Wales’s most expensive tickets ever are sold out
WALES’S most expensive Six Nations tickets in history have completely sold out.
Top-priced tickets for Wales’s two home games at the Principality Stadium during this year’s tournament were priced at £110.
Wales’s first home game of the Six Nations, against England, takes place in the third round of the tournament, after Warren Gatland’s side kick off their first game of the Championship away to France on Friday, February 1.
It’s now been confirmed that tickets to both of Wales’s home games, against England on February 23 and Ireland on March 16, sold out in early December. No tickets for either match reached public sale.
The tickets for both home games are split into five different pricing categories: category A: £110; B: £100; C: £95; D: £70; E: £40.
The £110 price tag means category A tickets for the matches against England and Ireland are the highestpriced tickets in Welsh rugby history.
It is a £10 increase on the most expensive England ticket for the equivalent fixture in 2017, and a £15 rise on what supporters were charged for the best seats in the house against Ireland the same season.
With England and Ireland such big draws, particularly with all three sides looking pretty evenly matched, it explains why the Welsh Rugby Union opted to charge £15 more in each of the top three categories than they did for the Scotland and France Six Nations matches last year.
The cheapest available ticket for both matches this year was frozen at £40 as part of the WRU’S pricing strategy that is in place until 2020.
The WRU introduced its first £100 ticket for the England fixture in the 2017 Six Nations, while it’s believed around 50% of tickets for this year’s tournament are in category B, which is priced at £100.
It’s understood the demand is there for the Wales v England Six Nations game to be sold three or four times over. Tickets could also be double the price and the Principality Stadium would still be sold out.
There is, however, the argument that such steep costs risk pricing some supporters out of watching games.
In December, a WRU spokesperson said: “As a not-for-profit organisation, all WRU proceeds are invested back into the game at all levels.”
The WRU have stated that as Wales have only two home games in this year’s Six Nations, the best way to get tickets is through WRU member clubs.
A spokesman for the Union added: “The beauty of our fixture list this year is that Wales are playing three Championship sides in Cardiff outside of the tournament.
“This started with Scotland in November and culminates with England and then Ireland as part of Rugby World Cup preparation in the summer.”
KATIE SANDS