Chelsea fans are being asked to pay more than three times the current price for their season tickets with costs reaching almost £4,000 next year, after the club upgraded the facilities in one of the stands at Stamford Bridge.
The West Stand upper tier has been rebranded, Westview, with new bars, food outlets and TV screens, but it comes at cost for supporters wanting to keep their padded seats next season.
The current price of £1,250 will rocket to £3,900 per seat for a tier one ticket on and around the half-way line, which is likely to push Chelsea ahead of its London rivals for the most expensive seats in the Premier League next season.
This term, Spurs held that dubious honour with the top-priced season ticket at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium setting supporters back £2,223, according to research by the newspaper group, Reach.
That price was only rivalled by Arsenal, where the most expensive annual season ticket cost £2,013.
The cheapest tickets were at Burnley – the Lancashire side’s most expensive this season was just £650.
Chelsea fans received notification of the price hike today and were quick to express their incredulity on social media.
‘That can’t be right surely there’s a typo in the email. How can they justify that?!’ tweeted one fan.
‘Insane,’ suggested another.
Your current season tickets will fall into the Tier 1 category and therefore your price will be £3,900 per seat from next season.
Fans had been warned that the price would rise in the refurbished and rebranded section of the stadium.
The works were carried out prior to the 2021-22 season and fans were allowed to renew tickets for this term, but would have to accept the new price structure or move in 2022-23.
Now, Chelsea have written to supporters.
‘As you will have seen, the concourse has been transformed to create a spacious area with lots of natural light,’ wrote Simon Hunter, head of venue and hospitality.
‘There are two new 360-degree bars with faster service and a new food hall serving an expanded range of high-quality food.
‘In the seating bowl we’ve introduced three big screens to ensure all seat locations can view the screen content for the first time, and all seats have been replaced with new padded seating.
‘When the changes were communicated before the start of this season, we explained that a new pricing model for Westview would be implemented for the 2022/23 season.
‘To give you plenty of time to review your options, we are now writing to let you know how this pricing model will be structured.’
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