CHERRIES president of business Jim Frevola has defended the rise in season ticket prices – sharing how he believes now “was the time to do” so in order to help the club compete in the Premier League.

On Tuesday Cherries announced the first increase to season ticket prices in eight years, with the club stating that on a ‘blended average’ there would be a rise of 9.7 per cent.

Speaking to the club’s website, Frevola shared: “This is a critical time for all of our fans.

“I know that. It's been a topic that they've been waiting on, and we get it.

“There's a cost of living situation in this country, really in the world. It's not an easy time. Cost of living has gone up, up.

“We took great care and consideration and thought as we were thinking about the season ticket prices.

“We factored in all these decisions, talked to supporter groups, had a lot of individual conversations.

“We had larger group conversations over the last number of weeks and months, it was not an easy decision.

“We basically came on a blended average of a 9.7 per cent increase.

“But when you really drill down into the details of it, really it's just an eight per cent increase for 75 per cent of our season ticket holders.

“The vast majority will see just an eight per cent increase.

“A few more will see a larger per cent increase. But for us, it wasn't easy. We had to think long and hard.”
Concessions will see some of the biggest increases, with concession ticket-holding fans in the North and South stands being charged £59 more this year.

Since Bill Foley led Black Knight Football Entertainment’s takeover the club, the American businessman has frequently spoken about expanding Cherries fanbase with younger supporters.

“One of the biggest things that we did address was our concession seating,” Frevola continued. “Those are prices that had a significant discount. We had a wide disparity in concession discounts, so we tried to address that.

“We took great care to keep the Junior Cherry membership for the underage for free. We're trying to grow that youth and get them to continue to come to the games for free.

"So that was important to keep those Junior Cherry season tickets that are under-eights for free. But it wasn't easy.

“We know that some folks are going to have some comments about that.

“We're happy to tackle those. But as you look around the Premier League, a lot of clubs are doing changes this year.

“There are some that are 15 per cent, some 20 per cent that are being planned, a lot that are about ten per cent.

"We're under that at the vast majority at eight per cent. We think it's a reasonable accommodation, and this is the first time in eight years.

“We haven't raised prices in eight years. And we think that's something that it felt like it was time for us to compete in the Premier League, which is our ultimate goal.

“Not just to survive in the Premier League, but to compete in the Premier League. We need the support and we need every available resource to us.

“This is just one of the things that we felt like was the time to do.”