Southampton could have made £19m pre-tax profit without fan ticket sales in 2016/17 season

Southampton, along with nine other Premier League clubs, could have played in empty stadiums without their fans and still would have made a pre-tax profit in the first season of the current broadcast deal in 2016/17 according to the BBC.

Saints would have made a pre-tax profit of over £19m.

Saints would have made the fourth-biggest pre-tax profit, beating out the likes of Everton, West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, AFC Bournemouth, Swansea City, and Crystal Palace.

The BBC reports that the matchday income of 18 clubs contributed less than 20p for every £1 earned.

It was reported that matchday ticket revenues just made up 12.3% of the club’s total income - that’s compared to 78.4% coming through the Premier League’s bumper broadcasting deal.

It begs the question why Southampton fans have barely seen any reductions in season or single matchday ticket prices, doesn’t it?

The atmosphere provided by British football fans is one of the main reasons why Premier League football is so attractive to broadcasters, drawing these huge bids across the world which now prop up the league’s clubs financially.

It’s now becoming a tired cliché, but football really is nothing without its fans. It’s time those who run these clubs realise that before they price fans out of the game.

This season - a freeze in ticket prices, rather than a reduction. Even for season ticket renewals.

Luckily for us, there’s a Southampton fans forum coming up this week - the perfect opportunity to take Ralph Krueger and Les Reed to task. That’s if there’s no inane talk about queues for beer and hot dogs clogging up the discussion, though...