Brighton reward fans with supporter-friendly season ticket renewals

With wonderful timing, Brighton & Hove Albion announced season ticket renewal details for 2021-22 within 72 hours of Newcastle United being vanquished at the Amex for the Seagulls’ second home win of the Premier League season.

The good news is that the club have taken a supporter-friendly approach, freezing prices and introducing some new benefits to both help and reward fans for their loyalty throughout the pandemic.

Season ticket price freeze
Let us start with the headline news, which is that for the first time since 2015 the price of a Brighton season ticket will not be increasing.

A cynic might suggest that no club would be bold enough to increase the cost of a season ticket when only 4,000 fans have witnessed a match following the four percent increase for 2020-21.

This is the Premier League we are talking about though; you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be clubs out there who whack their prices up in a bid to claw back lost revenue caused by the pandemic. Newcastle and Spurs, probably.

Tony Bloom and the Albion have resisted the temptation, knowing that supporters will have lost jobs, been put on furlough and suffered other hardships since the last renewal in February 2020, long before anybody knew what hell we were in for thanks to Covid-19.

Change the name on a season ticket
The ID checks that were in place for home games held during the pandemic look likely to remain into the 2021-22 season, meaning that you will not be able to use somebody else’s season ticket to gain entry to the Amex.

This is probably something to do with Track and Trace and being microchipped by Bill Gates – and poses a problem for all those fans out there who own season tickets in another person’s name for whatever reason.

Previously, the Albion would never let fans change the name on season tickets as passing them onto a new owner was viewed as a crime akin to armed robbery.

The complications caused by the ID checks have now led to the club offering an amnesty for fans to change name of the owner of an existing season ticket, allowing them to continue to attend if their current ticket does not technically belong to them.

Whoever is the existing season ticket owner must inform the club of their intention not to renew and provide details of the supporter who the season ticket will be transferred to. The person taking over must be a current 2020/21 MyAlbion+ member or a renewed season ticket holder with a registered fan number.

And that is it. Those supporters who wish to switch ownership have until Thursday 29th April to complete the transfer and those taking over must accept by Thursday 6th May.

After those dates, using a season ticket which does not have your name on will revert back to being punishable by a 15 year stretch in a Thai prison.

Share a season ticket
Supporters who share a season ticket or give their ticket to a friend when they cannot make a game are in a similar boat when it comes to ID checks on the turnstiles.

Again, the club have decided to help those who find themselves in this particular boat by offering fans the flexibility to share their ticket with friends and family for the first time.

Season ticket holders who wish to share their ticket must pay a one-off upgrade of £20. They can then log into their account and inform the club that they would like to forward their ticket for a specific match to a MyAlbion+ member, who will then receive the ticket for the game in question.

Ticket sharing will only be applicable when the Amex is operating at full capacity again. If ballots are still being used to decide who is attending in reduced crowds, then season ticket holders will not be able to forward their ticket to another fan.

For those supporters who want to resell their ticket to a stranger, the ticket exchange will still be in operation for matches which sell out.

Delayed payments
Finally, Brighton have delayed taking payments from supporters for their 2020-21 season ticket until July. The normal starting point for direct debits is April.

This three month difference will allow for balances remaining from the 2019-20 and 2020-21 season to be adjusted for those fans who left their money in the hands of the club rather than seeking refunds when they were offered.

Supporters can expect to receive renewal packs this week offering more details on prices, processes and the new perks which the Albion have introduced – all of which will be most welcome by supporters as Brighton again prove that, by and large, they know how to look after their fans.

You can read full details of Brighton 2021-22 season ticket renewals over on the Albion website by clicking here.