Stadium Admission Prices

[LagutaRacingFan]

I class speedway as overpriced.

I can go to Surrey and watch a county championship cricket match for £15.

£15 for 7-8 hours of entertainment.

[MARK246]

On 10/19/2024 at 2:48 PM, Steve Shovlar said:

Speedway is a £10 sport. Yes. In 1977. Speedway is certainly not overpriced. 

Sadly the thousands that attended in 1977, but no longer do, disagree.

[1 valve]

On 10/19/2024 at 1:48 PM, Steve Shovlar said:

Speedway is a £10 sport. Yes. In 1977. Speedway is certainly not overpriced. 

In 1977 adult admission was around £2.50 Since then Sterling has had an annual inflation rate of 4.5%  a cumulative increase of 695%.
Put another way £19.50 is todays equivalent spending power of £2.50 from 1977. 

 

[Sir Sidney]

18 hours ago, LagutaRacingFan said:

I class speedway as overpriced.

I can go to Surrey and watch a county championship cricket match for £15.

£15 for 7-8 hours of entertainment.

I play cricket, so I am pro cricket - but, in that day's play ( which shouldn't take 7-8 hours unless you are including lunch and tea) for how long is the ball actually in play? 45 minutes? And a lot of that may not be 'entertainment '. County cricket is hardly awash with supporters attending county games.

Value is a subjective judgement 

[IainB]

17 minutes ago, 1 valve said:

In 1977 adult admission was around £2.50 Since then Sterling has had an annual inflation rate of 4.5%  a cumulative increase of 695%.
Put another way £19.50 is todays equivalent spending power of £2.50 from 1977. 

 

According to the Bank of England inflation calculator £2.50 in 1977 is worth £14.27 today .

I also think £2.50 is a bit steep for 1977... There's a picture here, must be from around 1983/1984:

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/history/gallery/great-old-photos-chart-history-2674737

Showing £2.50, in today's money that's £8.25

[arnieg]

41 minutes ago, IainB said:

According to the Bank of England inflation calculator £2.50 in 1977 is worth £14.27 today .

I also think £2.50 is a bit steep for 1977... There's a picture here, must be from around 1983/1984:

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/history/gallery/great-old-photos-chart-history-2674737

Showing £2.50, in today's money that's £8.25

For this type of calculation the GDP deflator is a more accurate measure.

1977: 14.3

1978 16.2

2023 : 100

That makes  @1 valve 's figure pretty much spot on.

[IainB]

28 minutes ago, arnieg said:

For this type of calculation the GDP deflator is a more accurate measure.

1977: 14.3

1978 16.2

2023 : 100

That makes  @1 valve 's figure pretty much spot on.

This uses GDP deflator: https://spice-spotlight.scot/real-terms-calculator/

£2.50 in 83/84 = £8.50 in 23/24

... it is Scottish money though 😂

Edited yesterday at 09:15 AM by IainB

[1 valve]

1 hour ago, IainB said:

According to the Bank of England inflation calculator £2.50 in 1977 is worth £14.27 today .

I also think £2.50 is a bit steep for 1977... There's a picture here, must be from around 1983/1984:

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/history/gallery/great-old-photos-chart-history-2674737

Showing £2.50, in today's money that's £8.25

You maybe correct re £2.50 being high and more likely to be early 80’s level.
so using raw CPI data from office of National Statistics and weighted compounded inflation (more indicative than pure BoE inflation figures) £2.00 would equivalent of around £15.60 Also worth remembering that back in “77” Vat had two heady rates of 8% & 12.5% - Those were the days. 
Anyways - on Topic. Yes cost of attending speedway in 2024 is more costly in real terms than “back in the day” most probably because actual attendance has fallen meaning less number of fans have to meet the running costs of meetings. 

[IainB]

7 minutes ago, 1 valve said:

You maybe correct re £2.50 being high and more likely to be early 80’s level.
so using raw CPI data from office of National Statistics and weighted compounded inflation (more indicative than pure BoE inflation figures) £2.00 would equivalent of around £15.60 Also worth remembering that back in “77” Vat had two heady rates of 8% & 12.5% - Those were the days. 
Anyways - on Topic. Yes cost of attending speedway in 2024 is more costly in real terms than “back in the day” most probably because actual attendance has fallen meaning less number of fans have to meet the running costs of meetings. 

Yes we could argue the toss about the numbers until the cows come home... for me though, just comparing it to other forms of entertainment 20-23 odd quid feels about right

[StevePark]

2 hours ago, 1 valve said:

In 1977 adult admission was around £2.50 Since then Sterling has had an annual inflation rate of 4.5%  a cumulative increase of 695%.
Put another way £19.50 is todays equivalent spending power of £2.50 from 1977. 

