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Its a head scratcher… Was there any reason given to it?
Probably money related like everything else it seems…“Can’t play at Headingley”
“Why not, we win there?”
“Aye, but we win in two days, think of the hospitality and unsold sausage rolls”Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
It’s always money.
Is there actually anything to state that there has to be five matches? Six Test series were the norm here for a time in the 80s and 90s. I suppose the dreaded Hundred puts an effective stop to any Ashes series expansion.
It’s not like The Rose Bowl is much easier to get to than London for fans in my neck of the woods.
It’s not usually long before any discussion online about the Rose Bowl observes what an absolute pig it is to get to the place.
I’ve never yet had need to try to get there, but it does seem to be perfectly positioned to frustrate – completely the wrong side of a golf course to be directly or quickly accessible from Junction 7 of the M27.
Elsewhere, I’m firmly in the camp of those who’d appreciate Tests being moved from Lords completely. A venue which frequently appears to inspire visitors more than it does the home team, and – how can I best put it – a membership whose views, taken as a whole, don’t align with mine at all. Bloody awful ties, too.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
There is no chance of Test Matches being moved from Lord’s. Whether we like it or not, it is the prestige venue and where the ECB is based.
It is a bit irritating when Lord’s gets two Tests in years when more than one team is on tour but I suppose they all want to play at the venue.
It is rather like St Andrews in golf. It has the history and prestige and the Royal and Ancient is based there, so it will always host The Open (far more often than any other course does). But it is the easiest and possibly least good course on the rota and (rather like the Rose Bowl) not straightforward to get to via public transport.
The Open ought to be moved or at least played there a lot less often but it will never happen.
A fair analogy. One could always take it further still and suggest that Epsom has the prestige going for it as the Derby venue, but not terribly much else is optimally suitable for the code’s Blue Riband event (not least that wicked camber).
If we were putting together the sporting calendar as a whole from scratch, and allocating events to the best, fairest but most competitive venues for each sport in turn, I’m not convinced any of the Lord’s, St Andrews or Epsom would get a look in.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
I see that the Ashes prices have been revealed for Trent Bridge and Edgbaston. £115 is the very cheapest ticket on the first four days at Edgbaston, mostly £145-£165. Then they have the nerve to add a £2.50 ‘booking fee’ per ticket on top of that.
Trent Bridge does still have some at double figure prices and day four is slightly cheaper than the first three.
I know they’ll sell out in an instant but it’s quite a large investment for (hopefully) a day of cricket especially once you consider ancillary costs.
Not surprised by the prices. That is the going rate for these blue chip sporting events now.
Thursday at Royal Birkdale was £130 and it was £140 on the Saturday. It will be £150 on the Thursday at St Andrews next year.
I have not been to Wimbledon for a while but I expect the prices for a Centre Court ticket would be similar and considerably more for the final.
To think back in 2005, I attended the opening day of the Lord’s Test (the first day of that classic series) and only paid £23!
I can’t say I’m massively surprised by the prices either, regardless of whether or not I agree with them.
There’s an element of supply and demand of course, a BBC article on this quotes a total Ashes attendance in 2023 of 545,000. The MCG could theoretically get close to that on its own with a high selling five day match. Obviously for various reasons we’ll never have a cricket ground anything like that size here.
I see Michael Vaughan has been having his say on the ticket prices for The Ashes:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/ce87v9ljl8no
“I think the game’s got to be very careful. I think you’re going to be pricing a lot of people out of the biggest series of them all…don’t price them out because they might get a shock.”
I believe it will be Vaughan in for a shock instead. Does he really think people won’t pay? There is already an oversubscribed ballot for the tickets.
Royal Birkdale was packed out on all four days. And plenty of the spectators had paid far more than the basic price in order to have access to the more exclusive hospitality areas.
For a lot of people, £160 really isn’t all that much money. They are more than willing to pay.
Prices have rocketed since the lockdown era. I only paid £60 to attend Day 1 of the Open at Royal Portrush in 2019. But the ballot for Birkdale was heavily oversubscribed (I had to use the resale platform to secure my Thursday ticket) and the R&A has reported unprecedented demand for next year.
A Test Match series might not have as much international appeal as an Open or Wimbledon but there is no doubt that all the days will be a sell out. Anyone wanting for cheap tickets will have to hope a match goes to a fifth day – and even then I expect they will try to charge something like £50 if there looks like being a full day.
With the likes of Cheltenham being around £85, racing is arguably one of the better value for money sports. Although I suppose the amount of actual sporting action is less than at something like a Test Match.
It’s pretty obvious that it will ‘price people out’ but he equates that with ‘won’t sell out’ which is not the same thing. The fact is that our cricket grounds simply aren’t very big, there are League One and even League Two football teams with comparable capacities and even if geography and planning allowed, expensive extensions are not going to happen for the once in four years that demand significantly outstrips supply.
What some commentators forget is that the authorities don’t care about any given individual, as long as their ground is full they are happy. Say I’m prepared to pay £100 and someone else £120, guess who they’ll sell the seat to?
OK, Vaughan is right inasmuch that some people will be priced out of The Ashes. But as you say, the authorities don’t care as long as the grounds are full, which they will be.
The only reason they are not sold out for the current Test series is because Pakistan are a poor side that is ill equipped and unprepared to play a Test series in England.
There isn’t going to be any turning back. Unless you have a reasonable amount of disposable income, top sporting events are out of range now. It goes some way towards explaining why lower league and non league football are growing in popularity.
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