The Amex Stadium empty seats debate

There are few things better about being a modern-day Brighton supporter than a good old fashioned debate about empty seats at the Amex Stadium.

And with thousands of season ticket holders opting to stay away from the Albion’s 1-0 win over Aston Villa, we have been treated to quite the war of words in recent days.

This is such a sensitive subject that it only needs one well-timed hand grenade of a comment to set people on both sides of the argument of.

On this occasion, it was the assertion those who had other things to do with their Bank Holiday Sunday are lesser supporters than those who turned up.

That only true supporters were there. And that it was justice those who stayed away missed out on Brighton ending a six game winless streak as punishment for their disloyalty. Ouch.

Such an argument though assumes those absent chose not to be there based on form. And whilst that explains some of the empty seats, the reason the crowd was sparse for the Aston Villa game was because of a perfect storm of circumstances.

Why were there so many empty seats at the Amex for Brighton v Villa?

This may come as a surprise to some Brighton supporters, but people do have other interests in their lives other than the Albion.

Brighton v Aston Villa took place on a Bank Holiday Weekend when a lot of fans would have been away in any case. Empty seats at the Amex Stadium always tend to hit their peak at the start and end of the campaign when supporters are more likely to be holiday.

The being-away factor was made worse by the game getting moved to the Sunday with just 14 days notice. Villa only confirmed their place in the Europa Conference semi final on Thursday 18th April.

It was not until Sunday 21st April that official confirmation came of Brighton against Villa being put back by 24 hours from Saturday 4th May to Sunday 5th.

Albion fans who had made plans for Bank Holiday Sunday based on going to the Amex on the Saturday now found themselves unable to attend.

Hence why there were around two thousands seats on the ticket exchange. Another couple of thousand meanwhile did not list their tickets at all.

Brighton form going into the Villa game

Having said that, there were obviously those who stayed away because of Brighton’s form. Results have been bad. Just three Premier League wins in 2024. The previous nine weeks had seen Danny Welbeck the only Brighton player to score a goal.

Burnley goalkeeper Arijanet Muric put through his own net for the Seagulls’ solitary April strike. Andrew Omobamidele scored an own goal to give Brighton their win over Nottingham Forest.

Roberto De Zerbi said following the 3-0 victory at Plucky Little Bournemouth a week earlier the players were lacking motivation with the chances of European qualification all-but over.

What De Zerbi says often goes lost in translation. But when your head coach suggests there is nothing to play for, that impacts on supporters.

Crap recent results. Crap performances in which Brighton have barely looked capable of scoring. Players already on the beach. Facing opponents the Albion had not beaten at home since 1980. Little wonder some decided to give the Villa game a swerve, even without pre-arranged plans.

Should the Albion we worried about empty seats at the Amex Stadium?

What do the club make of the number of empty seats? Very little, probably. The 2022-23 Brighton & Hove Albion accounts show ticket and matchday revenue make up a tiny proportion of income; £20.4 million compared to the £155.2 million received in broadcasting money.

Using tickets sold as an attendance figure also allows the Albion to claim the Amex is filled to 95 percent of capacity for every home game; even if such an approach leads to derision.

For a club which is so thin skinned to criticism, it makes you wonder what they think of the dissent shown when announcing an attendance of 31,596 is greeted by the 25,000 actually present collectively laughing out loud at them.

The tickets sold thing is plainly nonsense in any case. Why not count those double-sold on the exchange to massage the figure even further?

If 6,000 season ticket holders listed their seats and all were snapped up, technically 37,000 tickets have been sold for a game. A new Amex Stadium attendance record. Thank you for your fantastic support…

What should be concerning about the number of empty seats around the Amex Stadium for games like Aston Villa is the optics and impact on the team.

The Premier League is meant to be the most popular in the world. Yet the world will have seen all those empty seats across the East Lower and North Stand clear as day watching on TV.

Here are Brighton. A club who qualified for Europe last season. Who have become regular challengers for the top 10. And who cannot fill their ground for a game against the current fourth-best team in England. It doesn’t look great.

