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It is the stuff that dreams are made of for any football-mad youngster: walking on to the pitch beside and lining up with their heroes before kick-off. Being a mascot provides memories to cherish for the rest of their lives and clubs are keen to capitalise on the fervent wishes of young fans to be mascots. However, it comes at a price and often a very hefty price at that.
While many English clubs charge for the privilege of being a mascot, the majority of Premier League clubs have made the noble gesture of either reducing the cost for mascots or not charging at all. Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham are among the clubs who do not charge.
The opportunity to be a mascot at Old Trafford is usually open to children with long-term or terminal illnesses, with the only stipulation that the children have to be official club members. Through the Manchester United Foundation, the club also offers the chance to fundraise for a selected cause via an auction to become a mascot. For last season’s match against Crystal Palace the winning bid to be the mascot was £5,531, with the funds going to the foundation to help with their community outreach and education programmes across Manchester.
At Crystal Palace the price for a men’s first-team match starts at £255 for a “silver mascot” package for a Grade B game, rising to £520 for a “gold mascot” package for a Grade A game. The Gold package includes a full kit, two tickets and a photograph in the matchday programme, as well as meeting some of the players and manager before the game match to get an item of merchandise signed, plus a free link to all the photos taken on the day.
Nottingham Forest offer one free place per game through their Community Trust programme, but the rest of their mascots are charged handsomely. The club informed me that their mascot packages for this season are sold out even though they start at £2,000. The package is for four people – the mascot and three guests – and it includes a four-course meal in the Robin Hood Suite, plus cheese and biscuits at full-time. Although I’m not sure how many five-year-olds would be that keen on that particular culinary delight.
You might have imagined there would be the odd complimentary drink but it is a pay bar. A couple of grand doesn’t get you a lot in Nottingham these days. When asked about the high prices, the club’s Fan Advisory Board declined to comment. What would Robin Hood think?
Kieran Maguire, the football finance expert and University of Liverpool lecturer, says the high prices are symptomatic of what is going on at many clubs. “Clubs are monetising all aspects of fandom and that includes being a mascot,” Maguire says. “Commercial directors are under pressure to deliver revenues and the owners don’t particularly care where the money’s coming from.”
The other contentious issue is that there is often nothing exclusive about the experience, with a multitude of mascots involved each match. Clubs are cashing in by including so many mascots at each game. “If you’ve got 10 mascots and parents are paying £500,” Maguire says. “Then that’s £5,000 per match plus additional ticket sales to relatives and, with 20 matches a season, that brings in £100,000 in revenue.”
For example, a club source at West Ham told me they can have as many as 22 mascots at games. With a cost of £375 for Category A and B matches, that brings in £8,250 per match. With a minimum of 19 matches, excluding cup ties, the potential income is in excess of £125,000 a season. The club also charges mascots for their women’s team – although that only costs £65.
“We are now living in a commercially driven environment, where the romance of football has not only died but was buried then cremated many years ago and that’s not going to return,” adds Maguire. “While I can wail and rail against it, I have to acknowledge I’m just an old man shouting at clouds.”
The dash for additional income has been criticised by MPs on both sides of the aisle. Caroline Dinenage, a Conservative MP and lifelong Portsmouth fan, said: “It feels a shame that some clubs are profiting by pricing so many young fans out of this wonderful experience.” Clive Efford, a Labour MP, went further, saying: “Pricing working-class families out of ever being a mascot like this is pure greed. Considering the millions Premier League clubs get each year from TV deals, how can they justify charging for what for many is a childhood dream? They should be ashamed.”
Going further down the pyramid there are still some pretty steep prices being quoted. When Barnsley host Luton Town at Oakwell later this month, the definition of a League One mid-table clash, the basic package will cost £199 and the mascot has to be wearing a full Barnsley kit – which must be bought separately at an additional cost of £80.
There is clearly still an appetite for parents to buy these packages for their children and the clubs will point to the continuing demand and the willingness of supporters to do so. As Maguire himself points out: “I’ll be a complete hypocrite if there’s an opportunity for my granddaughter in a couple of years to become a mascot, would I go down that particular route? I can’t definitively say that I wouldn’t if it was money well spent.”
This is an article by Richard Foster, the writer behind The Football Mine and host of the podcast It Started With A Kick.
