Frank Lee
No-one would deny football has changed, although the debate as to whether or not this has been for the better is one for another day. However, one thing that never ceases to amaze me is the amount of money people are willing to pay for football tickets, as sites like Football Ticketpad confirm.
And the PR campaign to prepare Spurs fans for expensive seats in Tottenham’s new stadium has recently begun. I was intrigued to learn about one particular type of ticket on offer – which is a first as far as I am aware.
The so-called “tunnel club” seats don’t come cheap. No sir. Spurs will have their equivalent of the Arsenal’s Diamond Club (the 'H club', with season tickets at £15,000 a pop), but they have worked out there is another angle they can use to charge premium prices. So these ‘tunnel club’ seats, which will be situated in the lower tier behind the dugout (where Arsenal are currently charging somewhere around £1,200 a season – they missed a trick there) will cost £9,500 each (although interested parties will have to buy a pair), plus the payment of a one-off compulsory membership fee of £30,000 to be eligible to buy the two seats. I had to check the date on the newspapers carrying this news wasn’t April 1st, but it seems they are actually going to do this.
So what does the £49,000 up front buy you, apart from a close up view of Mauricio Pochettino? Well, you get a car parking space (although I am fairly sure you can park in a local school or similar for £20 or less), a heated seat and a USB charging point. Great. But what really fascinates me is the prospect that “tunnel club members will have access to a glass-walled restaurant adjacent to where the players’ line up to walk out.” Classic modern football fan? Tucking into food while the match is about to start? What will Harry Kane make of someone devouring a Banoffee Pavlova as he prepares to take the field? Will the tunnel club season ticket holders be able to rush into the restaurant to remonstrate with Arsene Wenger should he be sent from the dugout for assaulting the fourth official at the first North London derby hosted at the stadium, or is entrance strictly controlled be the maitre’d?
Questions, questions, but you know what – this glass divide between the restaurant and the tunnel – it’s going to be like one of those mirrors in police interview rooms, with the Hugo Lloris in the role of ‘Fingers Freddie’. So the diners will be able to see in, but the players (and also the TV cameras filming them as they prepare to come out before the game) won’t be able to see the well-heeled supporters gawping at them. So when the fights on the way to the dressing room break out, the players won’t know who’s watching, but you can be certain mobile phones will capture it all. I can’t wait.
