Season ticket benchmark set for Knighthead following Birmingham City’s relegation

Birmingham City season ticket prices for the 2024/25 season will be heading your way very soon.

Now that relegation to League One has been confirmed, the Blues hierarchy can draw a line through the Championship package that had been drawn up and free up prices for third-tier football.

While we all agree that this relegation was completely avoidable, there still seems to be a great deal of goodwill towards owners Knighthead Capital Management. Blues fans recognize that short-term pain is part of a long-term game.

They have witnessed the transformation of St Andrew’s over the past 12 months and have the promise of a Sports Quarter. Tom Wagner is in no danger of angry fans throwing their season tickets at him on his next visit to B9. Away from.

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Even when the football product was substandard at various times last season, supporters continued to flood the gates. The Blues’ average of 21,180 placed them 14th in the final league attendance table. No team playing in League One next season has matched that.

There is a sense that there will not be a big drop in season ticket sales. Judging by the mood swings on social media over the past few days, anger has turned to anticipation. The fact that the Blues *should* be able to compete at the right end of a table for once is at least something.

If the season goes to plan and the Blues are right at the top of the pile, there’s a good chance we’ll see more packed houses at St Andrew’s. But first, the Blues need to do well by their regulars and strike a suitable price.

Wagner has previously said he doesn’t want to hit fans in the pocket. Speaking last month, he said: “For us it is not about increasing ticket prices. That’s not how you grow revenue. If you look at the best clubs in the world, ticket prices are not a huge component of their overall income.”

The way supporters’ money can make a tangible difference to a club’s revenue is if they spend money while in the stadium. Will they participate in one of the two new fan parks Knighthead is creating? Will they visit the club shop? Will they enjoy an afternoon in one of the club’s luxury hospitality suites?

You have to get them there first. Huddersfield Town, another side relegated from the Championship alongside the Blues, have the right idea. In a world where almost all costs are rising, the Terriers have frozen their season ticket prices.

An adult season ticket at the John Smith’s Stadium costs £249. That works out to just £10.82 per League One match. Huddersfield charge under 23 pounds £159, under 18 pounds £129, under 16 pounds £109 and under 11 pounds just £49.

Those prices seem more than fair and Huddersfield have been praised by supporters from far and wide. The Blues’ cheapest adult season ticket last year was £300 in the Main Stand below. In the more desirable seats, Blues charged north of £450.

Nobody is asking the Blues to copy Huddersfield’s prices, but there should be a push to bring in people, young and old, at the start of the ‘comeback’. As Wagner himself said, fans don’t fund football clubs like they used to.

It would be nice to see a realization that League One football is not the Championship and a reward for those who have stuck with the Blues and been patient with Knighthead in what has been a difficult season to say the least.

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