Ashes tickets expensive, admits ECB chief Gould

The CEO of the England and Wales Cricket Board has admitted that tickets to the next Ashes series in 2027 are expensive.

Fans will be forced to fork out hundreds of pounds to watch Australia’s Test tour to England next summer, with Edgbaston hiking prices by over 40 per cent when they host the Baggy Greens.

It has prompted concern from some within the game, and ECB chief Richard Gould has agreed that the price hikes have made tickets costly.

“It is expensive,” he told the Stick to Cricket podcast. “I think if you look at the Ashes though, you’ve got a range of between £90 and £165 depending on the venue and where you want to sit. Inflation is rising at 20 per cent since the Ashes [last] came. 

“But there are no investors taking money or profit out of cricket. All of the money that comes into the game goes back into the game, whether it’s grassroots cricket, funding the premier leagues, or investing into our England teams.” 

Ashes ticket prices soar

The 2027 Ashes series could be completed before August starts after recent shifts in the cricketing schedule to make room for The Hundred, which dominates the summer.

Fans who fork out for tickets may therefore risk early-summer rain, while England will look to recover from a dismal display in Australia last winter when the tourists were thrashed 4-1 by the hosts.

Ticket prices are not the only point of contention ahead of next year’s series. The 2027 Ashes will not see a Test hosted north of Nottingham, but Gould promised Ashes Tests will return to the North next time.

“We used to have nine Test match venues, we’ve now got seven. So, when we’ve got five Ashes Tests, we do want to make sure that it goes around the country in a relatively fair manner,” he said. 

“There are no test matches in the North in 2027. Going forward to 2039, yes, there will always be an Ashes Test match in the North. The pattern has always been to make sure that there’s always an Ashes Test at either Headingley or at Old Trafford.”