- Published
At least £115 to watch a day of the Ashes in Birmingham - unless you are an Edgbaston member.
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you → publish → Birmingham
Those are the ticket fees British sports fans have been told a single adult must pay if they want to attend some of the country's most beloved sports events in 2027.
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they → tell → 2027
The cost of entry to elite sport in the UK has risen sharply in the 2020s, but attendances across the majority of sports are as strong as ever.
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attendances → rise → sports
Even for armchair fans watching at home, the breadth and expense of television subscriptions can be a barrier to accessing sport.
So what exactly is behind the rise in prices, can the increases possibly be justified and what does it all mean for fans?
In a new BBC Radio 5 Live programme - The Price of Our Sport - BBC Sport has taken a look.
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Sport → watch → look
What has happened to ticket costs?
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What → happen → costs
Fans reacted with anger when some of the ticket price rises for major events next year were announced earlier this summer.
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some → react → events
The increase in Ashes ticket prices is stark - the minimum price the last time Edgbaston held a Test in 2023 was £65, a rise of £50 to £115 in just four years.
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Edgbaston → hold → years
Admission to other venues, including The Oval, is even higher.
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Admission → include → Oval
Last time out in Australia, some seats were sold to fans at all five venues for between £16 and £22.
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seats → sell → 16
That still makes Wimbledon the cheapest of the four Grand Slams, but even a Centre Court ticket for the middle Saturday of the tournament now costs at least £130.
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ticket → make → 130
General admission for Grand Prix Sunday at Silverstone is up to £289 from £189 in 2021, while the cheapest allocated seat now costs at least £609, up from £276 five years ago.
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seat → allocate → 276
And general admission to the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor, in the Republic of Ireland, will cost €499 (£434), compared with up to €260 (£220) in Italy in 2023.
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admission → cost → 2023
And other events which took place this year laid bare just how much more fans are being charged.
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fans → take → more
Fans paid £150 to attend a day of The Open at Royal Birkdale earlier this year, compared to £95 at St Andrews in 2022.
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Fans → pay → 2022
Prices for the FA Cup final varied from £50 to £285 in 2026, compared with £50 to £120 in 2016.
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Prices → vary → 2016
"It's just ludicrous," says Lee Hanlon, an England cricket fan who lives close to Edgbaston, but has decided not to attend next summer's Ashes because of the price rise.
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who → say → rise
It seems like a lot of the normal cricket fans have been priced out.
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lot → seem → fans
It seems like just people with money are going now.
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people → seem → money
I find it upsetting.
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it → find → ?
But for event organisers, the prices chime with wider trends.
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prices → chime → trends
"We exist in an experience economy - we have definitely seen a subtle shift in the value people are placing on belonging, on the atmosphere you can be part of when you attend a live experience," says Mark Darbon, chief executive of the R&A, which operates golf's Open Championship.
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which → exist → Championship
"So when we set our prices we start by looking at some of the other major sporting events and benchmark ourselves, on price and value for money, by looking at what others are delivering."
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others → set → what
How do organisers justify the ticket price rises?
In a poll on the BBC Sport website, 95% of respondents voted that tickets for the 2027 Ashes were too expensive.
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tickets → justify → Ashes
A spokesperson for Edgbaston said: "Our entry-level ticket prices roughly match inflation compared to the last time Australia visited Edgbaston in 2023 - but like the rest of the country, we're battling increased costs and trying to manage these wherever we can."
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we → say → these
Whether prices are set by governing bodies or the stadiums, the costs of putting on a major sports event include things like utilities, staffing, technology, insurance and marketing.
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costs → set → utilities
"Ticketing revenue generates less than 20% of our total revenue from The Open," Darbon says.
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Darbon → generate → Open
"We have seen really significant cost inflation in recent years.
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We → see → years
It now costs us 25% more than it did five or six years ago to host The Open - that could be £10-12m in incremental costs.
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that → cost → costs
We have to cover those costs.
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We → have → costs
"
Many prestige events and newly built venues also include an increased proportion of hospitality ticketing, which can drive up costs for fans wanting standard tickets.
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which → build → tickets
"We are seeing more and more regular people willing to pay for a special experience at sport," says Richard Flint, chairman of Seat Unique, an online platform specialising in hospitality and VIP ticketing for events.
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Flint → see → events
"Corporate boxes are being broken down more and more into individual seats, so it's less about people taking 10 of their colleagues and more about a couple, or four people, going together.
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people → break → colleagues
"[Teams and leagues] want to grow their revenue off the back of it, undeniably.
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Teams → want → it
Premium is much more open to people or go to one or two games a year, or who have travelled from abroad to come.
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who → go → games
"Sometimes stadiums need updating and the revenue from premium ticketing can help fund a new stadium or new stand, so there are benefits to the everyday fan."
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revenue → need → fan
In a world with increasingly volatile economics and changing consumer habits, broadcasting live sport has been one of the more reliable ways for companies to generate revenue.
And live sport - and entertainment - is one of the few industries whose financial success is unlikely to be significantly compromised by artificial intelligence in the coming years.
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success → change → years
That means more and more companies have taken an interest in buying the rights to show sports events, which means more TV subscriptions than ever before are necessary for fans wanting to watch all of the action.
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subscriptions → mean → action
A football fan in the UK, for example, must subscribe to Sky Sports, TNT Sports, Amazon Prime and Premier Sports, if they want to watch all of the matches across the Premier League, Champions League and Scottish Premiership.
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they → subscribe → League
And they must pay for an annual TV licence to watch other matches on the BBC and ITV.
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they → pay → BBC
Without taking advantage of special offers, other sports can require even more subscriptions and even more money.
"It certainly helps when you can say to a fan that they only need to buy one subscription to see everything in one sport," says Pete Oliver, CEO of growth markets for DAZN, a global sports streaming service.
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Oliver → take → DAZN
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
