Karachi:
The PCB has earmarked the starting prices for Champions Trophy tickets at PKR 1000 which is as cheap as Rs 310 in Indian currency, as per an internal document of the cricket board in possession of PTI. The document, however, does not include suggested ticket prices for the matches in Dubai chosen as a neutral venue to host India’s matches and perhaps even a semi-final and final if Rohit Sharma’s men qualified for these knockout games. The list in possession of PTI revealed that PCB has kept the lowest priced ticket for the General Enclosure at 1000 Pakistani rupees for all matches in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi.
But for the Pakistan and Bangladesh match in Rawalpindi the general enclosure fee has been increased to 2000 PKR (INR 620) and for the semi-final to PKR 2,500 (INR 776).
The PCB has also kept VVIP tickets for all games at 12,000 PKR (INR 3726) but for the semi-finals it is 25,000 (INR 7764) for this same enclosure.
The premium enclosure tickets are priced at PKR 3,500 (INR 1086) for the matches in Karachi, 5000 (INR 1550) for the match in Lahore and 7000 (INR 2170) for Pakistan’s match against Bangaldesh in Rawalpindi.
The PCB plans to keep VIP enclosure prices to PKR 7000 for Karachi, 7,500 for Lahore 12,500 for the Bangladesh match.
The number of tickets up for sale for general spectators will be 18,000 but it is still not clear how many tickets one person can purchase at a time and whether tickets will also be available at ticket booths or only online.
Normally, as per ICC event rules, the host country sells tickets for the matches and keeps gate money earnings and also revenue from sale of hospitality boxes. This is besides the hosting fees paid by the ICC.
Since ICC picked Dubai as a neutral venue to host India’s matches, an insider confirmed that the PCB believes it is entitled to keep gate money receipts and hospitality box sales for the games in Dubai including the blockbuster match on February 23 against arch-rivals India.
The PCB intends to keep the gate money from the Dubai games since the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) will be paid operational costs, including ground rent.
“The ECB will obviously advise the ICC and PCB on the ticket rates for different enclosures in Dubai and what prices should be charged for hospitality box sales before announcements are made,” the insider said.
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