London demo – further details announced

The Football Supporters’ Federation will lead a demonstration of fans at the next meeting of the Premier League’s shareholders at Le Méridien Piccadilly (London) on Thursday 26th March (midday). This is a vital demo for fans from ALL leagues – we want to see you there regardless of the club you support.

• Register: Email [email protected]
• Date/venue/time: Le Méridien (21 Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BH) on Thursday 26th March (midday) – map here. Fans should gather directly outside the main entrance. The meeting is arranged by the PL, we’re targeting it to deliver our message but have no control over when/where it takes place. The nearest tube is Piccadilly Circus.
• Why does this matter to all fans? Because the Premier League have recently signed a new TV deal worth £5.14bn for the domestic rights alone. We want to lobby club owners, chairman, and chief executives to #ShareTVWealth – that means cheaper tickets for fans and a fairer distribution of football’s wealth throughout the Football League, non-league, and grassroots. Fans of all clubs must back this argument as we want to make sure everyone benefits from this huge windfall, not just top-flight players, agents, and owners. From fans of the biggest clubs to the smallest, we want to see you to deliver the message directly PL shareholders.

Background

The Premier League’s newly-signed £5.14bn TV deal once again drew attention to the vast amounts of money pouring into football, and how little of it is reinvested in fans. There is no excuse for clubs to charge rip-off prices when they’re drowning in money. As FSF chief executive Kevin Miles pointed out in this open letter sent to all clubs, the increase alone over the last domestic deal equates to around £46 for every fan, at every PL game.

The FSF has campaigned on ticket prices for many years, and we have actually made some headway, but there’s still more to be done and all fans need to speak up. A couple of years ago we launched Twenty’s Plenty for Away Fans which called for clubs to cap away tickets at £20 on a reciprocal basis. Last season that saved 31,807 fans a total of £342,260.

Ticket campaigns by ourselves and affiliated fan-group members such as Spirit of Shankly helped create an environment where the Premier League also saw fit to introduce the £12m Away Fans Initiative. £200,000 per club, per season is spent on away supporters with the best deals subsidising tickets and travel – see what your club spent it on here.

In August 2014 we also led fan groups on the Affordable Football for All demo which marched on the Premier League/Football League and met with executives from both. However, this time it’s the 20 shareholder clubs who are the focus of our lobbying…

Actions for fans

1. Register for the #ShareTVWealth demo in central London on Thursday 26th March via [email protected].
2. Sign the #ShareTVWealth petition which automatically emails your club to demand cheaper tickets and more money for lower league/grassroots.
3. Spread the word! Share this page via Twitter, Facebook and other social media.

Thanks to Virgina Garcia for the image used in this article, reproduced here under CC license.