Town have the joint-highest-priced cheapest matchday ticket in the Championship, according to the BBC’s Price of Football survey for the current season, which has been released this evening.

The Blues’ lowest-priced adult seat purchased on the gate ahead of a game costs £30, as does the cheapest matchday ticket at Leeds.

Birmingham and Huddersfield have the cheapest adult matchday tickets in the division at £15, while Derby have seats at £17.50 and Blackburn, Cardiff and Nottingham Forest at £18.

The Blues' most expensive adult matchday ticket is the joint-sixth dearest at £40 along with Norwich City and Birmingham with Sheffield Wednesday (£49), Fulham (£45), Brighton and Leeds (£42), Bristol City (£41) dearer.

Town’s cheapest adult season ticket is the fourth highest-priced of Championship clubs' cheapest at £417 (if bought before the early bird deadline), 24 per cent above the league average, with only Norwich (£499.50), Brighton (£475) and Newcastle (£428) more expensive.

Sheffield Wednesday (£415) and QPR (£400) are the only other Championship clubs whose cheapest season ticket is over £400.

Wigan and Huddersfield have the lowest-priced cheapest season tickets at only £179, while the Latics’ dearest season ticket is only £229.

The Blues’ most expensive season ticket quoted in the survey, £842 (a small number of seats in an area on the halfway line), is the dearest ahead of Fulham’s £839 ticket, although the Town website shows other seats aimed at the corporate market at higher prices.

In terms of tickets for away fans, Town have the cheapest at £10, according to the survey, but also the joint-second most expensive away seat at £40 along with Norwich, with only Sheffield Wednesday’s priced higher at £42.

Further information on the Blues' prices can be found here, while details of ticket pricing, as well as the cost of tea, pies and replica kit, at 223 clubs across 23 leagues can be found here.

Commenting on the survey, Town media manager Steve Pearce said: “We have frozen matchday ticket prices for the last four years and our season ticket prices in that time have gone up by only 1.7 per cent on average.

"“We have maintained an under-11s season ticket price at just £10 for the last nine years, which compares favourably with any professional club in British football.

"“We have also introduced a ‘Pick 6/Pick 12’ match ticket bundle that provides a cheaper rate than buying tickets game by game.

"“As well as providing promotional offers to season ticket holders - these include saving money on additional match tickets - for the 2016/17 season we have introduced a new partnership scheme with local companies with season ticket holders able to get significant discounts on a range of goods and services.

"“Having said that, we are taking a detailed look at our whole ticket operation. This obviously includes pricing but also new initiatives, reward schemes for season ticket holders and how to cater for any increase in away fans looking to come to Portman Road.

“This is a big venture for us and significant discussions have already taken place. They will continue to take place and we will be canvassing opinions from supporters.”

Photo: Action Images

RoyalAscotBlue added 08:17 - Nov 17 How many season ticket holders are there currently? 14,000? Be lucky to get 10,000 next season, the way things are going. Average attendances have fallen by about 35-40% in the last 10 years. When are you gonna wake up Mr Evans?
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Surco72 added 08:18 - Nov 17 Whether it is the football on display , the high ticket pricing or the lack of investment into the playing squad or a mixture of all three that is the issue but clearly the plan is not working as crowds are dropping . If you are not competing with transfer spending or playing ability with the teams at the top surely you should not be charging the same or more ? It is an entertainment business now and Ipswich are not competitive

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martin587 added 08:32 - Nov 17 The problem now is,supporters are just selecting the games they want to see.Our Tickets have been high for quite a few seasons now.Not much you can do about it other than "just don't buy one". Even as a season ticket holder I don't go to all the games,but that's my choice as I have to travel from Southend and with fuel costs and refreshments it is very expensive.,plus I travel to most away games.It's just a matter of choice,you either take it or leave it.!!

