England 2015 has defended its strategy for ticket prices and kick-off times, confident that it has struck the right balance between making the World Cup accessible and generating the necessary revenue.
All four of England's Pool A games, including fixtures against Wales and Australia at Twickenham, will have 8pm starts. The final, on October 31, will start at 5pm, with tickets ranging from £150 to £715. The latter is £108 higher than its football equivalent in Brazil next year, although the entry price is £120 lower. A child (under 16) rate of £7 or £15 will be in place for all group games but has been omitted from the knockout stages other than for the third-place play-off.
Debbie Jevans, chief executive of England 2015, stresses that emphasis has been placed on child attendance during the group stage, with "core rugby fans" present from the quarter-finals onwards. "We decided to have a family friendly approach to the pool stages," she said. "Of the 48 matches, 41 have child prices. A family of four can watch Australia or South Africa for £70, or in Manchester a family can watch England for £130. All in all I think we've been very inclusive."
England 2015 have announced that over a million of the 2.3m available tickets will go on sale at £100 or less with 500,000 at £50 or less. Adult briefs start at £15 for pool matches. The prices set for the final at Twickenham - £150, £315, £515 and £715 - will be beyond many supporters, but Jevans insists the figures are competitive.
"Every event has to raise revenue to put on the tournament and you have to have some tickets that may be regarded as expensive," Jevans said. "In doing that you can have a number of low prices: 200,000 at £20 or less is a pretty good statistic. We have looked at previous World Cup finals and other international events. We believe we are comparable to those and are very competitive."
Jevans is confident that more than £80m will be generated, but would not specify how much more. Concern has been raised at the blanket 8pm kick-off time applied to England's matches and the impact this will have on children and those travelling to Twickenham from outside the south east. Jevans revealed that transport planning is already under way, and stated "we wouldn't put on an 8pm kick-off if we weren't confident we could make this a fantastic spectator experience".
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