Premier League football clubs cap away ticket prices at £30 for the next three seasons
The Premier League has granted some welcome relief to cash-strapped football fans by capping the price of away tickets to £30 for the next three seasons.
Supporters who travel to watch their teams will pay no more than £30 per seat after the top flight's 20 clubs "unanimously agreed" to the limit.
Escalating ticket prices have become increasingly controversial in recent seasons and prompted numerous protests from fan groups. Some tickets for away fans at Premier League clubs – such as London teams West Ham and Arsenal – exceed £60 at present.
The cap will come into effect this August, and run until the end of the 2018-19 season.
Earlier today Arsenal said that it would be freezing all general admission ticket prices for home games, until "at least" 2018-19. Additionally, the north Londoners will continue to provide a £4 discount to Arsenal supporters that travel to away Premier League games.
"We are delighted that a cap has been introduced, in a victory for the Football Supporters' Federation and fans who have been campaigning on this issue," said a spokesperson for the Arsenal Independent Supporters' Association. "It is a shame, however, that the Premier League has scrapped the away fan initiative."
The Premier League's away fan initiative distributed money for top flight clubs to subsidise their travelling supporters. Some clubs used the funds to provide cheaper travel, while others reduced the cost of tickets. The Premier says that, from the 2013-14 season, top clubs had invested £200,000 each per season in incentives for away fans. The initiative is replaced by the new £30 cap.
The Football Supporters' Federation has been running a vociferous campaign named Twenty's Plenty, calling for a £20 cap on away ticket prices.
In recent years, the money raked in from TV rights has soared in the Premier League, jumping to over £5bn for the latest three-year package following an auction that closed in February 2015. The wave of cash from TV rights has prompted many fans to argue that clubs do not need to maintain high ticket prices.