Amid reports that a third of disabled fans have felt unable to attend sporting venues due to poor accessibility, it is clear to see that clubs need to do more to allow all fans the opportunity to get that match day feeling.
As a leading football league globally, the Premier League has a duty to cater to fans of all abilities. But which Premier League stadium offers the best accessibility for fans?
The ticketing experts at SeatPick have crunched the numbers and analysed the prices of a variety of factors such as accessible tickets, the number of accessible entrances, lifts, toilets, and wheelchair seats to ultimately uncover which Premier League ground is the most accessible.
Key findings:
- Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the most accessible stadium in the Premier League with an accessibility score of 6.55/10
- Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane offers the most affordable accessibility ticket prices, starting from just £1 for FA Youth Cup matches, closely followed by Fulham FC’s Craven Cottage starting from £5
- Luton Town’s Kenilworth Road is the second least accessible stadium in the Premier League with an accessibility score of 3.56/10
- Although Burnley’s Turf Moor is the least accessible stadium with a score of 3.34/10, they do however offer the most amount of accessible entrances of all Premier League teams (15), but the ground has just one accessible lift
- Manchester United’s Old Trafford and Manchester City’s Etihad place 14th and 16th place with a similar accessibility score of 4.65 and 4.60 out of a possible 10
The results: The most accessible Premier League stadiums
| # | Club | Stadium | Stadium Capacity | Accessibility Ticket Starting Price (£) | Accessible Entrances | Accessible Lifts | Accessible Toilets | Wheelchair Seats | Wheelchair seats per capacity | Accessibility Score /10 |
| 1. | Tottenham Hotspur | Tottenham Hotspur Stadium | 62,850 | £25 | 5 | 32 | 66 | 244 | 0.39% | 6.55 |
| 2. | Newcastle United | St James’ Park | 52,305 | £7.5 | 11 | 5 | 27 | 234 | 0.45% | 5.87 |
| 3. | Arsenal | Emirates Stadium | 60,704 | £19.75 | 9 | 9 | 37 | 258 | 0.43% | 5.82 |
| 4. | Liverpool | Anfield | 53,394 | £7 | 7 | 6 | 34 | 263 | 0.49% | 5.62 |
| 5. | Crystal Palace | Selhurst Park | 26,047 | £10 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 128 | 0.49% | 5.61 |
| 6. | West Ham United | London Stadium | 62,500 | £17 | 10 | 11 | 49 | 262 | 0.42% | 5.56 |
| 7. | Nottingham Forest | City Ground | 30,445 | £14 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 74 | 0.24% | 5.19 |
| 8. | Aston Villa | Villa Park | 42,682 | £12.5 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 105 | 0.25% | 5.14 |
| 9. | Brighton & Hove Albion | American Express Stadium | 31,876 | £15 | 7 | 7 | 52 | 221 | 0.69% | 5.01 |
| 10. | Sheffield United | Bramall Lane | 32,050 | £1 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 77 | 0.24% | 5.0 |
| =11 | AFC Bournemouth | Vitality Stadium | 11,307 | £19 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 298 | 2.64% | 4.94 |
| =11 | Chelsea | Stamford Bridge | 40,341 | £19.5 | 9 | 5 | 16 | 223 | 0.55% | 4.94 |
| 13 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | Molineux Stadium | 32,050 | £10.5 | 5 | 4 | 26 | 132 | 0.41% | 4.79 |
| =14 | Brentford | Gtech Community Stadium | 17,250 | £10 | 6 | 2 | 23 | 138 | 0.80% | 4.65 |
| =14 | Manchester United | Old Trafford | 74,310 | £13 | 4 | 6 | 33 | 251 | 0.34% | 4.65 |
| 16 | Manchester City | Etihad Stadium | 53,400 | £35 | 5 | 5 | 42 | 255 | 0.48% | 4.60 |
| 17 | Fulham | Craven Cottage | 22,384 | £5 | 4 | Yes | 9 | 103 | 0.46% | 4.04 |
| 18 | Everton | Goodison Park | 39,525 | £37 | 3 | 2 | 24 | 217 | 0.55% | 3.81 |
| 19 | Luton Town | Kenilworth Road | 11,050 | £21 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 28 | 0.25% | 3.56 |
| 20 | Burnley | Turf Moor | 21,944 | £10 | 15 | 1 | 17 | 153 | 0.70% | 3.34 |
The Tottenham Hotspur stadium is the most accessible stadium
SeatPick can reveal that the Tottenham Hotspur stadium is the most accessible Premier League stadium with an accessibility score of 6.55/10. After a £1 billion project in 2019, the newly constructed stadium was built to perfection, securing 32 accessible lifts and 66 accessible toilets (the most out of all Premier League stadiums). The stadium is also equipped with 244 wheelchair seats, which is 0.39% of its stadium capacity (62,850). Tottenham Hotspurs accessibility ticket prices are however quite expensive for disabled fans, starting from £25, compared to rival club Arsenal, who’s accessibility tickets start at £19.75.
