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Sun 17 August 2025 9:00, UK <\/p>\n
Man United\u2019s controversial seat licence idea could cause a similar ripple in the way the Super League plans did in 2021.<\/strong><\/p>\n That is the view of football finance expert Dan Plumley, who told Football Insider<\/strong> that other clubs will also explore the idea of selling a seat licence to their fans.<\/p>\n Man United are considering the idea of a personal seat licence<\/a>, which will entail paying \u00a34,000 for the right to buy a season ticket at their new stadium.<\/p>\n Jim Ratcliffe<\/a> is planning a bold regeneration project that will not only include a new stadium, but also the development of the surrounding area.<\/p>\n The Red Devils are seeking government funding for their plans, but need to raise money for the new ground themselves.<\/p>\n The idea for a personal seat licence is not guaranteed to be implemented as yet and is one of several ideas that United are exploring.<\/p>\n The idea stems from sports in the US. Plumley told Football Insider<\/strong> previously that Man United\u2019s licence idea<\/a> can often cost North American sports fans \u201cin the hundreds of thousands\u201d.<\/p>\n MORE FOOTBALL INSIDER STORIES<\/p>\n Premier League owners backing fans into a corner<\/strong><\/p>\n This article contains exclusive comment from Dan Plumley, a football finance expert and senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University.<\/p>\n The concern for fans across the Premier League<\/a> will be that their owners may look to mimic United in adopting a seat licence.<\/p>\n Speaking to Football Insider<\/strong> exclusively, Plumley<\/a> compared the situation to the response to plans of a European Super League in 2021, when backlash effectively shut down the idea.<\/p>\n The finance expert expects Man United fans to protest as a response to the idea<\/a>, and suggested the same would happen if it were used across the league.<\/p>\n Plumley said: \u201cAs the game\u2019s evolving, it is an option that clubs could look for. There\u2019s no doubt there is an option there.<\/p>\n \u201cThe test of the water will be, what\u2019s the fan response? And we saw this with other things; we can talk about the Super League as the ultimate example.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t know how far you\u2019ve got to push fans until they really kick off and backlash, and then you\u2019ve got a decision to make about how you kind of maybe backtrack on that. <\/p>\n \u201cThe ultimate answer at the minute is, we don\u2019t know, but it is a viable strategy to raise funds, and it would be on the table.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it will be club-specific. If it does come in, it will be targeted at high-net-worth corporate seats in the first instance. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t see it being a wholesale thing that\u2019s going to kick in. I don\u2019t see every club trying to do it, but there are options and levers that clubs will look to use in the future on tickets.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still a conversation that\u2019s going to dominate, especially with secondary ticket sales and resale seats and the price of tickets in general.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be something that clubs might look to use.\u201d<\/p>\n Man United want to continue summer spending<\/strong><\/p>\n Whilst there will inevitably be backlash from the plans to charge fans even more for the right to watch a game, that has not stopped the club from spending lavishly this summer.<\/p>\n Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo<\/a>, and Matheus Cunha have all joined for sizeable fees, and Man United are looking to add Carlos Baleba<\/a>.<\/p>\n Brighton want at least \u00a3100million for their star midfielder, the Red Devils\u2019 former chief scout Mick Brown told Football Insider <\/strong>exclusively.<\/p>\n That figure may become a stumbling block in United\u2019s pursuit of Baleba<\/a>, having already spent over \u00a3200m [transfermarkt<\/a>] on new signings this summer.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Related Posts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credit: Imago \/ Getty Images) Sun 17 August 2025 9:00, UK Man United\u2019s controversial seat licence idea could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[85598,94,30567,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-351427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-dan-plumley","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-man-united","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115043709229331110","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Sir-Jim-Ratcliffe-FA-Cup-Final-1024x576.png\")
Jim Ratcliffe wants Man United to build a new stadium. (Credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1394205336-1-1024x683.jpg\")
(Credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Carlos](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Baleba-Man-Utd-FI--1024x576.jpg\")
(Credit: Manh Tung, Breaking Media)<\/p>\n