MANCHESTER CITY CAPTAIN Vincent Kompany has called on Premier League clubs to cut ticket prices for fans.
He believes that if the cost was lower, the atmosphere would improve at grounds and subsequently add to the home advantage.
It would also attract the ‘right people’ back into football.
The two-time Premier League winner has recently graduated with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Manchester Business School and researched the topic at length for his dissertation.
Kompany told BBC Radio 5 live’s Wake Up To Money programme that he wants to see the prices reduced for business reasons as part of the English top flight’s long-term strategy.
“The study concluded that you get better home advantage depending on the atmosphere that you can create within your facilities, and that is linked to the people who enter your stadiums,” the Belgian international said.
“Those that live for the club, and are probably more attached to the club than anybody else. But those are probably not always the guys who can afford it
“The Premier League is generating two or three times the revenue of the other top five leagues in Europe, so at what point do you realise that your revenues are that big as a TV product, and the revenue from match-day tickets is only getting smaller?
“At what point do you decide we are actually now going to make sure if it is a TV product, it is the best product in the world? Meaning not just the best players, but the best atmosphere in the stadium; meaning the right people in the right place.”
“We know the Premier League can still grow. The question is at what point do you reach breaking point where you squeezed so much out of your people at home?”
The 31-year-old defender added: “If you assume the Premier League gets bigger and you gain markets in China, India, Africa, America, you could fill the grounds with tourists.
“You can do it, and make more money. They’d just come and spend £400 a ticket, it’s nothing for them because it is a once in a lifetime experience, like going to an NBA or NFL game. The question is if that affects your product, as the Premier League.
“It is a difficult decision to make unless the clubs make it together. Once they are aligned (in the Premier League) it is completely possible, and adds value to the league worldwide.”
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