$2000 for a seat at the footy? Rugby World Cup tickets hit new heights
At almost $2000, it is the single most expensive ticket in Australian football history.
But the 2027 World Cup chairman says the high price for a category one seat ($1,950) at next year’s final at Accor Stadium is a reasonable cost for a premium event and helps open up more affordable tickets for other World Cup matches as well.
The next phase of 2027 World Cup ticket sales begins on Tuesday with the “Application Phase”. This follows the sale of the first 750,000 tickets during the controversial pre-sale phase in February.
The chaotic pre-sale sparked a backlash from angry fans; This resulted in 10-hour waits and system crashes on the World Cup ticketing website.
There should be no reason for a similar drama to occur during the second ticket sales phase. Fans are told there’s no rush; They have two weeks to apply for ticket preferences and there is no first-in, first-served preference. If the games are oversubscribed, a voting system is used.
But some ticket prices for big matches may still raise the ire of some fans.
Representing the most expensive single ticket to a World Cup (and excluding hospitality packages) since the inaugural tournament in 1987, the highest priced ticket in the first category for the final to be played at Accor Stadium on 13 November is $1950.
That’s almost $400 more than the 2023 World Cup final in Paris and $600 more than the 2019 verdict. The most expensive ticket for the 2003 World Cup final, played at the same venue in Australia, was $450; This is cheaper than the fourth category ticket in 2027.
This isn’t exactly Australia’s most expensive sports ticket; This mantle is held in courtside seats during the men’s final of the Australian Open tennis tournament. Tickets for the 2025 final started at $2400 and quickly rose to over $9000 under the dynamic pricing system (where prices adjust according to demand).
But the World Cup’s $1950 ticket still dwarfs the most expensive seated tickets at State of Origin ($509), the NRL grand final ($409) and the AFL grand final ($515) and even Formula 1’s VIP tickets ($1045) and Taylor Swift’s ($1295) and her latest tours with the Oasis ($1100).
The most expensive tickets to watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup final in 2023 and this year’s Asian Cup final at Accor Stadium were in the $150 range.
“We looked at a variety of criteria across different events and different sports and developed the pricing strategy we came up with,” said Chris Stanley, general manager of Rugby World Cup 2027.
“There’s a lot of work going into developing our ticketing strategy, and we’re really keen to provide as many tickets as possible at the bottom end. We originally had a million tickets under a hundred dollars, and we obviously sold most of those in presale.”
“So, as with any major event, there is an element where you have to charge more on top to make it accessible.”
The controversial dynamic pricing system is not being used in the 2027 World Cup; This caused tickets for the FIFA World Cup final held in the United States in July to rise to as much as $46,000.
Major pool games featuring Australia, England, Ireland and New Zealand have the highest ticket prices, with tickets in the first category going for $890 or more from the quarter-finals onwards.
But World Cup organizers have also sought to provide many more tickets at “affordable” prices in 2027; one million tickets (30 percent of the 2.5 million total) cost less than $100. Cheapest seats at multiple venues are $20 for a child and $40 for an adult.
The lowest category tickets for Wallabies matches and early play-offs can be purchased for $65, while the cheapest ticket to attend the final can be purchased for $175.
Stanley said money raised at men’s World Cups was World Rugby’s main source of income over the next four years, “which will then come back into the game”.
“So getting that balance from the high-end tickets all the way down to the bottom and making sure we deliver that correctly for every game,” he said.
World Rugby and Rugby Australia are co-hosting the 2027 World Cup under a new joint venture model that removes financial risk for the host nation. RA will receive a fixed fee of $100 million.
Stanley said he was “surprised” by the interest in World Rugby’s pre-sale phase, with fans from 135 countries buying tickets.
Stanley said fans can choose to use a new “All Out Perk” feature on their ticket applications, allowing a fan to secure tickets in a higher or lower category if they miss their original order.
The third and final general sale of remaining tickets will be held at the end of the year, Stanley said.
Iain Payten is senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X or email.
