SARU's Test ticket sales: It's all smoke and mirrors
Will the South African Rugby Union reconsider their Test-match hosting model or will they continue with their ‘smoke and mirrors’ approach in the face of an escalating ticketing saga?
SARU is facing increasing pressure from the public and also a potential legal backlash over aggressive pricing for Springbok Tests and luxury stadium suites.
The rumblings about the Test-match hosting model and ticket prices have been ongoing for months, reaching a boiling point ahead of the Springboks’ 45-21 victory over England at Ellis Park this past weekend.
Despite SARU’s attendance figure (52,900) painting an auspicious picture, there are some questions the national body is unwilling (or unable) to answer.
If this past Friday’s media release were to be taken at face value, the media dropped the ball, and their reporting was ‘erroneous and misinformed’.
SARU claimed they would get close to the historic average against England in SA of 91 percent of the stadiums’ capacity.
The number (given by SARU) of 52,900 was not far off the goal, 56,420.
That would indeed suggest the media assertions of a lack of interest were ‘unfounded and not supported by the actual sales data’.
However, if the initial ticket sales were not ‘sluggish’, what prompted SARU to drastically slash prices midweek?
SARU did not answer the question of how many tickets were sold last week, after the prices were slashed.
Another question they failed to answer is: “How many tickets were given away for free?”
The exact number of free tickets is not readily available, but it is a #FACT that free tickets entered the public domain on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
Imagine, if you will, that you pay ZAR3,000 for your seat, just to be met in the stands by someone who received free entry.
The suite and box holder revolt at Loftus Versfeld, where the Springboks will meet Scotland in Round Two of the Nations Championship this coming Saturday, is also still simmering.
Long-term suite leaseholders at Loftus accused SARU of ignoring existing lease agreements and attempting to overcharge them for tickets to their own privately leased boxes.
SARU, based on their stated ‘supply and demand’ strategy, defended their stance and declined to shed further light on the matter.
Enquiries were met with a ‘no comment’ by SARU.
Another question the national body did not enjoy was: ‘Is SARU reconsidering the Test-match hosting model?’
The enquiry was met with a firm ‘event reviews are conducted internally, not publicly’.
The demand for tickets when Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, South Africa versus New Zealand, gets underway in August, is impressive, as most Springboks versus All Blacks games are.
However, maybe SARU can be honest and admit they overestimated the demands for some of the other matches, such as the Nations Championship Tests and have hopefully learned from the Ellis Park glitches.
@JanDKrugby
@rugby365com
