THE AVERAGE PRICE of a ticket for this month’s Rugby World Cup makes it the most expensive major sports tournament ever, according to new research.
It may just be a short hop across the water for fans but many have been left frustrated in their attempts to follow Ireland’s progress with excessive prices acting as a barrier for many.
For Ireland’s Pool D fixtures, tickets cost as much as €209 for the Canada, Romania and Italy matches while the chance to catch the final group against France would have set you back close to €300.
And research by Nick Harris of @sportingintel, now shows this tournament is set to be the most expensive sporting event in history.
The average ticket price is £104.17 (€138) and taking inflation into account, that’s significantly higher than any football World Cup or Olympic Games.
Last week, World Rugby told The42 that this is an ‘affordable and accessible’ tournament and their pricing structures have been justified by the demand for tickets.
With only a handful of days until the opening game at Twickenham, 2.45 million tickets have been pre-sold and only couple of games have seats available.
It’s unlikely any of the venues will have empty seats but it’s becoming more and more expensive to experience the atmosphere of major sporting tournaments and many fans are being frozen out.
What do you make of the ticket prices? Have you forked out anyway?
