Edgbaston Stadium, a cricket ground located in Birmingham, UK, has announced that it will be expanding its capacity by 840 seats in preparations for a number of high-profile upcoming fixtures, including the ICC Cricket World Cup and the first Test of England’s Ashes series against Australia.
“There’s never been a bigger program of cricket in Birmingham than what’s coming in 2019, with the Ashes, ICC Cricket World Cup and Finals Day all coming to Edgbaston,” said Gareth Roberts, commercial director at Edgbaston Stadium.
“We’re very proud to bring the biggest fixtures in the game to Birmingham and, in response to the initial demand that we’ve seen, we wanted to give more spectators an opportunity to secure tickets for these games.”
To cater for demand, Edgbaston, which is also home to Warwick County Cricket Club, will work with Arena Seating to install a temporary stand to use across the events to bring total capacity up to 25,840.
The news of the extra seating follows the announcement that Edgbaston will also introduce a public ballot for the first time for tickets to the Ashes Test match.
“We’ve spent time this summer examining ticketing operations for other major sporting events to ensure that we provide the fairest possible process, while also recognizing loyalty and giving priority to our Warwickshire CCC Members,” said Roberts.
“Having sold out our first allocation of Ashes tickets via a priority window for our Members and regular visitors, a second allocation of tickets for the first four days will be available in the ballot, with tickets subsequently being randomly assigned to ballot entrants once the three-week period has ended.”
“Should the number of requests for tickets exceed availability on set days, we hope to give fans an opportunity to purchase on other days.”
September 20, 2018
