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Are ticket prices getting silly?

zaremba

Cricketer Of The Year
Ticket prices for tomorrow are £15 for adults, £7.50 for kids.

This is at least the 3rd time this has happened this summer on the last day of the Test (and at Lord's, at least, kids actually got in free).
 

Nibbles

Cricket Spectator
Fair enough for the last day but, seriously, if rain doesnt effect the match, how often do they get to 5 days.

Put it this way, if you really want to go but cant afford it, is it really worth holding out and hoping they make it to day 5?
 

Nibbles

Cricket Spectator
P.S. I read with interest the last few posts on this thread on the barmy army forum;

http://www.barmyarmy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=283

Oh and talking about tickets, does anyone know if WT20 tickets are still available? The ticket website from the ICC webby says they are are all unavailable, apart from the womens matchs. Surely they cant have sold out EVERY match?
 

zaremba

Cricketer Of The Year
Fair enough for the last day but, seriously, if rain doesnt effect the match, how often do they get to 5 days.
The reality is that rain does affect matches in England, and this season 3 Tests have gone into a 5th day. I've no idea what proportion of matches go into a 5th day but as a wild guess I'd imagine it's about 2 or 3 per season.
 

Nibbles

Cricket Spectator
Perhaps. But then, the only real point of going to a ground to watch a game is to get the atmosphere, something which is lacking on a fifth day of a test match unless something huge is about to happen (i.e. 2005)
 

The Sean

Cricketer Of The Year
Prices over here are certainly extortionate, particularly relative to back in Australia, but as long as the crowds continue to pack the ground then I guess the argument that they are “over-priced” won’t wash with administrators. The ECB will point to the sell out crowds they’re getting (and will surely get even more of next year) and claim that clearly there is a market willing to pay the asking price.

I can certainly believe that Lord’s might charge £100 per day next year – I went to the Sunday of both the NZ and SA Tests this summer and they cost me £60 and £75 respectively. Both days had huge crowds, and the ECB will know that they can charge what they like next summer for the Ashes and they’ll still be turning people away in their thousands.

I’m in a different position to many on here who are students or have families. As a single professional with a good income I’m luckier than most insofar as I want to go to Test matches and can afford to pay for the pleasure. I do sympathise, however, with those who can’t - £75 per person (even including discounts for children and families) before you’ve even touched a beer is a hell of an expensive day out.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Prices over here are certainly extortionate, particularly relative to back in Australia, but as long as the crowds continue to pack the ground then I guess the argument that they are “over-priced” won’t wash with administrators. The ECB will point to the sell out crowds they’re getting (and will surely get even more of next year) and claim that clearly there is a market willing to pay the asking price.

I can certainly believe that Lord’s might charge £100 per day next year – I went to the Sunday of both the NZ and SA Tests this summer and they cost me £60 and £75 respectively. Both days had huge crowds, and the ECB will know that they can charge what they like next summer for the Ashes and they’ll still be turning people away in their thousands.

I’m in a different position to many on here who are students or have families. As a single professional with a good income I’m luckier than most insofar as I want to go to Test matches and can afford to pay for the pleasure. I do sympathise, however, with those who can’t - £75 per person (even including discounts for children and families) before you’ve even touched a beer is a hell of an expensive day out.
Yes it is very expensive and Im not sure I would pay 75 GBP. However, that is my choice and as much as I think it is expensive I think it almost reasonable.

If you go to 1 day of a Test once a year as a big treat, then its the equiv of 20p a day.

That is manageable if people want to do it. Its upto them to chose to do so or not.

At least we can be confident that, given the prices people pay, really want to be there, rather than tickets been taken up by those less committed (apart from the corporates, but that is a whole different issue).
 
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Uppercut

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At least we can be confident that, given the prices people pay, really want to be there, rather than tickets been taken up by those less committed (apart from the corporates, but that is a whole different issue).
Hmm. It does make cricket a bit exclusive to the rich though. I'm sure there are people who really, really want to go but can't afford it, and equally there are very rich people who aren't bothered but have money to burn.
 

The Sean

Cricketer Of The Year
Reckon there needs to be a 10 question quiz for every applicant with at least 70% correct answer required to be allowed tickets. ;)
 

Uppercut

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Reckon there needs to be a 10 question quiz for every applicant with at least 70% correct answer required to be allowed tickets. ;)
:laugh:

I quite like the idea used here for GAA. All-Ireland final tickets are offered first, reasonably priced, to coaches, referees, etc. In other words, those who actively help with the game's grass-roots development. The same could be tried with extremely high-demand tickets, such as those for the Ashes.

