Fears of the Leinster-Northampton Champions Cup semi-final not filling Croke Park sufficiently can be safely dispelled. Although tickets only went on sale to the public this Friday morning, by early afternoon the game has already been declared a “technical sell-out.”
An estimated 9,000 tickets for the semi-final on Saturday May 4th were sold privately to debenture holders, while Leinster took up 20,000 tickets and Northampton 2,000, before the remainder went on public sale on Friday were sold within two or three hours. All told, an estimated 75,000 tickets have thus been sold, with EPCR keeping some in reserve for sponsors, corporate partners, VIPs etc.
This success in selling out Croke Park in effectively a day is proof of the improved ticket pricing which the EPCR introduced compared to the last two Champions Cup semi-finals between Leinster and Toulouse at the Aviva, as well as the more effective and collaborative approach between them, Leinster and the GAA this time around.
It can also be attributed to the continuing appetite for big rugby games in this World Cup season and the sense of this semi-final - the first Leinster game at Croke Park since the 2009 semi-final against Munster which set a then world record attendance for a club match - has an additional sense of a one-off occasion. Leinster and Northampton also met in the 2011 final.
Ticket prices for this game were, on average, €10 lower than was the case for the clash between Leinster and Toulouse at the same juncture at the Aviva Stadium last season.
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The average price for a ticket for last year’s semi-final, which drew an attendance some way short of capacity at 46,823, was €49, whereas for the Northampton game at Croke Park at an average of €39.
Premium tickets were priced at €90, Category One at €75, Category Two at €55, Category Three at €38 and Category Four at €18. The latter encompasses the Hill, and compares with the €20 for tickets there at last Sunday’s triple header which was crowned off by the Dublin-Meath Leinster championship meeting, and the €25 charged for the recent National League final double header.
The tournament organisers also confirmed that the Toulouse-Harlequins semi-final, which has been moved to Le Stadium, is also a 33,000 sell-out already. Over 110,000 fans will attend the two games across the first weekend in May.
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