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Robin Van Persie should be congratulated, along with his Arsenal colleagues, for his focus on providing entertainment while he’s on the pitch. A comment he made recently though was a reminder of who the team is really there to entertain.

Just before the recent defeat to Manchester United (another nice dose of entertainment), he spoke these words to the Times:

“For me, the basic of football is to give enjoyment to people buying a ticket. That’s where it starts. We are like 11 actors on a stage, we have to give enjoyment.”

Again, this shows what a great attitude Arsenal have, and it’s entertainment that will drive football’s success in business terms.

But Van Persie - and many others - often forget that the people buying the ticket make up a tiny percentage of the people being entertained. How tiny? Well, for every fan in the Emirates Stadium, there are another 1250 fans watching the game live around the world. So the people in the ground represent less than 0.1% of the live audience (never mind about the people enjoying the game in packaged highlights around the world).

That ratio - 1250 to 1 - should be remembered when the new season ticket prices are being announced. For example, Boro are offering really good value for kids in order to boost their attendance, while leaving the adult prices untouched. But is such tinkering really worth it when there’s a vast worldwide market waiting to be tapped?

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