Premier League champions Arsenal are England’s most expensive club to follow

Arsenal may be Premier League champions, but they are also the most expensive club in the league to support.

New analysis from Novuna Personal Finance found that an Arsenal fan buying the cheapest season ticket, an adult home shirt, a pie and a pint at each of the 19 home league matches would spend £1,367.95 across the season.

That is £753.10 more than Hull City, the most affordable club to follow in the league at £614.85.

The tables combine each club’s cheapest adult season ticket, one adult home shirt and a pie and a pint at all 19 Premier League home fixtures. This excludes travel, away games, domestic cups and European fixtures.

The £8.85 pie

Arsenal supporters face the league’s most expensive cheapest season ticket, at £978, and they also pay the most for a pie and a pint, at £16.05. The £8.85 pie alone is the most expensive in the league.

Everton fans are feeling the biggest jump at the till. Since the move to Hill Dickinson Stadium, a pie has risen 54% to £6.00 and a pint by nearly a third (31%) to £5.95, the steepest food-and-drink increases across the league.

The season ticket still makes up the largest part of a fan’s spend, but the cost of the matchday add-ons are climbing quickly. Since 2016/17, the average pie has risen 58% to £5.53 and an adult replica shirt 56% to £77.40, both increasing faster than general inflation over the same period. 

A £1bn season at the turnstiles

Premier League fans are set to spend more than £1 billion on tickets in 2026/27, up from £920 million just two seasons earlier.

Stadiums may still be full, but attending fixtures is gradually becoming less affordable. Since the Premier League began, the cheapest ticket prices have risen by 400%, compared with general inflation of 134%.

Watching from the sofa isn’t as affordable as it used to be, either. To follow every televised match, fans need subscriptions to two broadcasters, costing at least £684 a year on rolling deals and as much as £1,140 for longer-term packages.

The ‘Ted Lasso’ effect

The Premier League is no longer just Britain’s game. In 2023/24, 1.1 million overseas football fans travelled to the UK, generating more than £1 billion for the economy.

If football tourism keeps pace with wider inbound travel, Novuna estimates that number could rise to 1.32 million visits in 2026/27, worth more than £1.15 billion to the UK.

The US is a major driver of football’s popularity globally. In the Ted Lasso era, Premier League viewing on NBC rose 5% last season, averaging 535,000 viewers per match window.

Theresa Lindsay, Chief Marketing Officer at Novuna Personal Finance, said:

“Arsenal may be champions, but they also top a less welcome table, the cost of following a club for a season.

“The season ticket is always the biggest expense, but the pie, pint, shirt and subscriptions are making football more expensive week by week. A few pounds at a time can very easily become a four-figure commitment over an entire season, especially for teams with European fixtures.

“At the same time, the Premier League’s global popularity shows no sign of slowing. For supporters at home and those travelling from overseas, following a club now needs the same financial planning as any other major leisure spend.”