Ticketing managers across the UK and Europe are actively adapting their season ticket strategies to meet shifting financial realities. TicketCo’s subscription model provides a proven, flexible payment solution that is now actively driving predictable revenue across multiple sports and international markets.
By breaking the cost of a season ticket into manageable monthly payments, clubs can increase sales, drastically reduce churn, and offer fans a modern, user-first experience. Crucially, this system allows clubs to secure long-term financial stability while making matches more accessible to supporters during challenging economic times.
According to Maria Olsen, Customer Success Manager at TicketCo, subscriptions—similar to how you pay for a Spotify or Netflix account—offer an easily accessible solution to modern ticketing challenges.
“By breaking up the season ticket price into 12 monthly instalments without including any third-party credit card company or similar, the club gets to keep all the revenue and the fans can spread their cost throughout the year,” she explains.
We will hear more from Maria later in this article. First, let us look at where this ticketing revolution began.
A Huge Success From the Start
Season ticket subscriptions are a proven concept. The first known football club to offer this service to their fans was the Danish top-tier side FC Copenhagen, who launched it back in 2018.
For this pioneer achievement, FC Copenhagen’s Ticketing and Customer Service Manager, Mikkel Bjerre, has twice been a guest on the 'Don't Forget Your Tickets' podcast, most recently joining a live-recorded episode from the Royal Tennis Hall in Stockholm. In that interview, he shared the club’s learnings from five years of subscriptions and explored the impact on fans, cash flow, and club operations. You can listen to the full conversation here:
How Mikkel Bjerre built a successful subscription model — listen to the episode
“From the beginning, it was a huge success, much more than we had dreamt of and much more than we really dared to hope upon. It was especially the age group of around 15 to 24 years old that really started to purchase subscriptions. They had never purchased a season ticket before,” said Mr Bjerre.
The subscription model also showed a massive positive effect on the club’s churn. Because fans simply retain their subscription year after year, the drop-off rate between seasons plummeted, creating an incredibly loyal supporter base.
Going All In: The Viking FK Pilot
Norwegian champions Viking FK served as our pilot customer back in 2022. They decided to go completely "all in", replacing all of their traditional season tickets with subscriptions. The club achieved a season ticket base of more than 5,000, an increase of over 20% compared to the previous year, and 70% of respondents to their fan survey expressed satisfaction with their subscription.
The bold move paid off immensely. The current Norwegian champions, who recently beat Bodø/Glimt for the title in a thrilling race, built a massive foundation of loyal subscribers. By offering a modest monthly fee instead of a large annual lump sum, they saw a significant increase in first-time buyers, particularly among families who found the new model vastly more manageable.
Bohemian FC: Balancing Affordability and Stability
In Ireland, Bohemian FC uses the TicketCo Installment feature to offer fans monthly instalment plans for their memberships. By spreading the cost over a full year, the club has made season tickets more accessible during a cost-of-living crisis, ensuring the stands stay full. Now, with the added ability to freeze or end subscriptions, clubs have even greater flexibility, choosing whether a subscription runs for just 3 months or another fixed period instead of rolling all year. This option removes previous barriers for many clubs in the UK and Ireland, giving them more control to tailor the subscription model to their supporters’ needs.
This shift has turned the unpredictable into predictable, year-round recurring revenue for the club. The platform automates the entire collection process, removing the administrative burden for the club, while providing fans with a modern, user-first payment option. It is a proven model that balances fan affordability with long-term financial stability.
Frisk Asker: Revolutionising Ice Hockey
The success of subscriptions extends well beyond football. Norwegian ice hockey team Frisk Asker adopted the subscription model to modernise their ticketing and make attending ice hockey matches more accessible.
The result was a dramatic increase in recurring revenue and a significant drop in churn. By offering a flexible monthly payment option, they secured long-term loyalty and predictable cash flow, proving that modern fans across all sports prefer the convenience of a subscription.
→ Read the full Frisk Asker subscription success story here
Cornish Pirates
Cornish Pirates, a cornerstone of English Championship rugby, partnered with TicketCo to power a new era of professional rugby through modern digital ticketing and deeper fan engagement. A key part of this transformation has been the introduction of flexible, subscription-based products. Alongside season passes offered through cost-friendly instalment plans, the Pirates have expanded into monthly membership models, demonstrating how the platform can support a variety of recurring revenue streams beyond traditional ticketing.
These memberships were designed to cater to different audience segments, from regular match attendees to international supporters, highlighting the versatility of TicketCo’s subscription module. By enabling the club to package access, benefits, and retail incentives into recurring monthly offerings, the platform has opened up new ways to engage fans, both locally and globally.
This flexible approach not only improves accessibility for supporters but also creates sustainable, predictable revenue streams, showcasing how clubs can evolve their commercial strategy through subscription-driven models.
Briefly How It Works
The subscription feature allows you to sell season passes through a continuous model, meaning your ticket buyers pay monthly for access to your club’s fixtures and events.
“Subscriptions are built on top of the season pass feature. You first create an event, attach it to a season pass, and then attach that pass to your subscription,” explains Maria Olsen.
Access to the feature includes comprehensive tools to help you monitor active accounts. You get a detailed journal window for each individual subscription, a dashboard to track any overdue payments, and automated options for buyers to check their own status.
A key advantage is that the season pass does not need to be renewed manually each year. The ticket buyer holds onto the same QR code for multiple seasons, provided they remain subscribed.
When it comes to user-friendliness, Maria notes that the operation is seamless for matchday staff. “The subscription QR code can be scanned on the TicketCo admin app or or turnstiles exactly as you would with a regular ticket. The system instantly verifies the subscription status, ensuring only active subscribers gain entry.”
A Strategic Choice for Predictable Revenue
Subscriptions are the ideal solution for ticketing managers looking to eliminate off-season revenue drop-offs, reduce administrative workloads, and build a more loyal, younger fanbase.
In the UK market, clubs often consider third-party finance suppliers to offer fans instalment plans. While these third-party providers do give the club all the cash up front, they pass the burden onto the fans through hidden costs, interest rates, and credit checks.
TicketCo’s model eliminates the middleman, keeping tickets affordable for your supporters while you retain all the revenue. If your club still requires an immediate cash injection ahead of the season, a guaranteed, predictable subscriber base provides excellent security. You can easily present this recurring revenue to your bank for standard financing, getting the capital you need without penalising your loyal fanbase.
Want to explore whether subscriptions could work for your club?
Speak to one of our ticketing specialists
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