Purchasing power and price of football tickets in Spain. Is football more or less expensive now that it was 50 years ago? The case of the Club Atlético de Madrid

Abstract

In 1966 the Vicente Calderón Stadium was inaugurated with a game that faced the local team, Atlético de Madrid with Valencia CF. 50 years later the same match was held, one of the classics of the National League Championship in Spain. We have made a comparison of the prices of both match using deflators to make them comparative and also analyzing the purchasing power in both periods. Interestingly, while the prices of this party had increased by close to 300%, the average purchasing power measured by GDP per capita had also risen close to 300%. Therefore, an average Spaniard could buy a number of tickets for this similar sports show in the two periods (394: 1966, 400: 2016). There is a bibliography that confirms the same general increase in prices in the culture sector of the same type, while in the sectors as a whole prices have risen to a lesser extent than the average income.