Clubs should cut ticket prices - FIGC chief

Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Franco Carraro has called on Serie A clubs to reduce ticket prices in a bid to halt a sharp fall in attendances.

After several years of steady crowd figures, Italy's top-flight clubs are struggling to attract people to their stadiums.

The average number of spectators turning out to watch a top-flight match this season is 21,280, a fall of nearly 20 per cent on last year's 26,135.

Carraro's appeal followed a disappointing turnout for Juve's clash against Inter on Sunday, which drew just 33,772 to Turin's Stadio delle Alpi, not half filling a venue that has a 68,000 capacity.

"Pricing policy should give people an incentive to go to the stadium," Carraro was quoted as saying yesterday.

"Not all matches are equal. For a big game people would be willing to pay a higher price.

"There are, however, matches like Juventus versus Siena, or Juventus versus Chievo, and in those cases the prices are not being dropped."

Pricing policy, however, is only part of the problem. An Italian fan buying a ticket for a Serie A match is likely to spend a fraction of what his English counterpart pays to see a Premier League game.

The average price of the cheapest ticket available at Serie A clubs is just over 17 euros.

Increased security measures, the threat of violence and outdated, uncomfortable stadiums have also been blamed for the drop.

The inadequacy of Italy's stadiums was a theme taken up by Adriano Galliani, the president of Italy's Football League, the body which oversees the interests of clubs in the country's top two divisions.

"If there are fewer people attending matches it is surely because it has become more convenient to watch the games on TV than in obsolete stadiums," he said.

"In my opinion, football should be played in stadiums built specifically to watch football in, where there is no athletics track to keep the spectators far away from the pitch."