Premier League's great ticket problem as new survey outlines problem 79% of fans face
A brand new survey of UK Premier League fans has highlighted how almost four in five struggle to secure tickets to watch their team. A new season is set to get underway on Friday evening, when champions Liverpool face Bournemouth at Anfield.
While many football fans across the country will hope to follow their favourite team home and away this season, damning figures from a new LiveScore fan survey, which launched on Tuesday, have revealed that they may struggle to do so.
The survey, commissioned by one of Europe's leading real-time scores apps, questioned more than 3,000 football fans on their experiences in 2025. LiveScore uncovered that just 21 per cent of Premier League fans agreed that it was easy to get tickets to watch the action live, with 81 per cent citing availability and pricing as the two biggest stumbling blocks.
READ MORE: Man Utd star already had 'severe telling off' from Ruben Amorim's new leadership group
That means that 79 per cent of Premier League fans, or almost four in every five, agreed that securing tickets is no easy feat. With 3pm on a Saturday remaining the most prominent time for Premier League fixtures, this is a big blow for English football fans, given blackout rules preventing games from being broadcast live at the time.
The blackout rule was imposed in the 1960s to encourage fans to attend lower league games across the country, and it was protected in the last domestic TV rights deal, which will run until at least 2029. This means that no match can be televised between 2:45pm and 5:25pm on a Saturday until the deal expires.
However, the enforcement of the rule has led broadcasters to schedule more matches at non-traditional kick-off times. As per LiveScore, Sky Sports' record-breaking exclusivity deal for this season will see the broadcaster increase live match coverage from 128 games to 215.
Many of the additional fixtures are expected to be schedule for Monday and Friday nights, as well as Sundays. It also includes showing multiple 2pm kick-offs on a Sunday, which will often feature clubs participating in the Europa and Conference Leagues.
And while it is clear that Sky Sports is working to broadcast as many games as possible by working around the blackout rule, there's still more work to be done with regards to increasing the frequency that fans can watch their team on TV, according to LiveScore and LiveScore Bet European Brand Ambassador, Dimitar Berbatov.
In an exclusive interview with Mirror Football about LiveScore's findings, the former Tottenham, Manchester United and Fulham striker said: "Well, it's definitely a challenge, you know, especially with how many fans want to be part of the live experience, be at the stadium, supporting, getting all that emotion going through.
"And I see, and when I travel a lot into Europe and spoke with the supporters, meeting fans, the demand is still massive. And it's going to be massive because football is the most popular sport in the world.
"So it's great that the love for the game is so strong, but of course, it means that sometimes it's difficult to get a ticket. But again, I'm pretty sure that the clubs are always looking for a way to make that happen, improve access, and make sure that the loyal fans get their chance to go to the stadium."
LiveScore's mission is to fuel fans' passion for sport - download the LiveScore app for real-time updates and go to livescore.com for more information.
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