The ordinary football fan is not, to coin a phrase my mum uses, 'made of money.'

They might shell out for the special occasion, sure.

They probably think nothing of blowing £100 on getting decent seats at the cup final for the family.

And, over the years, the cost of getting in to the fortnightly home game has probably been like the milk or the morning paper - something you budget for, not something that is painful to hand over.

All that is starting to change.

Chesterfield are expecting Morecambe fans (and their own supporters) to shell out £13 for a trip to their third round FA Cup tie - £14 to sit down in a 'fun-size' stand which has about as many seats as the one at Giant Axe (and which isn't nearly as attractive or comfortable).

Now I've visited Saltergate fairly recently, and it has got to be one of the most run-down sites in the league - there are clubs in the Unibond (Hyde, Altrincham) with facilities just as good (if not better).

For the uninitiated, Morecambe fans will (If I'm not mistaken) be housed in a shallow, open terrace behind one of the goals.

The ground's exterior looks like it was fitted out with cast-off props from Colditz, and I won't even mention the catering facilities (or the toilets).

This isn't a big game for Chesterfield.

It is for Morecambe, although games with football league sides are not as rare as they once were.

And you have to ask - will the parents of Chesterfield (or anywhere else) pay that kind of money so their children can stand in a decaying building, which has as much in common with Strangeways as it does with the Millennium Stadium, week in week out?

The answer is clearly no.

Just as ITV Digital over-paid for the first, second and third division 'product', so the patience of the consumers on the terraces will wear thin.

The travelling red and white army will, no doubt, swell the crowd and leave a healthy amount of cash in the Chesterfield bank account.

But, you feel, sooner or later the fans expected to shell out over-the-top prices are going to be forced back to teletext - and the effects of that will make ITV Digital's collapse look like loose change.

On to Formula One.

No, wake up at the back.

It's really exciting.

Not the sport, of course, that's rubbish.

Michael Schumacher leaving a convoy of highly-charged, multi-million pound juggernauts with 'though shalt not pass' written on the back is about as thrilling as a wet night out in Wigan.

And slightly safer.

But the politics are fascinating.

It seems that the Belgian Spa circuit is to lose its Grand Prix.

Why? Because it's not a good circuit? On the contrary, the drivers love it and constantly vote it their favourite.

Because the Belgians don't support it? No, it's one of the few interesting things about their little country, and they turn out in their droves, and there are plenty of other nations within a hop, skip and jump which supply a surplus of petrol-headed fans.

No, it's money or, more specifically, the problem of Belgium's ban on tobacco advertising.

More than any other sport, Formula One is in the vice-like grip of maniacal capitalism and the pursuit of mammon.

That's why interesting, thoughtful ideas (like making each driver have a go in each car) were rejected in favour of moves to change the 'ballast' of the cars (whatever that means) in the hope of slowing down Schumacher.

The sport is heading for the brave new world of races in Bahrain and China, but if its traditional TV audience is to get up in the middle of the night for another couple of races, the product on offer will have to be somewhat bigger.

Formula One doesn't have to be this way.

Anyone who saw the fascinating documentary on James Hunt a couple of weeks ago realises how good it used to be - possibly because it was also incredibly dangerous.

But, unless a solution is found soon, the industry risks drowning in its own greed and avarice - taking the jobs of many ordinary people with it.