At the moment there are two home games left this season, but there are definitely two football competitions this summer to talk about in EURO 2012 and the Olympic football tournament. So, let’s make a start with the bigger one of the two, EURO 2012, which takes place in Poland and Ukraine between the 8th of June and the 1st of July. The tournament promising to kick off a cracking summer of sport from a televisual perspective as we have that, then the Tour de France, then the Olympics one after the other over the course of just over two and a half months.
There’ll be plenty watching it live though, and as far EURO 2012 is concerned we are coming to the end of the road as far as all ticket availability is concerned, UEFA stating that they received a remarkable 12,149,125 applications from 206 countries across the world for the first general release of tickets which went on sale to the public in March 2011, with nearly 88% of those applications originating from Polish and Ukrainian citizens. A lottery then taking place to identify ticket winners, who were notified of their success the following month.
Having to buy a ticket for an event up to 15 months in advance though certainly doesn’t take into account changes in personal circumstances over such a long timeframe, and so UEFA have been running a ticket resale platform since July 2011, that platform now having closed four days ago. Ticket prices themselves UEFA say having been decided upon taking into account the purchasing power of Polish and Ukrainian citizens, with the cheapest tickets costing 50% less than in EURO 2008, hosted in Austria and Switzerland.
Prices seeming pretty reasonable for a category three ticket in a group match as you could pick one up for just 30 euros (about £25), with a ticket in that range for the final only being the equivalent of around £41. Although if you did want a category one ticket then the prices soon shoot up with one at that level for the final costing not far off £500. 1.4 million tickets having been available for the tournament altogther, with 32% of the tickets going to the 16 national associations involved for their teams and supporters.
UEFA saying that 85% of tickets will end up in the hands of fans, either through general sales or through competitions organised by official sponsors. Contintental in October becoming the tenth and last global partner for EURO 2012, alongside Adidas, Canon, Carlsberg, Castrol, Coca-Cola, Hyundai-Kia, McDonald's, Orange and Sharp. The Orange deal alone reputedly worth around the £1.5m mark, although that’s small fry in the grand scheme of things when you consider that EURO 2008 generated about £1.1billion, while the cost of staging the tournament was only around £500m.
So, where does some of the other big money come from? Well, if you like the finer things in life then you can get yourself a package over a few matches that includes pre and post-match access to a private ‘skybox’ from three hours before kick-off until 90 minutes after the final whistle, a premium gourmet dining experience before, during and after the match, premium wines and spirits, dedicated hostesses and service staff, welcome cocktails, an exclusive Club Prestige gift, an official match programme and one car parking pass for each two packages purchased.
You’d better have been saving up your pennies in your whisky bottle for a while though as the cheapest you can get that package for, per person, is for three group games in either Poland or Ukraine, the cost weighing in at around £4,300, or approximately £1,433 for one match. Fancy paying that for Greece v Czech Republic? The most expensive ‘skybox’ package I can find that doesn’t say ‘prices upon request’ being around a paltry £15,600 for all five games, or just £3,120 a match, that take place in Kyiv, those being three group games, one quarter-final and the final itself.
That final of course being won handsomely by England versus Spain, after the three Lions have won all three group games against France, Sweden and co-hosts Ukraine, then hammered Italy in the quarter-finals, and then sneaked past Germany on penalties at the semi-final stage. Back in the real world meanwhile it promises to be a good three weeks of football, although you just hope that it doesn’t turn into a procession for the Spanish team. As far as sensible views of England’s chances are concerned though, quarter-finals at best would be my guess, but with plenty of scandal in the camp along the way of course.