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soapy added 08:56 - Nov 17 I have a choice this weekend (I live on the South Coast). Go and see ITFC (Min £27.50) or Worthing FC (away at Dulwich -paywhatyouwant to get in). I regularly have a choice and Worthing regularly wins. £10 to get in, kids free, drink beer whilst watching the match, home cooked food etc etc. I love ITFC and they will always be my club but stop ripping us off!!!
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Burnzee1991 added 08:57 - Nov 17 With a stadium capacity of 30k and an average attendance of 17k any businessman with his head screwed on would know that this is counterproductive to the business. Lower ticket prices and fill the stadium!
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rozeeboy added 09:15 - Nov 17 Promotions mean nothing unless you are a regular or live in/around Ipswich and can benefit from such a thing. My friend is a Wolves fan and we watch 2 games together, home and away. He watches Wolves 10 or so home game a season as it's affordable. I watch Ipswich twice as it's a day out with a mate but it still hurts the wallet.
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chrisw2045 added 09:17 - Nov 17 I might be in a minority but for the 2 season tickets i have (1 x adult + 1 x under 11) I pay £426.96 in total, interest free over 2 years. This equates to £4.64 per game for each ticket per match across the season. I think that is very good value for me.
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blues1 added 09:29 - Nov 17 This story I believe is incorrect as tickets for sheff weds were £33 in advance let alone what price they would have been on the gate. Iaintaylor. Yes it's possible that if tickets were cheaper that crowds would increase but probably not by enough to even take the same amount of money. E.g.. 15000 at £30 is £450000 income. So if tickets were dropped to say £25 you would need 18000 in ground just to take same amount of money. So unless the club could guarantee that level of extra ticket sales they aren't gonna change prices. At the end of the day they have costs to cover. Unfortunate but a fact

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blues1 added 09:34 - Nov 17 Pjewellisagod. So u think they should charge £5 per game? And how they gonna pay the players wages, the managers coaches, people who work at the club, stewards electricity bill etc, etc? Glad ur not running the club. It would go out of business in a week.
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Bluewelshman added 09:54 - Nov 17 I can only afford to go to a handful of games a season due to the cost of tickets, it becomes almost a treat to go to watch the Town play, despite how well they play. I would love to be able to take my two kids to Portman Road as often as I used to go when I could afford a season ticket in the old North Stand, now I have to wait for "deals" on tickets that my mate would get through his season ticket. I just wonder at what point ITFC will realise that cheaper tickets may encourage more people to attend matches with their families which will increase the clubs revenue going forward. I just seems to me that they are in this football business to make money now rather than plan for future growth.

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MattinLondon added 09:58 - Nov 17 Boring football, donkeys on the pitch, expensive tickets = 15k attendences
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weevil added 10:06 - Nov 17 It's funny that a businessman like Evans has no idea about basic Economics. All this flannel that Steve Pearce said is all useless jargon. What we want is cheap tickets. Why the hell do we not get this? The aim of the football club should be to get as many people into the ground for the highest amount of money possible. having 15,000 people in the ground does not achieve that. Let's take a very basic example. Let's assume season tickets do not exist and evereyone has to pay on the door. I know this isn't reality, but it's all relative anyway so it doesn't matter. ITFC vs Rotherham had an attendance of 15,247. The CHEAPEST match day ticket is £30. If each person buys a pie and a tea (again, relative) that gives match day income at £542,793. Now let's say that we put match day tickets to £15, but fill the stadium (30000) That gives match day income at £618000. Filling the stadium but achieving the highest price can give an increase of match day income of approximately 12%. The increase in income is the least important aspect of this. Playing infront of a packed stadium is always more motivating for a player than having stands of empty seats. I'd be happy to have LESS match day income but fill the stadium. Hell, give the tickets away! Empty seats EARN NO MONEY. You'll make money from people buying food and drink. Improve that aspect too town. I don't even go to home games anymore. I live in central London so I go to some of the local away games (Millwall last season, Charlton, Fulham etc) because I can't justify an expensive and long journey back home only then to not be entertained. At least being with the away fans there's a certain pantomime of being in "enemy territory" that's exciting and fun. I haven't been to portman road for about 10 years. You need to rethink your policy to the people who pay your wages, ITFC.

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RegencyBlue added 10:10 - Nov 17 I've said it before and I will say it again - ANY business which charges top dollar prices for a very average product is heading for problems. We are down to our hard core customer/fan base and even that is being steadily eroded now. We could not even get a decent crowd for the Norwich game and if we cannot bring in fans for that one something has gone very wrong indeed. One off promotions are not going to help, there needs to be a complete overhaul of pricing at PR and it needs to be much more competitive. It won't happen of course but it should!

