Leeds United play-off ticket decision comes under fire as club highlights EFL finance rule

The Whites confirmed their pricing within an hour after being confirmed third in the Championship on Saturday,

as a loss to Southampton and Ipswich Town’s win over Huddersfield Town extended the club’s season.

However, the club’s release told fans that the play-off semi-final home leg versus Norwich City had been designated as a Category A game,

with the highest tier of ticket costs. Adult supporters in the North and South Stands will pay £41,

while those in the West Stand and other portions of the stadium will be charged £47.

Leeds and Norwich have agreed to a reciprocal contract for away tickets,

which will cost £36 for both Elland Road and Carrow Road,

therefore some Leeds fans will pay more than visiting supporters to

sit in the West Stand for the semi-final second leg on Thursday, May 16.

Leeds’ choice to make this a Category A fixture deviates from historical convention.

In 2019, the play-off semi-final versus Derby County was designated as a Category B game,

with adult tickets priced at £26. In 2010, Leeds declared that if they finished outside of the top two,

the play-off semi-final would be a Category B game, with the most expensive ticket costing £30.

In 2008, after Leeds finished fifth in League One, securing a play-off semi-final against Carlisle United,

the club expressed disappointment that an appeal to the Football League to charge

Category C rates for the game was rejected by other clubs who could have made the play-offs.

A West Stand ticket for that game cost £28.

Several season ticket holders have written the YEP, claiming that the game’s pricing is unfair.

According to the Leeds United Supporters Trust,

the issue only underscores what they believe to be a general problem with ticket prices at Elland Road.

“The club has said that they’re charging in line with what they charge for any game,”

Trust chairman Josh Cawthorne told the YEP. “And I think that to us,

what this does is really highlight the fact that the pricing for tickets in general is extortionate.

I think it also calls into question the use of Category A and Category B pricing.

We’d like to have seen them charge Category B pricing.

The Derby game was Category B as a bit of a gesture of goodwill to the fans,

and it would have been nice to do that again,

especially considering the fact that we’ve got away fans travelling all the one or two games is a lot.

So I think it would have been nice if they could have done that because this is unexpected revenue for the club, at the end of the day.”

The YEP expressed concerns to the club, which stated that season ticket holders, who receive a large discount for home league games,

had been granted the ability to guarantee their seat for a game outside of the usual 46-game season.

To reserve their seat, they will pay the same costs that club members have been paying all season to attend league games.

Due to the great demand for tickets, the club additionally considers the game’s importance in justifying Category A prices.

Leeds have also stated that gate receipts for the play-off games will be distributed not only between Leeds and their visitors Norwich,

but across all four teams.

the balance is divided, with 50% going into the EFL’s pool account –

into which all of the league’s income is paid – and 50% aggregated and shared equally among the four clubs competing in the play-offs.

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