Safe standing advocate Rory Tingle argues that clubs should back the economic case for safe standing.

It’s time for football to acknowledge the economic case for safe standing. It’s great to see that the German FA has stressed the importance of a “positive fan culture” to its clubs and placed safe standing at the heart of this (the original document, in German, is here). It’s a tribute to the success of standing areas in the German Bundesliga which help to create and shape the special atmosphere of the league.

This points to a wider issue, which concerns the abject failure of many in power to acknowledge the opinions of supporters. Football clubs are ultimately businesses and what business can afford to ignore the views of nine out of 10 ‘customers’ in relation to safe standing and ticket prices?

Arguments for safe standing are backed by a solid business case. At its most basic level this is that standing areas can accommodate a higher density of fans. The issue of safe standing is therefore intrinsically linked to that of ticket prices. Its introduction would create extra revenue which could be used to drive down entry fees with extra money still left over for clubs.

As away attendances are dwindling and 40% of fans said they were attending fewer games due to over-inflated prices, it is clear that this issue must be addressed. Perhaps more worryingly, with the average Premier League fan a man in his mid-40s, we may see a generation whose understanding of ‘watching football’ means sitting in front of the TV.

Effective businesses also depend on good customer relations, and the rejection of the opinions of so many supporters paired with the often hostile treatment those who choose to stand attract from stewards represents an aberration of the principle of customer service.

I welcome Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore’s statement that he supports the action of Manchester City fans who chose to reject high ticket prices. Scudamore sees this as an example of market forces at work.

Yet surely by rejecting the idea of safe standing he is ignoring the demands of the market? It’s about time that those in charge acknowledged the economic benefits of safe standing - you can’t just pick and choose which market forces apply to your business.

Rory Tingle is a student journalist and writer from Durham University. Read more from Rory at rorytingle.blogspot.co.uk.

Photo: Action Images

slynch added 11:47 - Feb 14 It's difficult to put your views into perspective without knowing how many extra people you can get per sq metre by standing up rather than sitting down.
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SaintNick added 11:58 - Feb 14 I dont know the answer to your question as i didnt write the piece, but exact figures aside, it raises some good points about needing to reduce prices to encourage younger less affluent fans to games rather than breeding a Premier only tv audience
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slynch added 13:19 - Feb 14 I asked cos if you can't get significant more people per space then it won't make any difference. I thinking that, in the space taken for 4 seats how many more could you crush into that space safely and with all the bars etc; judging from the above pic hardly any difference!? And with the extra cost of policing and building etc, and with that in mind and demand for standing is still high then the prices might go up!?

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SaintNick added 14:19 - Feb 14 There are several different forms of safe standing in operation in Germany, one is where effectively the seats slide into the terracing and it creates a genuine terrace (UEFA games state have to be all seater, hence german stadiums all convert), that would probably create significantlymore standing spaces. The other is where they have literally just put in barriers as in the picture above, however the design of the seats is of a thinner nature than say those in use than England so again allows for more people in. But its not all about bringing back standing, most grounds already have that illegally, st marys certainly does and at the moment its a disaster waiting to happen, the real issue is making it legal and making it safe, no one is advocating a return to terraces as we used to know them in the top divisions, but to introduce safe areas where people can stand

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Snowy added 09:37 - Feb 15 Standing will never be safe in the UK. It's about culture not mechanics. You can't compare us to Germany. They are way more "polite" than us. No government will ever risk changing the law. The large majority of fans don't really give a toss.
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SaintNick added 09:51 - Feb 15 Snowy, large amounts of fans stand at games in the UK every week, be it legally on terracing as we did last year when we visited Peterborough, or illegally as around 6,000 people did last weekend at the Saints V Man City game and that is repeated around the country. At the moment standing in seated areas is a disaster waiting to happen, at some stage in the future someone will get killed, possibly from a "domino effect" surge when somebody overbalances. To dismiss it is dangerous, the laws regarding football grounds have their roots in between 1985 and 1989 when a series of problems saw the government at the time overreact to a situation. Now nearly 30 years later times have changed and laws have to change with them, football stadia are now modern and safe, surely we have to strive to make them as safe as possible, the last decade or so has shown that you cant stop fans standing up in seated areas, there are now only two choices, either draconian metods where you start bannig people who stand up, or trying to resolve it safely for the benefit of all

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stmichael added 10:03 - Feb 15 The only positive thing about standing would be the possibility of cheaper tickets. Personally I dont want to stand at football any more but then I'm nearly 50!
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Whatsforpud added 17:22 - Feb 15 The way the 'terracing' under the present seating is designed, each person occupies two steps - one for the seat and one for the feet. So two people could stand where presently one person sits. Looking at the picture, I am not clear if two people stand between the barriers. If that is the case, a club would need to charge more than half price, otherwise the income would be the same (or would be less if not full). Perhaps a 75% charge would be appropriate. It is very surprising that the Premier League and or the FA seem to turn a blind eye to the current standing of spectators, given the general health & safety ethos that pervades. When we first moved to St Mary's, Lowe was very insistent that everybody sat down - maybe from fear of losing the safety certificate. No one seems to worry now.

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