 

You must be Talking "top flight," as in 1978 Newcastle ("second Tier") were charging Adults £1.00 Children 55p. 

[IainB]

15 minutes ago, IainB said:

Yes we could argue the toss about the numbers until the cows come home... for me though, just comparing it to other forms of entertainment 20-23 odd quid feels about right

Having said that... I do think a lot more could be done in the way of reduced admission via promotional activities etc.

Last year at Leicester I remember we had a load of weeks where different local yoof sports clubs were in attendance and it appeared to be quite successful, I can't remember seeing any this year

[1 valve]

5 minutes ago, StevePark said:

You must be Talking "top flight," as in 1978 Newcastle ("second Tier") were charging Adults £1.00 Children 55p. 

Yes “top flight” Adult Leicester/Coventry but have amended my memory to £2.00 cuz my wife has reminded me we could both attend for a fiver including program & a shared pie!
Incidentally, back then litre of petrol was 18p

[Fromafar]

2 hours ago, 1 valve said:

Yes “top flight” Adult Leicester/Coventry but have amended my memory to £2.00 cuz my wife has reminded me we could both attend for a fiver including program & a shared pie!
Incidentally, back then litre of petrol was 18p

You pay £4 for the pie nowadays 👌

[tyler42]

4 hours ago, IainB said:

According to the Bank of England inflation calculator £2.50 in 1977 is worth £14.27 today .

I also think £2.50 is a bit steep for 1977... There's a picture here, must be from around 1983/1984:

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/history/gallery/great-old-photos-chart-history-2674737

Showing £2.50, in today's money that's £8.25

Very nice photos

[AFCB Wildcat]

3 hours ago, IainB said:

Yes we could argue the toss about the numbers until the cows come home... for me though, just comparing it to other forms of entertainment 20-23 odd quid feels about right

Exactly that. 

In relation to the other things that us working class peasants spend their disposable income on, speedway has faired quite well.

For example, take a night at the pub. Checking historic prices, the average price of a pint of beer in 1977 was 27p. Sounds right because I remember buying my first pint (underage!) at 29p in a local pub about a year or so later. 

If speedway was £2 back then and you do the comparison in today's money, speedway would be nearer £40.

Compared to a packet of ciggies it would be £60. I know that that the cigarette comparison is not really valid because they've been taxed heavily for health reasons now.

They must have been healthy back in the 70's though because I used to enjoy the scantily clad women handing out free sample cowboy killers to us kids at the Marlboro Grand prix. Happy days!

 

 

[Bald Bloke]

1 minute ago, AFCB Wildcat said:

Exactly that. 

In relation to the other things that us working class peasants spend their disposable income on, speedway has faired quite well.

For example, take a night at the pub. Checking historic prices, the average price of a pint of beer in 1977 was 27p. Sounds right because I remember buying my first pint (underage!) at 29p in a local pub about a year or so later. 

If speedway was £2 back then and you do the comparison in today's money, speedway would be nearer £40.

Compared to a packet of ciggies it would be £60. I know that that the cigarette comparison is not really valid because they've been taxed heavily for health reasons now.

They must have been healthy back in the 70's though because I used to enjoy the scantily clad women handing out free sample cowboy killers to us kids at the Marlboro Grand prix. Happy days!

 

 

Bloody hell, that brings back memories.Back in 1980 when i was 16, i used to pay 40p a pint. Could get smashed on 4 quid Now Guiness is £5.50 in my local..

[DaveWayne]

10 hours ago, IainB said:

Yes we could argue the toss about the numbers until the cows come home... for me though, just comparing it to other forms of entertainment 20-23 odd quid feels about right

As well as Speedway, I go to Stock Car racing and lower league football. All 3 are similarly priced so it feels right to me, especially as 2 of the sports are at some of the same venues.

[steve roberts]

When I first went to speedway in 1972 as a 12 year old the admission was 30p and programme 8p.

[AFCB Wildcat]

51 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

When I first went to speedway in 1972 as a 12 year old the admission was 30p and programme 8p.

That's interesting. 1972 was my first season too, but I can't remember how much it was.

I was looking at speedway programmes on Ebay, and 1977 covers were showing prices of 10 to 12p. That's half as much again as your 8p, so if admission rose by the same, a child admission would have been 45p by 1977. Child admissions are currently around 30% of the full adult price, so as a rule of thumb, that would make a 1977 adult admission £1.50

There is a 1977 White City Intercontinental final ticket on Ebay, showing a face value of £1.50, so I can't imagine that Gulf BL admission was more than that.