វិបត្តិការចំណាយលើការរស់នៅរបស់ចក្រភពអង់គ្លេសកំពុងធ្វើឱ្យបាល់ទាត់មិនអាចទិញបាន។

Soccer is supposed to be a game for the people, but watching it in the UK costs a king’s ransom.

As households find their finances squeezed by the rising costs of essentials like food and heating, live sports and soccer on TV are luxuries that many can no longer afford.

A survey in May of over 1,000 sport-loving UK adults by trading and investment platform Saxo found that 46% of fans were attending fewer live sporting events due to the cost of living crisis. Half of those fans, 23% of the total, said they were attending “significantly less” events. The survey also found that 41% canceled at least one TV sports subscription.

Young people are even more likely to cut back, with 60% of 16-24 year-olds surveyed canceling subscriptions to sports channels. This compares to just 14% of those aged 55 and above.

Harry Leyburn from Saxo highlighted the seriousness of the crisis, saying live sports is typically “recession-proof” and when live attendances fall, TV figures would be expected to increase. Leyburn says that “fans are being forced to cut back on even watching sport on television as a result of the crisis gripping the UK.”

It’s no surprise that people are cutting their sports subscriptions. Paying for all the sports channels on BT, Sky Sports and Amazon can cost around $100 a month. That doesn’t cover every game as Saturday 3 p.m. kick-offs are under a blackout and are usually not allowed to be shown on UK television.

The cost of these subscriptions and the 3 p.m. blackout have pushed more fans to illegal streaming sites. The Intellectual Property Office, cited by the BBC, estimates some four million people in the UK streamed live sport illegally last year.

In the long term, as fewer UK viewers can afford subscriptions, the Premier League’s broadcast deals could take a hit. But as attendances at top-flight games remain high and the amount the Premier League gets from overseas broadcast deals is now greater than what it earns domestically, the league would likely be relatively unscathed by the cost-of-living crisis.

Further down England’s soccer pyramid though, the impact of reduced revenue from fewer fans and a weaker TV deal will be felt much more. The chasm between the Premier League and the rest is already almost unbridgeable, but the cost-of-living crisis could widen it further still.