SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer claims the organisation has met its crowd target for Saturday’s Rugby Championship opener between the Springboks and Wallabies at Ellis Park, despite the stadium not being sold out.
The iconic 62 000-seat venue will host the highly anticipated clash, but a number of tickets remained available across multiple sections as of Friday.
Prices for those tickets still available range from R1 050 to an eye-watering R4 000, according to the official Ticketmaster website.
When one considers a full month subscription to DStv to watch not only this match, but the second Test between the two sides next weekend in Cape Town, costs around the same as the cheapest ticket, one is perhaps not surprised to learn there will be empty seats in the stands.
Following those two matches, South Africans have only one other chance to see the Springboks live in Mzansi this year – against Argentina at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on 27 September.
Perhaps no surprise then either that Gayton McKenzie’s Sports, Arts and Culture department was giving away 2 000 free tickets as recently as Thursday morning.
‘Met financial expectations’
Speaking at Loftus Versfeld during the launch of Vodacom’s new sponsorship deal with SA Rugby, Oberholzer said the event has already met its financial expectations.
“We’ve hit our targets in terms of budgeting for the event,” he said.
“When we did our forecasts, we worked on an 85% capacity. We’re well over that, and after the United Rugby Championship, we’ll review our programme and how we drove it.”
He acknowledged that lessons would be drawn from the current series and applied ahead of the 2026 season.
“If we’ve made any mistakes, we’ll rectify them before the season starts next year,” Oberholzer added.
Ticket Sales Under the Spotlight
Saturday’s match follows a trend of lower-than-expected ticket sales for the Springboks’ recent July Test matches – including fixtures against Italy in Pretoria and Port Elizabeth and Georgia in Nelspruit – none of which reportedly reached capacity.
Despite this, SA Rugby remains optimistic, pointing to strong broadcast numbers and sustained interest in the national team, which remains a major commercial drawcard following their 2023 Rugby World Cup triumph.
Is the price of the tickets the likely reason for the empty seats?
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