Test match cricket prices "have been slashed following public protests that ticket costs were killing the five-day game," according to Robert Craddock of the Brisbane COURIER-MAIL. Hoping to bring crowds back to the traditional format, Cricket Australia "will on Tuesday announce a range of lower prices for the home Test series against South Africa and Pakistan next summer." The day-night Test against Pakistan at the Gabba in December "will feature prices as low as" A$40 ($30) for an adults seat. More than half the venue will have tickets which are A$50 ($38) or less and it is also expected there will be “twilight’’ tickets at special prices for those who come after work. Poor crowds at last summer’s New Zealand and West Indies Test series "stung Cricket Australia officials, who privately accepted the price of Test tickets had blown out of kilter with super-cheap packages for Big Bash games." Cricket "has never been in a better position to cut its prices."
CA "is at the midpoint of a rich television deal and the next one will be even bigger."
There is talk that Channel 10 "may have to pay at least double" the A$100M ($77M) it outlaid for a five-year Big Bash contract if it wants to retain it (COURIER-MAIL, 4/25).