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ArnieM added 10:21 - Nov 17 http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37962214 Interesting stats here. Championship footie is the most expensive and as TWTD article states, Town are among the the highest in this division. We're being topped off and have done so for over a decade since administration. Tell us something we don't know ITFC!!
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nthstd added 10:27 - Nov 17 There is no change year on year and the comments from the club are laughable. I pay for my season ticket monthly and I no longer spend any money in the ground. I prefer to give my money to local businesses rather than the club. At some point someone will say "but we do kids for a quid offers" and other trite comments. No away games this season as I've bought a campaign card for NI and it's cheaper for me to fly to Belfast than travel to some matches in England. The sudden appearance of another 3 or 4000 fans when we make the playoffs or get closer is disappointing, but I can understand them only coming at that point. Watching some of the football this season has been painful

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grumpyoldman added 10:38 - Nov 17 The club must be getting desperate about the gates going down, when I used to go to PR last season, my wife would book them via my grandsons junior blue membership. Over the past few weeks she has received emails pushing tickets with offers as we have not bothered to purchase any this season. No tickets whether we reach the playoffs or not until MM is gone, some of us have got principles stronger than loyalty to the club.

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Bluefish11 added 10:39 - Nov 17 What do people expect when the club is run by a man whose main business is selling tickets to events for as much as he can get. AND within 2 months of Evans taking over, as a supplier to the club I was told that my services would not be needed any longer as one of Evans companies would now be supplying. I had 2 season tickets for the previous 20 years and went to all home and away matches but have only been to 4 matches since as a result of tickets for birthday/xmas presents. ITFC is simply Evans little toy, he does not give a stuff about anyone else. I was an ITFC addict but have discovered there is more to life than ITFC. Evans, you had a fantastic opportunity when you took over ITFC but you now hold the record for the team that has remained in the division for the longest time. You are a long term failure, just run along back to your Bahama home and let someone take over the club who has commitment and capability.

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blackcat added 10:39 - Nov 17 Used to be season ticket holder,can't justify that anymore, now I find it hard to justify even the time to bother even looking on TV for the score usually starts with 0- Why would any club want to encourage away fans with vheap seats while keeping home fans away with expensive ones??
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Razor added 10:47 - Nov 17 We did not need a survey to tell us what we already know. It is the casual supporter and away fans we need to attract (I am not sure if the ludicrous£2 walk up fee is still in vogue) and to keep things simple I would suggest £25 anywhere on the sides for everybody and £20 behind the goals---end of.
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PhilTWTD added 10:48 - Nov 17 Further to a couple of comments about the Sheffield Wednesday price quoted above and other figures, not mine but those in the survey and the Wednesday price may not have applied to the Town game. One of the criticisms of the BBC survey over the years has been that it doesn't compare like with like. One club's regular price will be compared with a one-off at another.
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Bluefish11 added 11:27 - Nov 17 Typical BBC, wasting license fee payers money on vanity projects
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blues1 added 11:36 - Nov 17 Weevil. While ur figures may be right the problem is that even if tickets were £15 we still wouldn't get 30000 in the ground. And there lies the problem. If they were to chargev £15 the club would go bust. While prices are a factor in crowd size the biggest factors are the division the club are in and the entertainment. If we were playing better the crowds would be higher. And if we were in the premier league, regardless of the price of tickets we'd fill the ground for most games. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying prices aren't too high but the fact is that clubs have to cover their costs. Unlike in the old days of the cobbles clubs have to be run strictly as a business. If that business is run badly they end up in massive financial trouble. As have several clubs such As Portsmouth among others.

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Wonky added 11:36 - Nov 17 Forget your discounts and offers (designed to make us spend more) the heart of the issue is ticket price and entertainment, very lacking in both.
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TimmyH added 12:00 - Nov 17 £30 to generally watch paint dry (most Saturdays) for 90 minutes entertainment (it's not really that) - the club is really taking the pee. Tickets should be reduced by a tenner at least.
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weevil added 12:01 - Nov 17 blue1 I get your point, and you are right. It is an extremely vicious circle. But throwing endless offers and all this malarkey just confuses the punter. What on earth is this pick 6 or pick 12 crap? I don't believe ticket income is a huge proportion of ITFC's income anyway, it'll mostly come from advertising and other sales. I'd be interested to see some stats on this though, the financial EOY reports don't go into that much detail about their operating income. Stop with the gimmicks, and give good value tickets - oh hey that rhymes..

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