In second place is Newcastle United’s St James’ Park with an accessibility score of 5.87/10. St James’s Park’s most impressive feature is its cheap accessibility tickets, starting from just £7.50— marginally more expensive than Fulham FC’s Craven Cottage which has a starting ticket price of £5. St James’s Park is equipped with 27 accessible toilets and 234 wheelchair seats, which is 0.45% of the stadium’s capacity. The stadium is also assembled with units of audio descriptive commentary and sensory rooms to help improve match day experience for fans with disabilities.
Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium ranks third scoring 5.82/10. The Emirates Stadium has 37 accessible toilets, which is 10 more than St James’ Park with 27, and nine accessible lifts and entrances. The stadium is also equipped with 258 wheelchair seats, which is 0.43% of its stadium capacity. Furthermore, Emirates’ accessibility ticket prices start from just £19.75, compared to Manchester City’s Etihad charging £35 (£15.25 more expensive), making the Emirates a very affordable option for disabled fans.
The least accessible stadiums in the Premier League
Newly promoted Luton Town’s Kenilworth Road ranks second to last, with an accessibility score of 3.56/10. Despite having a stadium capacity of 11,050, Kenilworth Road has just 28 wheelchair seats available, which is 0.27% of its capacity, compared to Burnley’s Turf Moor with 153 wheelchair seats available. Kenilworth Road also fails to offer a sensory room or any accessible lifts, however, the club is currently in the process of upgrading its home ground and its updated stadium is sure to improve many of its accessibility issues. Despite Kenilworth Road’s poor accessibility, they also charge quite high prices, starting at £21, compared to Liverpool’s Anfield in second place which charges just £7.
The least accessible stadium in the Premier League is Burnley’s Turf Moor, with an accessibility score of 3.34/10. Turf Moor has performed poorly in several factors such as failing to provide disabled fans with a sensory room, audio descriptive commentary or any assistive hearing system. Despite this, Turf Moor has 153 wheelchair seats available, which is 0.70% of its capacity. Although Turf Moor only has a stadium capacity of 21,944, the stadium has the highest number of accessible entrances of all Premier League stadiums (15), and charges just £10 for accessibility tickets.
Methodology:
- SeatPick sought to discover the Premier League stadiums that are the most accessible to fans.
- They accessed each club on a multitude of factors, these included:
- Accessibility Ticket Starting and Maximum Price (GBP)
- Number of accessible Entrances
- Number of accessible Lifts
- Number of accessible Toilets
- Number of accessible Ticket Counters
- Number of Wheelchair Viewing Areas
- Availability of Assistive Hearing Systems
- Availability of Audio Descriptive Commentary
- Whether Assistance Animals are welcome
- Number of Sensory Suites
- Number of Accessible Parking Spaces
- Availability of Carer Tickets
- Number of wheelchair seats
- Number of Wheelchair seats per capacity (%)
- Tripadvisor Rating out of 5
- Data for the above was sourced from accessibility statements found from each club’s respective websites, Level Playing Field, Accessable, and TripAdvisor as well as information provided by each club’s accessibility teams.
- Where data was not available, SeatPick contacted the clubs accessibility teams to provide more information.
- Specific numbers could not be found for all factors, so all columns marked as ‘0.5’ means the answer is originally ‘yes’ and not an actual number.
- Lastly, an “accessibility score” out of a possible 10 was calculated to assess the most accessible Premier League stadiums. The higher the score, the more inclusive the stadium is.
- All data was collected in January 2024, and is accurate as of then. The full dataset used throughout the study can be found here.
[1] – The FSA | “Poor access still putting off many disabled fans – survey shows”
Photo credit: Romsvetnik, Shutterstock.com