Premier League clubs remain in dark over how many fans will be let into stadiums once they return in six weeks
PREMIER LEAGUE clubs are in the dark over how many fans supporters they will be allowed to let into games. That is despite PM Boris Johnson giving the OK to plans for gates to open in just six weeks. The government have made it clear they are still on course to end the ban on […]
PREMIER LEAGUE clubs are in the dark over how many fans supporters they will be allowed to let into games.
That is despite PM Boris Johnson giving the OK to plans for gates to open in just six weeks.
The government have made it clear they are still on course to end the ban on fans in stadiums by the start of October — and maybe earlier if test events are successful.
But clubs still have no idea how many fans they will be able to allow in the stadium.
It means they are having to come up with any number of different seating and ticketing models just over a month before the gates are set to be open.
Key to the planning is what social distancing measures clubs will have to observe with fans in the ground.
If they are forced to stick with the traditional two metres it could mean capacity in stadiums is reduced to 10 per cent.
But it will be far from how we know the beautiful game with a string of strict rules in place to help prevent a second wave of coronavirus.
But a reduction in social distancing to one metre would have a major impact and push the number of fans able to buy tickets up towards 25-30 per cent.
The lack of any clear guidance from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is having a knock-on effect of delaying clubs from knowing what budgets they have to work with over the next season.
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Match day revenues could double with a one metre distancing rule to the two metre regulation.
For a club like Manchester United who average around £4million revenue per home match, the difference would see £1m receipts if the one metre rule was adopted drop to around £400,000 if it was distanced.
Such a change is vitally important to sides in the EFL who are far more reliant on ticket sales and match day revenues for their day to day operations.