Will fans pay more to watch from left; Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres, Samir Nasri and Wayne Rooney, play on TV? (AP, AFP Photos)

Ion Danker

Yahoo! Singapore

The English Premier League football season is just hours away from kick-off but fans are already facing a mini ”off-the-pitch” crisis.

I am, of course, talking about the sky-rocketing costs of watching your Rooneys and Gerrards play week in, week out.

This exact debate raged on in coffee-shops all across the island during the off-season – should fans have to pay extra on top of what they are already paying to watch their heroes perform?

You see, from this season onwards, fans will have to fork out even more to watch football’s elite clash in the Champions League on SingTel mio TV. That’s on top of the usual Sports Group package to watch the English Premier League (EPL) on Starhub.

It will cost more for fans to watch EPL and Champions League football on TV (AP Photo).

How much more?

I remember shelling out a monthly subscription of $15 for the Sports Group in 2007 to watch both the EPL and Champions League matches on Starhub.  Soon after, that was increased to $26.75 per month.

Now, with SingTel grabbing a huge slice of the football pie, watching the Champions League on mio TV will cost an additional $15.90 a month. Not to mention the inconvenience of an extra set-top box and more wiring than my living room can handle.

Will Liverpool fans pay more to watch the Reds play on TV?

I find myself wondering when enough is enough.

As a hard-core Liverpool and football addict, I’m dying to see if the likes of Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani, Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard can prevent Man U winning their 19th league title on Starhub. But is it worth an extra $15.90 per month to watch them play in Europe as well? If  so, I’d have to pay a total of $42.65 each month. Or $511.80 over 12 months, at the very least.

With the EPL broadcast rights up for another bidding exercise at the end of the season, who’s to say prices won’t increase even more next season?

And with 2010 being a World Cup year, I’m pretty sure a World Cup “package” is already being planned. And that’s just the EPL and the World Cup. Will it be a matter of time before I have to pay more to watch the Ronaldos and Alonsos play in La Liga? And what about the Serie A?

A good friend of mine, Wesley Lewis, 31, a communications manager,  summed it up aptly: “Football has become a money-generating industry. It’s a business now. Everyone wants to have a piece of the pie, and at the end of the day, it’s the fans who suffer.”

Are fans contributing to the huge transfer fees paid for players like Cristiano Ronaldo? (AP Photo)

So I’ve drawn the line and decided to make a stand.

Despite being a Red through and through, I’ve opted not to take up SingTel mioTV and pay more to watch my team play in the Champions League. It just doesn’t make economical sense. I’ll probably have to catch highlights of the matches on the news or rely on other sources for match updates.

I know many fans have also opted to make a stand by not paying more to watch the Champions League, preferring instead to spend the wee hours of the morning at a friend’s place or  at the nearest pub or coffee shop.

What about you? Tell us how you feel about the rising costs of watching football, and whether you will pay more to watch your team play in the Champions League.

Sir Alex Ferguson delighted with having Michael Owen by his side. Will fans be smiling with additional charges expected for the World Cup next year? (AP photo)