RLWC2013 ticket sales benefit from Olympic effect
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RLWC2013 20 February 2013
Rugby League World Cup 2013 has continued to build on strong initial ticket sales at the box office. Tickets for all of the ‘Big Three’ of Rugby League World Cup Final, the Opening Ceremony and the Wembley semi-final double-header continue to sell really well and other venues are also contributing to impressive sales figures.
Following extraordinary demand for the Early Bird tickets, which sold out over Christmas, organisers extended the deadline to allow more buyers to benefit from the offer. The response has been overwhelming and 35,000 tickets have now gone for the Rugby League World Cup Final.
At Old Trafford, Wembley Stadium and the Millennium Stadium where the Opening Ceremony and the England v Australia and Wales v Italy double-header takes place, RLWC2013’s ticketing team have had to open whole new areas of the stadiums for sale.
There is also good news from Rochdale, where Fiji play Ireland in Group A and less than 200 seats remain on sale in the Main Stand. The England v Ireland match at the John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield on November 2 is also exceeding expectations with category 1 tickets having already sold out. Encouragingly, England’s final Group A game against Fiji at the KC Stadium in Hull on November 9 has also nearly sold out of Category 1 tickets.
Rugby League World Cup 2013 is part of UK Sport’s National Lottery funded Gold Event Series, an ambitious programme which aims to bring over 70 of the world’s most prestigious sporting events to the UK up to 2019, including 36 World and European Championships.
Simon Morton, Director of Major Events and International Relations at UK Sport, said: “Rugby League World Cup will be one of the biggest sporting events the UK has hosted since London 2012 and it’s great that so many people up and down the country will have the opportunity to be inspired by live sport.
“The benefits of RLWC2013 are wide-ranging, with over 500,000 people anticipated to attend across the 28 games; we predict the event will have an economic impact of over £60 million. We are delighted to be supporting this event through the Gold Event Series.”
Sally Bolton, RLWC2013 General Manager, said: “It’s fantastic that we can announce such a solid start to 2013, the year of the Rugby League World Cup. Following the success of the London Olympics we are seeing large numbers of people wanting to be part of major sporting events. The great thing for us is that many of them have never been to a Rugby League match before.
“Fans of events outside of the usual Rugby League calendar are showing they understand that waiting until the day of the game may not secure a ticket for an international tournament like RLWC2013.
“We are clearly already attracting new fans to the game: 60% of ticket-buyers buyers for the tournament and 70% of our Wembley customers have never bought tickets for a major Rugby League match before.
“It’s no surprise that the Big Three games at the Millennium Stadium, Wembley and Old Trafford are still doing so well with 35,000 tickets already gone for the final. They are the showpiece events of the tournament and fans are recognising what great value we are offering for what is the pinnacle of our sport.
“England’s growing army of fans are beginning to believe what the team could achieve at RLWC2013 and they are getting behind Steve McNamara’s men. The way ticket sales are shaping up for Cardiff, Huddersfield and Hull I’d advise any England fan not to wait but to make sure they get their tickets now.”
