For football fans, a season ticket for League Two side Grimsby Town Football Club used to be affordable. Now, ticket prices have almost doubled between the 2020/21 to the 2025/26 season. With tickets now costing fans £429 for a season ticket, with a price peak of £440 in the 2024/25 football season, is football affordable anymore?
Lewis Bradley, Joe Whalley and Jay Pauley have all been season ticket holders since Grimsby Town’s promotion to League Two in the 2020/21 season. For these three, the Mariners are their boyhood clubs, having watched them their whole lives. But the increase in ticket prices over the last few years has, effectively, changed their match day experience.
Joe said: “We’ve seen a big increase in the last few years. There’s a massive difference. They stopped doing a Mariners trust and Armed Forces 5% discount, as well as also getting rid of the booklets. I’ve spoken to other guys at games that have season tickets at Championship and Premier League teams, and we are just as expensive as some.”
Grimsby Town will play 46 games in their regular season, not including other competitions such as the FA cup and the Carabao Cup. Compared to the Premier League’s 38 games, town fans could be getting more for their money.
On average for these games, in the 2025/26 season, an adult standard season ticket for the Main stand will cost around £429. This averages at about £9.30 a game. Seems pretty affordable.
However, Grimsby Town, having been in league two for 5 out of the last 6 seasons, have seen their season ticket prices almost double in that time. In the 2020/21 season, a season ticket cost £272 for an adult standard ticket in the Main Stand. This means, compared to this season’s 2025/26 price of £429, there has been more than a 50% increase.
Whilst other factors have to be considered, such as inflation and the COVID pandemic effectively shutting down football for half of the 2021/22 season, some fans feel the increase still doesn’t compare to other team’s prices.
Jay said: “Whilst it hasn’t really affected game day experience, it feels like the product on the pitch should be better when we’re paying higher prices and to be fair it has been. Compared to other teams like Cardiff, where its £314, it’s a big difference. But then again, clubs with more fans can afford to do it cheaper.”
However, other fans argue that the increase in ticket prices has bettered their match day experience.
Lewis said: “I can see how increases have affected families or a parent who takes their kids, but generally, just for an individual, I don’t think the increases have been bad at all over the last few years. I think it’s actually gotten better as they’ve been able to use the money to bring in better food options and stuff in the fan zone.”
The question is, how long will it take for Grimsby Town to reach Premier League prices?
