Throughout the 2015 international season we looked at ticket prices for games in England. We reached out to each host country and asked them to tell us how many seats they were selling for each game and the price range.
Only Durham, Glamorgan and Warwickshire are willing to disclose the exact number of tickets offered at a particular price. For these reasons, we were able to calculate an average fare. For everyone else, the best option left is to calculate a nominal average, assuming each booth has the same capacity.
At the start of the season we reported that New Zealand Tests averaged £51.63 (though there was a £31.75 difference between Lord’s and Headingley); New Zealand ODIs were £48.91; Ashes were £81.69.
In every series, the cost of attending a cricket match in London was significantly higher than in other provinces.
In the final part of our survey, we’ll look at Australia’s outward foreign direct investment, which kicks off this afternoon. The information below is correct as of preseason and does not reflect county membership pricing or discounts offered going forward.
First ODI – Ageas Bowl, Hampshire, Thursday 3 September
Hampshire responded to our request by directing us to the ticketing section of their website. Not all pricing options have been disclosed on these pages. They only let us click on certain seats — as if we wanted to buy them — and post the price. It is impossible for us to perform this process for every seat on the floor – only unsold seats are visible anyway. So there’s very little we can say about Ageas tickets on their site other than these brief bits of information:
“Price is £70.00 for adults and £30.00 for children under 17”.
For a family of four participating in the game – two adults and two players under the age of 7, the minimum price is £200.
2nd ODI – Saturday 5 September, Lords
MCC informs us that the ticket prices for each booth are as follows:
Upper Stand – £125.
Grandstand – £110.
Uphill Grandstand – £125.
Mountain Stand – £110.
Compton and Edrich Stands Upper – £110.
Compton and Edrich Stands Lower – two sections, £85 and £70 (average £77.50).
Assuming the same capacity per stand, the average Lord’s ODI ticket price is £109.58.
The MCC also sells restricted view seats in all of the above stands for £55 each. Seats in the Tavern, Allen and Warner stands will not be sold to the public.
Tickets for children under 16 are £20 and the average price for a family of four is £259.16.
Third ODI – Old Trafford, Tuesday 8 September
Lancashire CCC would just direct us to their ticketing website. From the limited information available there, the best I can deduce is that ticket prices fall into the following categories:
1 – £68.
2 – £47.
They also have two smaller sections priced at £41 and £129, but since these are likely to make up only a small fraction of tickets, I’ll exclude them from the nominal average price of £57.50. However, ticket prices for all the sold-out booths will almost certainly not be visible, and it’s likely that there were plenty of more expensive tickets on sale earlier.
Tickets for children under 16 range from £35 to £25, with an average price of £30 and a family of four £175. But Lancashire is also offering packages of £45 for one adult and one teenager (under 16) and £90 for two adults and two teenagers (under 16) depending on their marital status.
4th ODI, Headingley – Friday 11 September
The Yorkshire CCC has sent the following information.
Ticket Type:
A- £50
B – £60
C – £65
D – £70
E – £75
Female – £80.
The nominal average fare is £66.67. Teen tickets are £20 each and £173.34 for a family of four.
Fifth ODI – Old Trafford, Sunday 13 September
For this game, their website reveals too little for meaningful analysis.
final result
The fourth edition of our ticketing survey – the England v Australia ODI series – was the most frustrating of the summer, as neither club, hosting three of the five matches, was willing to disclose meaningful pricing figures. Given that country clubs are public institutions that monopolize in this situation, and the Olympics are public events attended by the public, I think they have a moral obligation to speak openly and honestly about them, and they force audience participation.
Glamorgan, Durham and Warwickshire explained their prices to us in detail so our request couldn’t have been impossible or unfair.
In fact, the average price for the Ageas Bowl is probably around £85 and the Old Trafford is around £65.
One conclusion we can draw, however, is that London audiences are again being overcharged. Lord’s average price of £109.58 is almost double Headingley’s average of £66.67. Is this really what the MCC means by the “spirit of cricket”?