Fresh update on £118m Tottenham controversy as second statement issued

Mon 5 August 2024 18:30, UK

The Tottenham board have always had a complex relationship with the club’s supporters, but things could be about to take a turn for the worse.

Daniel Levy and ENIC have engineered the move to a world-class new stadium and turned Spurs into a global brand, which has generated huge revenue.

However, fan have at times been frustrated at what they see as the increasing commercialisation of the club and a conservative approach in the transfer market.

Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal - Premier League — Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

Spurs have spent big in recent years but their wages-to-turnover ratio is still comfortably the lowest in the so-called Big Six, despite generating more revenue than Chelsea and Arsenal.

The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium alone generates over £100m every season – it was £118m in the last financial year – and is the club’s biggest asset as Daniel Levy looks for external investment.

As well as cash through the turnstiles, they make millions every year from non-football events and Spurs have just doubled the number of concerts they can host.

But in order to maximise the profit that the stadium can generate, the Spurs hierarchy are also making decisions that are deeply unpopular with bedrock fans.

Influential group object to Spurs’ ticket controversy

Like several Premier League clubs at present, Spurs appear to be in the process of moving away from a concessions model when it comes to their ticket pricing.

Concessions – usually OAPs and junior fans – are entitled to more affordable tickets under the Premier League’s rules, although what that might look like is ultimately subjective.

Spurs will not issue any new concessions tickets from the 2025-26 season onwards, citing a major upswing in the number of concessions attending matches.

Predictably, this was met with a huge backlash among fans who feel as though the club is pricing them out in favour of perhaps more high-spending tourists or single ticket users.

Another step the club has taken is to email season ticket holders to inform them that their passes can only share them with non-concessions if they pay the difference in price.

In their monthly newsletter the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust slated the tone of the email, which they interpreted as misleading and punitive.

According to , the email was shown to the Fan Advisory Board before it was sent and a number of amendments were suggested.

However, the organisation says that none of those revisions were included, prompting the negative response to the comunique.

Every Premier League club wants to increase matchday income, especially given that the value of the domestic TV deal appears to have plateaued.

But Spurs’ efforts to do appear to run the risk of alienating their most loyal fans.

TBR Analysis: Will Spurs ever sign a naming rights deal?

When Spurs moved to their new stadium, there was much talk of a naming rights deal worth potentially up to £20m per season.

However, despite ex-commercial chief Todd Kline saying that the deal was his number-one ambition, no such agreement has materialised.

Extra commercial income is a way to negate the apparent need to raise ticket prices, so the concessions policy will naturally spark questions about what happened to the naming rights.