00:00Open Championship ticket prices.
00:02The ballot for the 155th Open is opening next month.
00:07Obviously played at St Andrews, historic week for the R&A.
00:11Ticket prices cause a bit of a stare online.
00:14I think Sunday is going to be £190.
00:16Can't remember what the dollar total for that is,
00:18but it's a 46% increase on this year's final round cost of £130.
00:23And we sort of looked at it a couple of ways.
00:25Either is it a rip-off, because that's what a lot of fans were saying online,
00:28or should we applaud the R&A for not going higher?
00:31Because, for instance, this year, a million people applied for the ballot for Birkdale,
00:36where there's going to be 300,000 people there.
00:38The Ryder Cup tickets next year will cost €500.
00:42So essentially, the R&A can charge whatever they like for these tickets,
00:46and people will buy them.
00:47So it's very easy to see why it's so divisive.
00:51I can see it both ways.
00:52So yeah, it'll be interesting what you guys think of that.
00:54If you look at the prices of, say, for example, tickets to the World Cup,
00:57in America this summer, or you look at a ticket for the final of Wimbledon,
01:02or any other sort of major sporting event,
01:05you're looking at more money than you're going to pay for a ticket on the final day
01:09of what I believe is the biggest major of the season in golf.
01:13So for me, if it was like a bucket list, one-off thing,
01:17and I said, you know, I've got the chance to go and watch some of the best players
01:20in the world play on the final round of an Open Championship,
01:24and someone to lift the claret jug for 190 quid or whatever you said it was,
01:28I think I'd probably pay it as a one-off sort of sporting moment for me.
01:33You know, that for me doesn't seem too steep,
01:36but I think it's all dependent on your circumstance,
01:38and I think a lot of people will see that as being too steep.
01:41So again, similar to you, I can see it both ways.
01:43I think that we should be doing absolutely everything we can
01:47to get people on the ground that, you know, money shouldn't mean you can't go.
01:52But at the same time, these are businesses,
01:54and they're, you know, trying to make some money to sustain the game
01:57and for other reasons, obviously, as well.
02:00So, yeah.
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