Cricket Australia Slashes Ticket Prices

Cricket Australia has responded to dwindling Test and one-day international crowd figures by lowering ticket prices for the 2016/17 summer.

The game's governing body instigated a review into ticketing following a difficult summer for international cricket, in which each city attracted a higher Big Bash League attendance than the opening day of their Test.

"Record numbers of fans have been attending elite cricket matches in Australia during recent seasons and we want to make Test and one-day cricket even more accessible," Cricket Australia (CA) CEO James Sutherland said.

One of the major criticisms of CA last summer was the high and inconsistent ticket prices for Tests against the low-ranked New Zealand and West Indies teams.

Fewer people turned out for the three days of the Hobart Test than all but one of their BBL fixtures, and the crowd at the MCG on Boxing Day hit a 16-year low.

Numbers were also down across the board, with an average of 18,000 people attending each day of the first five Tests of the summer before the Sydney game was ruined by rain.
In comparison, the average crowd for the the more affordable BBL was 29,443.

As a result, CA has introduced streamlined pricing for all venues except Hobart, which will see the cheapest adult tickets at $30, children at $10 and families at $65 for all Test and one-day international matches.

CA says existing prices in Hobart will remain, where they dropped to $25 for an adult, $8 for a child and $54 for a family last summer.

The decrease in prices means adult general admission tickets will be $20 cheaper in Sydney and Perth, while it will cost $10 less for similar tickets in Brisbane and Melbourne and $5 less in Adelaide.

Radio Sport