When it comes to being a supporter of the Charlton men’s team, 23/24 has been a tough old ride. However, with the appointment of Nathan Jones, Charlton fans are now beginning to dare to look with some optimism towards the 24/25 season.
It was good to see, therefore, that the current ownership acknowledged that rough ride with the launch of season ticket sales for next year.
https://www.charltonafc.com/news/letter-clubs-ownership
More of the same for a bit more money would have been a very hard sell to anyone.
Not all clubs have announced next year’s season ticket prices but there has been a range of strategies amongst those that have. Stoke City is now offering frozen prices for an incredible 17th successive season. Sunderland has gone for an approximately 8% increase in prices in exchange for some tangible improvements in matchday experience. Down the road, Millwall has implemented a short-term price freeze and is trying to entice people in with some attractive headline offers such as £25 for juniors.
On reviewing the package launched this week, Charlton’s approach appears to be more along the Sunderland model:
https://www.charltonafc.com/news/202425-season-tickets-now-sale
Season ticket prices have gone up by about 5% overall which is ahead of the consumer price index (CPI) of 3.4% (source: ONS for Feb 2024). Adult prices in Zone 1 (most expensive zone) have only increased by £5 whereas Zones 2 & 3 by £25 compared to phase one last year. The club’s rationale seems to be to narrow the gap between the zones, a gap that grew substantially last year when the club chose to reduce the number of zones from four to three, meaning a £200 difference for adjacent seats in the centre versus wings of the West and Curbs stands. That differential is now £180.
CAST has held the line with the club that watching Charlton should be affordable, as per the Addicks Charter. We are all being asked to pay a bit more next season but, ideally, we wouldn’t be paying more than an inflationary increase as is the case for the majority of fans. However, for the most part, we will continue to pay less than supporters of other comparable local clubs. An exception is for Under 21s at Millwall who, for now at least, could renew their seat for a lower price than Addicks.
If we leave aside the like-for-like pricing, the 24/25 package contains a new fan zone and some other new elements:
Safe standing
CAST first brought a safe-standing proposal to Katrien Meire seven years ago. Needless to say, the proposal was met with a blast of tumbleweed. We later pursued the idea with Thomas Sandgaard who kicked it down the road, citing the cost to implement as a barrier. More recently, however, CAST has been working with the club safety team and so we are delighted to see it in the announcement for next season. Judging from the immediate reaction on social media, this has proved to be a popular decision by the club.
Youth Zone
We are pleased to see that the club have followed up on a suggestion from CAST and made a quick first move towards a youth atmosphere zone with an attractive £125 season ticket price for 16-20 year olds.
Valley Express
The club have not yet confirmed details regarding Valley Express for next season. CAST has expressed the view that the club should view Valley Express as part of, rather than separate to, a strategy to make football as affordable and accessible as possible to build the fanbase from its current level. In addition to the ongoing need to minimise our carbon footprint, Valley Express if managed carefully, can and should both build and sustain support, particularly if we are to live up to our values as the original community club. We will continue to work with the club on this and we will stress that there will need to be certainty about Valley Express before the season ticket deadline We invite all current - and prospective- Valley Express users to contact us with their thoughts at secretary@castrust.org.
Streamed games
CAST doesn’t yet know what the plans are for the high quality and popular Charlton TV, but we do know about the EFL / Sky broadcast deal that starts in the 2024/25 season. The deal covers a combination of live broadcast linear TV and live streaming within the UK. International broadcast plans are presently unclear.
Linear broadcast TV games will have a studio and all the usual Sky broadcast standards including 9-12 cameras. Streamed games will have commentary, fewer cameras but Sky / EFL etc. graphics. All streamed or broadcast games will be accessible via the Sky app.
EFL iFollow will no longer be available because all streamed games will all be on the Sky platform. 26 out of 36 EFL games per weekend will kick off as usual at 3pm Saturday. These are the so-called blackout games which cannot be broadcast or streamed in the UK. The rest of the games (i.e 10) will move from this slot - as yet the alternative kick-off times have not been confirmed.
Before the start of the season, Sky will select their featured fixtures up to the FA Cup 3rd round weekend. Then they will select another batch up to the beginning of March. Thereafter, games will be selected on a rolling 4-week basis. This is an improvement on what we get now. For most of the season, this advance selection will allow fans to make plans earlier and not have them changed.
The EFL is leaving it to Sky to monetise the viewing, but at present you would need a Sky subscription or to pay per match via a NowTV day pass to view the games that they broadcast.
More information can be found here EFL and Sky
If you are not already among the 2,600 Charlton supporters who are members of CAST, do join here today - it only costs £5 annually