” experience. (This work was completed during the pandemic.) Pricing for those areas were announced in October to general outrage, as in some tiers the prices tripled — yes, tripled, from £1250 to £3900 for a season ticket (i.e. 19 games) if you were sitting on the halfway line (generally considered the best seats in the house).

While prices in those sections remain elevated, they’ll be been knocked down 25 per cent in tiers 1 and 2, to around £2900 and £2250, respectively. Tier 3 pricing (towards the goal lines) stays at £1500. These are still comfortably the most expensive non-hospitality tickets in the house, but the price hike is a tiny bit less outrageous now — the most expensive season ticket outside those areas is £940 for the East Upper. The Shed (Lower) and Matthew Harding (Lower) remain the cheapest (and thus most atmospheric) non-family sections at £750 for an adult season ticket.

Keeping most ticket prices frozen is obviously commendable — even if they’ve long ago priced out the common man — but is unlikely to go on forever. Matchday revenue remains a massive source of income and as we saw with previous stadium improvement plans, bigger doesn’t always mean cheaper. Still, for now, this one’s an easy feather in the new ownership’s cap.

“We will continue to seek fan input as we plan for next season and the years ahead. Our mission is to create the best fan experience in football.”

-Todd Boehly; source: Chelsea FC