On the other hand, these schemes often just lead to a huge black market...
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Hmm. It does make cricket a bit exclusive to the rich though. I'm sure there are people who really, really want to go but can't afford it, and equally there are very rich people who aren't bothered but have money to burn.
If you make it a priority and you really want to go then I cant believe anyone could not afford 20p a day for a once off treat, once a year.

We know the schedules and we can plan. Basically, 1 less beer a week and you have a Test ticket. It may be easier for some to afford it but it is possible for anyone if they really want to.

Id obviously far rather 50 000 seater stadiums and 20 pound a ticket, but the practicalities of cricket in the UK means a massive stadium isnt currently realistic.
 
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The Sean

Cricketer Of The Year
Id obviously far rather 50 000 seater stadiums
To be honest Goughy I hope it never comes to that over here. I love the fact that venues are smaller in England and that they maintain the feel of a cricket ground as opposed to a cricket stadium. It makes a lovely change from the huge Australian arenas – don’t get me wrong, I love watching cricket at the ‘G or the Gabba as much as the next man, but there’s something special about watching a Test match and being virtually as close to the action as you would be if you were watching it on a village green. :)
 

zaremba

Cricketer Of The Year
Perhaps. But then, the only real point of going to a ground to watch a game is to get the atmosphere, something which is lacking on a fifth day of a test match unless something huge is about to happen (i.e. 2005)
The Oval was 2/3 full today, a good atmosphere (or so it seemed on the highlights - I had to be at work) and a game against a major Test match nation which could have gone either way.

If people really really wanted to watch Test cricket but were too poverty-stricken to go in normal circumstances, well the Oval is a mere bus ride away from anywhere in London and the prices today were extremely reasonable.

People are complaining about Edgbaston ticket prices for next season's Ashes. For members, the prices are £60 for adults and £20 for kids, and there are discounted rates for students/pensioners too UIMM. That is pretty good value if you ask me, provided England can hold out for more than 2 and a half days.

This is not to say that I don't agree with pasag's suggestion of subsidised weed, a plan which I wholeheartedly support.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Agree with Goughy. Ideally I'd like to get to much more Cricket, but as i don't I am quite happy to spend whatever it costs for the ticket, plus a fortune on travel, beer and food all day.

That being said, even with a large young family I am now quite happy with the income we have, and reckon that next year I can afford a car for the missus, a holiday to Center Parcs for the kids and a Test, ODI & T20 V the Crims for myself :D
 

Uppercut

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Well how much do you want ticket prices to be? As with anything, supply v demand, if people didn't want it the price would drop, but clearly they do so it pushes it up. I don't see how you can have it both ways.
That argument doesn't really hold water. Check the prices set for, say, Man Utd vs. Real Madrid at Old Trafford. They're set a good 25-30 pounds below what people would pay for them. And this is from a footballing business with pretty much bugger all consideration for fans. They aren't legally obliged to set the highest possible price they can without people choosing not to go.
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
Ticket prices in the UK are pretty disgusting, but they are only a reflection of what the public are willing to pay.. It's just market forces at work, and they are selling grounds out time and time again for test matches, so they must be doing something correct..

Saying that, I go to far less cricket here than I do in South Africa.. I just object to spending so much and then being forced into a bucket seat without being able to move..
 

Nibbles

Cricket Spectator
Hmm. It does make cricket a bit exclusive to the rich though. I'm sure there are people who really, really want to go but can't afford it, and equally there are very rich people who aren't bothered but have money to burn.
This is basically what i was getting at, that in order to grow a sport you need to make it accessible to everyone, not just those who happen to be able to afford it (and often times have little interest in the game and more in being seen!)
 

fatbury

Cricket Spectator
they will charge what people will pay .... sadly some people will pay a smal fortune to watch the cricket ... pricing many of us poor people out of the live game :(
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
That argument doesn't really hold water. Check the prices set for, say, Man Utd vs. Real Madrid at Old Trafford. They're set a good 25-30 pounds below what people would pay for them. And this is from a footballing business with pretty much bugger all consideration for fans. They aren't legally obliged to set the highest possible price they can without people choosing not to go.
I'm sure CL prices are restricted though, by UEFA
 

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