Cheapest ways to get sports tickets

You can watch the best teams this winter without emptying your wallet, says Mike Kielty.

It can be an expensive business to buy tickets for high-profile spectator sports. As the lovemoney.com columnist John Fitzsimons pointed out in The Big Premier League Rip-off last year, season tickets for certain Premiership teams can cost well over £1000.

Moreover, most top-quality sport now is available on TV or the internet. So what’s the point of paying exorbitantly to go and watch your favourite team in a chilly stadium with a cold steak-and-kidney pie?

Only people who haven’t been to watch a game would take that question seriously. Watching a game in a stadium is an entirely different proposition to watching it on TV.

For one thing, there’s the atmosphere. You are surrounding by people shouting, screaming, singing and dancing. There tends to be a sort of tribal energy around the place, as one team, backed by their fans, faces their opponents.

And, for the sporting tacticians out there, you can analyse the entire field of play while the game is being played, which TV coverage generally does not allow you to do.

There are some obvious tips for saving money when going to watch sport. Buying family tickets (normally for two adults and two children) offers good value-for-money.

Here’s a summary of some of the best deals around for watching sports affordably this winter. Whatever your favourite sport, there’s something for you. 

Football

There tends to be a range of prices for match day tickets at Premiership games, depending on your position in the stadium, with the pricier tickets getting the better views. It’s worth checking on any seats that are marked as “restricted viewing”, as this could obviously affect your enjoyment of the game. But in general, even the cheapest tickets will give you a good view of the game and allow you to soak in the atmosphere at the same time.

Many teams use different ticket categories for different opponents: the better the opposing team, the pricier the ticket. For instance, the cheapest Premiership adult ticket that Liverpool provides for “Category A games” (including Manchester United and Chelsea) is £45, compared to £39 for “Category C games” (including Fulham and Stoke).

The place where you sit in the stadium also makes a big difference. The cheapest adult ticket for a league game at Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground is £27 (in the East/West stand lower), as opposed to £49 (in the North/South stand centre) for the most expensive.

If this is still too pricey for you to go to watch games consistently, it might be worth trying out other teams in the league outside of the top four or five. For example, you can get an adult ticket to watch Blackburn Rovers v Wigan Athletic on Saturday for as little as £10.

If the recent game between England and Montenegro has not put you off entirely, you might fancy going to watch some international football. It is possible to do this on a budget. England is playing France in an international friendly at Wembley on Wednesday 17th November, with the FA selling the cheapest tickets costing £20.

Rugby Union

Going to watch international rugby games can be expensive. Tickets for the England v New Zealand game this weekend, for example, cost between £40 and £87. These are not available at the moment and have mostly been sold, but a small number will be available on Ticketmaster tomorrow (ie Wednesday) morning from 10am. 

England’s games can be particularly hard to get hold of, as they are sold first through clubs, schools or to members of the supporter’s club. Tickets for the other home nations can be easier to find.

Occasionally, tickets for England games do go on general sale, and can be a bit cheaper than normal if you get in early.

For example, England is playing Samoa on Saturday 20th November, with tickets available on Ticketmaster. Originally, they were selling tickets for £25, but now the cheapest tickets available cost £37.80 (including fees). Having said that, the Samoans are flamboyant, powerful rugby players, so it will almost certainly be worth it.

Tickets to watch club rugby normally cost in the same region as Premiership football games. The cheapest ticket for a seat to watch Leicester Tigers, last season’s champions, in the Aviva Premiership is £25 (although it is cheaper if you are prepared to stand). Buy before the day of the match or the price goes up by £2.

Other sports

Wimbledon finished months ago, but there is still world class tennis that you can watch for affordable prices in the UK.

From 21st to 28th November, the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals are coming to London’s O2 arena. Only the top eight singles players and the top eight doubles pairs in the world qualify to play. For the uninitiated, that means Roger Federer, Andy Murray and the Wimbledon champion Rafa Nadal.

You’ll be able to watch them in one of the world’s premier indoor arenas, and the tickets aren’t too pricey. Both daytime and nighttime sessions comprise one singles and one doubles game. The tickets are organised by Ticketmaster and Viagogo.

At the time of writing, the cheapest price on Viagogo for a session was £15, although the prices go up much higher than that on certain days and with seats with a better view.

Tell us about your favourite deals for sports tickets

Do you know any good ways to watch the best sports teams for reasonable prices, or is watching top-quality sport these days always going to be a rip-off? 

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