Nor can it help the players, seeing vast swathes of empty seats. There is also the impact a three-quarters full stadium has on atmosphere. Although you could argue even when the Amex is packed to the rafters, the noise is often still lacking. And you would be right.

Non League Football

Another intriguing factor in the empty seats at the Amex Stadium for Brighton versus Aston Villa comes from non league playoffs taking place across Sussex on Bank Holiday Weekend.

A number of Albion season ticket holders opted for Eastbourne Town v Newhaven in the Southern Combination Premier Division playoff final on Sunday afternoon. Goals and entertainment seemed more certain at the Saffrons than Falmer.

Others chose to get their weekend football fix watching Worthing v Braintree Town in the National League South playoff 24 hours after the Villa.

If you could only attend one game over the weekend, Woodside Road and the Rebels attempting to make history certainly held a lot of appeal.

This is where the club should potentially be concerned. Attendances at non league football across Sussex are going up at a rapid rate. A lot of long-term Brighton fans are turning to it as a more enjoyable alternative to the Albion.

Some of those are supporters priced out of the Premier League. Some do not like the commercial, sanitised behemoth that is English top flight football. There are a myriad of other reasons.

Whilst Brighton remain in the Premier League, treating fans as customers and putting off long-term supporters is not necessarily an issue. There will still be tourists to sell tickets to and away supporters willing to sit in home stands.

But what if Brighton are ever relegated back to the Championship? The club could be in for a rude awakening as to how many loyal match-going fans are actually willing to attend games against Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End.

You take supporters for granted through the good times at your peril for what it can mean when the bad times come around.

What can be done about empty seats at the Amex?

Empty seats at the Amex Stadium became more plentiful and noticeable at the start of the 2021-22 season. This was when the club moved to prevent season ticket holders passing their seat onto anyone they liked.

Previously, a season ticket holder who could not attend could simply give their ticket to any friend, family member, neighbour or colleague. The seat was then filled.

Now, season tickets can only be shared with MyAlbion+ Members. If Joe from Accounts or Mr Johnson next door do not want to pay to become a Brighton member, a seat therefore goes empty.

The merits and impact of this have been done to death. And with the sharing policy having been in place for three seasons now, it seems unlikely it will ever revert back to how it was.

Changes should be made to the ticket exchange though. Currently, every seat listed for resale is on at an adult price.

Presumably, this is so the club do not lose out on money should an adult season ticket seat be resold as a child’s ticket.

The £23.00 the Albion would miss should this happen to a West Upper seat would obviously be very damaging to the club’s £204,500,000.00 commercial income of last season.

Comments online suggest a more tickets would have been sold through the exchange if children’s prices were available.

Fans though do not want to pay full whack for a child ticket. If you want to bring two or more children, it becomes financially unviable to purchase through the exchange.

Brighton fans – a fickle bunch?

At the end of the day, season ticket holders all spend a huge amount of their hard-earned money supporting Brighton. That is commitment in itself.

No Albion fan should have to justify to another why they haven’t attend a game. Whether it be a family day out taking preference, a bedroom that needs painting, illness, the snooker final being on TV or simply did not want to spend hours in queues for public transport to and from the Amex.

Everyone’s circumstances are different. And circumstances change. The most loyal supporter who never misses a match home or away now might in five years be married with kids and have other priorities than watching every Albion game live.

From the Goldstone to Withdean to the Amex, every Brighton home ground has suffered from empty seats when form dips.

17 years ago, Dean Wilkins’ mid-table League One Albion were pulling in just over 5,000 fans to the Theatre of Trees.

Aside from a hardcore support base – which is admittedly now the largest it has ever been thanks to the Amex Generation – we have always been a fickle bunch.

But at least we now get an entertaining meltdown whenever empty seats hit their peak, rather than the shrug of the shoulders which greeted 3,500-odd spaces and a Withdean crowd of 5,146 for the visit of Blackpool in October 2006.