There are places where people voluntarily pay for the pain. For example in the Sadomaso-Studio (SM) or in the municipal stadium on Grünwalder Straße. Every two weeks, the fans of TSV 1860 Munich invest a nice sum in tickets and Helles to see their team win and finally get promoted again. But then they often only get a beating. One to four against Borussia Dortmund II, zero to three against SC Verl, zero to one against Viktoria Köln. This destroys the vocal cords and causes the carotid artery to boil.
Of course, other masochistic fans also know this pain. Heartfelt sympathy at this point to all those who have been relegated from Schalke 04 and Hertha BSC, to the notorious non-promoters of Hamburger SV and the last minute beat up Borussia from Dortmund. They all would have long since earned compensation from the clubs for their ability to suffer, but things are different, as a look at the current price lists of the 56 teams from the top three football leagues shows: Ironically, the fans with the greatest suffering pay for their season tickets often most. The smaller the successes, the larger the expenses.
1860 has one of the most expensive season tickets
The season ticket tariffs for standing room serve as a yardstick, i.e. for the full fan curves in which ultras and omnivores gather, the so-called fan base, without which a football club would not even be worth half as much. Like last season, the chronically clammy TSV 1860, which ranks somewhere between Aue and Mannheim in the no man’s land of the third division, is right at the top of this price table. The fans in the west curve will have to shell out 285 euros for 19 home games next season, which makes 15 euros per game. The cost of the season ticket has risen by 7.5 percent, and the included public transport has been canceled to the chagrin of fans and the environment. Inflation in the lions is currently higher than in the rest of the country.
Elsewhere, too, sufferers are asked to pay a lot: At the second division club HSV, the cheapest season ticket for 17 home games costs 238 euros. VfB Stuttgart fans who live in constant fear of relegation pay 227.50 euros. A season ticket for the south stand in Dortmund is 250 euros. The fans get a seat on the largest and perhaps the loudest standing room curve in Europe, but the prices are too high even for them. As early as 2022, when the annual ticket was ten euros cheaper, the BVB curve protested with large banners. “Real love, but more expensive than any other whorehouse,” was the boorish text. That brings you back to the subject of SM.
A year ago, Borussia Dortmund fans protested against the season ticket prices.
(Photo: Jan Huebner/IMAGO)
Just for comparison: At FC Bayern, even if nobody really wants to go there from the point of view of 1860 and Dortmund, the standing room season ticket costs 165 euros. The 33-time German champion, who sends world stars like Manuel Neuer into the ring, charges his fans 85 euros less than the league rivals from Dortmund. TSG Hoffenheim sells the cheapest standing room season ticket of all first division teams for 150 euros, the most expensive has promoted SV Darmstadt with prices from 256 to 323 euros.
What are you actually paying for?
Some fans ask themselves the question of what for. Do you pay for the great team? For the modern stadium? For title? 1860 followers would probably say no. You’ll see players so obscure it takes two weeks to memorize their names to correctly shout along with them when the line-up is announced. It can hardly be the stadium either, although the city now charges significantly more rent and the operating costs are said to have increased sixfold. The fans are offered draughty concrete grandstands and a legendary urinal that you share with 600 fans at half-time and that you can smell from afar. The scoreboard, a relic from the pre-digital age, is operated manually with number boards.
So is it time to change clubs? Of course not, never. After all, the fans love the honest, cracked stadium and the scoreboard that shows no offside and no line-up. They love even their players, who so often disappoint them and who sometimes treat the ball as if they were hooves. They love standing in the fan block with friends on Saturdays and yelling for their team. Yes, they may love the pain.
Therein lies the perfidy. The clubs could probably also charge 370 euros per season – their most loyal fans, who are usually not big earners, would still come and pay to support their team. Your money often helps plug the holes in the empty and mismanaged club coffers. It is not for nothing that the notoriously unsuccessful often ask for the highest prices for tickets. And finally the demand is there. The 12,000 season tickets from 1860 are almost all sold out. “Once a lion, always a lion,” as the saying goes.