Ticket prices for The Hundred reflect ECB's commitment to family affordability

Accessibility to a younger and more diverse market has always been the expressed goal of The Hundred and the price points settled on by the governing body support that ambition. But how will the competitive pricing affect T20 Blast sales?

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Tickets to The Hundred will go on sale from January 15, with prices reflecting the ECB’s desire to make the competition affordable for families.

An early bird purchasing window - initially for county members - will feature adult tickets to the men’s tournament for as little as £10 and under 16s £5. Children aged five years and under will be able to gain entry for free.

Accessibility to a younger and more diverse market has always been the expressed goal of The Hundred and the price points settled on by the governing body support that ambition.

During the early bird window, tickets will be split into three bands for the men’s Hundred - gold (prices ranging between £18 and £35), silver (£12-30) and bronze (£10-16) - and two for the women’s (£10-18 and £8-15).

Tickets to the men’s final will cost £30 and up, with the women’s on sale for as little as £12.

Costs will vary depending on where matches are being played, which day of the week they are being played on and when tickets are bought, but the under 16 price will remain the same throughout.

The individual management boards in charge of the eight Hundred teams - headed by senior representatives from the counties - will have some freedom to settle on adult prices from within each bracket.

The ECB’s hope is to entice a new audience to the abbreviated version of the game, capitalising on the exposure generated by an extraordinary cricketing year in 2019.

^{The Hundred launches in July}

Still, initial occupancy rate targets are modest. Chairman Colin Graves said in an interview with the Daily Mail last month that the organisation would be happy with seeing stadiums 60 to 65 per cent full over the course of the competition, as it beds into the calendar against a backdrop of opposition from county traditionalists.

And it remains to be seen whether or not The Hundred will bring in the “cricket interested” slice of the population, who previously did not attend matches, which it has been designed to attract.

The first sales window for county members closes on January 31, with two priority windows then set to open for those registered to thehundred.com - February 12-28 and April 2-7 - before general sale begins on April 8.

Early bird prices will be available until April 22, at which advanced ticket prices - which are expected to be slightly more expensive - will be introduced. Further increases may be come into effect for walk-up entry during the tournament.

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“We have put families at the heart of our ticket pricing for The Hundred,” the new competition’s managing director, Sanjay Patel, said.

“When compared with summer holiday favourites and other major sporting events, The Hundred offers brilliant entertainment and tremendous value.

“Buying early will guarantee the best value tickets with compelling prices available across all men’s and women’s matches.”

Counties will be permitted to offer further discounts and ticket offers on a case-by-case basis, without the need for approval by the ECB.

Graves is confident The Hundred will be a success, citing its importance in the £1.1billion TV rights deal struck with Sky Sports and the BBC, which kicks in this year and features the new tournament at its heart.

“I don't see a risk,” he said in December. “How can it be a risk when you have the money banked from the broadcasters for five years?”

^{Ticket prices for the new competition have been announced}

Counties will each receive a £1.3million per year for their participation in the project - a major boost to their coffers at a time when County Championship cricket is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain - but it is unclear what sort of impact The Hundred will have on the domestic game’s primary money-spinner of the past decade and a half, the T20 Blast.

The competition has been shifted from a July/August slot to May and June this year to accommodate its shorter cousin in high summer - The Hundred group stage is due to begin on July 17, with the final a month later - taking it outside of school holidays.

And given the hugely competitive pricing of Hundred tickets, it remains to be seen whether parents will opt into the new tournament at the expense of the Blast.

A record 65,000 advanced ticket sales were made in the first week last year, while audiences for the 20-over competition’s group games rose 15 per cent year on year in 2019 and 950,000 fans attended Blast matches over the course of the summer.

The Hundred ticket refund policy

Ticketholders will be able to claim a 100 per cent refund if they see 100 balls or fewer of an incomplete game.

Weather-affected matches must be a minimum of 25 balls per side to constitute a result.

This season’s Finals Day is already a sell out. 

Last year, the cheapest available T20 Blast adult entry price, across all 18 counties, was £15 - at Durham and Glamorgan - but the majority fell outside The Hundred’s cheapest ticket bracket. Six counties’ lowest price was £25.

In 2019, the cheapest concession prices for junior tickets to the Blast ranged between £10 and free entry. Two-thirds of the counties offered deals for youngsters (of varying age ranges), which equalled the £5 entry fee being levied by The Hundred.

The ECB say they took into consideration the needs and market of the Blast when settling on the pricing structure for The Hundred, and there is still plenty of confidence within the governing body that the weight of ticket-purchasing will not fall entirely on existing cricket-goers.

The exposure generated by the BBC, who have already begun to push the competition during their mainstream programming, is one reason for that optimism, while the ECB also have other marketing strategies in place to reach demographics the national broadcaster cannot.