South African clubs that play at FIFA World Cup stadia are planning to hike up the price of tickets to Premier Soccer League ABSA Premiership games in an effort to meet maintenance overheads.
The South African government splashed out around $1.3bn to build and revamp 10 of the country’s venues for the recently-completed tournament, but there is now a challenge to ensure the superb facilities do not become white elephants. With clubs having to spend around $66,000 to rent out one of the stadia for each match day, South African Football Association CEO Leslie Sedibe told a parliamentary committee on sport and recreation that ticket price rises were inevitable.
“People need to understand...we will have to revisit these issues around ticket prices if we are serious about development, because that is where the money is going to come from,” he said, according to Sport24.co.za. Ajax Cape Town has reportedly expressed an interest in taking up occupancy in Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, but Soccer City in Johannesburg could be without a football tenant with the Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates both wary of the costs of playing at the venue. South Africa’s national rugby union team will play New Zealand at Soccer City in the Tri-Nations on August 21 while Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban is slated to host a Twenty20 cricket match between South Africa and India at the start of next year.
Other domestic and national rugby and cricket bodies have been approached in a bid to attract tenants to the stadia, but member of parliament Graham Mackenzie warned the parliamentary committee: “We have magnificent stadiums and at the moment they are ranked No.1 in the world. If we engaged other sports, we can ensure we don't have a legacy of white elephants.”
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