Cookies help our website to remember you and your preferences. For more information or to update your cookie settings, please go to our privacy policy.

Accept Decline
Skip to content.

The national charity and leading voice for disabled people in sport and activity

Menu. Open and close this menu with the ENTER key.

Survey reveals barriers to live sport for disabled fans

Continuing rises in disability abuse and inaccessible public transport have been found as major barriers to attending live sport by the 2024 Level Playing Field Annual Fan Survey.

Level Playing Field logo.

The results display the top ten overall barriers to disabled fans, with ‘cost of attending’ seeing the largest overall rise. 'Physical access at stadiums’ and ‘attitudes of others’ remain in the top two spots respectively.

This year's survey, the fourth edition, saw a record number of disabled supporters take part. It features new areas of focus including arrival and departure times, ticketing and payment methods.

Read the full report here.

The report is made from 2055 responses, from 1924 individual fans who between them support 156 different clubs. The wide-ranging survey highlights several areas in which disabled fans have had negative experiences at live events.

Key findings include: 

  • 71% of respondents confirmed that accessibility considerations had an impact on when they arrived at or left live sports events. Of these supporters, two-thirds cited ‘crowding concerns’ as one of the reasons for that impact, with over half also citing ‘queuing for long periods of time’ as a reason.
  • This year saw a continued year-on-year increase in the number of disabled fans who said that 'disability abuse is a barrier when attending live sport' - from 5.5% in 2021, to 6.5%, then 7%, and now 8.5% this year. The ‘attitudes of others’ also remains the second-highest barrier to attending (26% of disabled fans).
  • A fifth of respondents (20%) said that they would benefit from the option to pay using cash, while over a quarter of respondents (26.5%) said that they would benefit from having a physical ticket.

Chair of Level Playing Field, Tony Taylor, said:

"These results have identified key areas for action, and I am grateful so many disabled fans shared their experiences with us.
“The trends we have seen continue are particularly concerning and will take much of our focus. I am pleased to confirm the charity has already had engagement from other organisations, to make vital improvements to access and inclusion in response to these results.
“Once again, it is encouraging to see a drop in the proportion of fans telling us they are unable to attend some venues due to inaccessibility. The figures there remain unacceptable however and show how much work there is still to be done.
“These survey results provide us with irrefutable evidence to push for change and the team at Level Playing Field will be doing that throughout the course of 2025.”

An online forum will be held on Thursday 23 January, with a presentation on the results from the 2024 Level Playing Field Annual Fan Survey.

The Zoom call will begin at 6pm and is open to both disabled and non-disabled fans. There will be opportunity for supporters to feedback and discuss what the data suggests. Register here, by midnight on Wednesday 22 January.