High prices, black market, the arrival of OM is already causing controversy

Next Sunday, December 8, AS Saint-Étienne welcomes Olympique de Marseille to the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, as part of the 14th day of the French Ligue 1 Championship. A meeting that inevitably arouses enthusiasm.

The attendance is expected to be significant and it would not be surprising if the visit of Olympique de Marseille were sold out, despite very high prices, as some supporters have denounced on social networks. Thus, places in the North Corner reach €50 (35€ for under 16s)a place in the Henri Point side balcony rises to €55 (40€ for children under 16) while the Central Block is priced at €63 (45€ for under 16s). The place in the Family corner is more accessible (33€) while the one in the square legend reaches three figures.

This meeting, like the reception of Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais, is classified as a gala match by ASSE, with therefore an increased price. In addition, the club wants to prioritize its subscribers with purchasing priority from 11/23/2024. It will then be the turn of ASSE Premium Members (from 11/27/2024). As during the reception of Lens, the club decided to reward its loyal supporters, who attended matches in Ligue 2 BKT. Thus, the latter will benefit from purchasing priority from 11/28/2024. The opening to the general public should take place on December 2 and the club hopes to be close to being sold out at that time.

Because the arrival of Olympique de Marseille and the decision of the Loire Prefecture to prohibit the movement of Marseille supporters and therefore to deprive themselves of a security tool, called parking, leads to a legitimate fear concerning the security of the meeting . We could see it recently a few kilometers away, the arrival of Marseille in Lyon and the decision to ban Marseille supporters from traveling created great tensions at Groupama Stadium, causing violence against isolated Marseille supporters. ASSE therefore hopes to fill its enclosure as much as possible before opening to the general public to limit this phenomenon. It is to deal with this eventuality that the club will not recover all of the places in the visitor sector. A floor could be marketed if demand is strong but ASSE wishes to retain a space in which it can potentially bring together Marseille supporters who have taken seats in the rest of the stadium.

Finally, the last problem generated by this poster, the black market is already exploding with “supporters” of AS Saint-Étienne reselling places in Kop Nord or Sud at high prices (40€ and more) on resale platforms such as The Good Corner. In order to avoid this practice, the Forez club is setting up an exchange, the only secure place allowing tickets to be resold. Furthermore, tickets additionally ordered by subscribers will only be sent 48 hours before the meeting. Here again, it is a question of curbing resale as much as possible. Finally, notice to those who want to resell places on the black market. The club controls the different platforms allowing the precious sesames to be resold. At the end of last season, ASSE blocked numerous subscriptions from people who had illegally resold tickets. Furthermore, the buyer can find himself totally wronged, since if the reseller is caught, the resold places are blocked and will not allow you to enter Geoffroy-Guichard.