World Cup organisers unfazed by unsold tickets

CRAIG SIMCOX/ The Dominion Post

HIGH HOPES: Rugby New Zealand 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden has been urging Kiwis to get behind the tournament.

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Preparations for the Rugby World Cup on Auckland's Waterfront.

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Rugby World Cup organisers still have about 170,000 tickets waiting to be sold, but are confident of meeting the sales target.

Rugby NZ 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden confirmed today there were $26 million-worth of tickets still to sell with just 10 days to go until kick-off.

He was expecting to reach the target of $268.5m - though not before the games begun.

"People think the tickets need to be sold before the event, but once things are up and running" tickets would continue to fly, Snedden said.

Organisers were expecting to have $25m-worth of tickets left when the tournament starts on September 9, a spokesman for Snedden said.

The deadline of October 23 meant organisers had just over eight weeks to pull in $26m in ticket sales.

However, in the last three weeks they have managed to sell $8.5m, which would leave them short if the sales rate remained unchanged.

Snedden said: "The closer we get to the tournament, more and more tickets are selling."

With $4.2 million worth of tickets sold in the last week, Snedden was relaxed saying: "the general mood is very positive, the stress is dropping away".

Interest in Australia was growing and Snedden was confident most Eden Park matches would be sold-out to the stadium's capacity of 60,000.

Snedden was in Australia last week for a final marketing push to help meet the ticket target, which would continue throughout the event.

Since then, and following the Aussie Tri-Nations win, ticket sales across the ditch had increased.

Snedden was today with International Rugby Board chief executive Mike Miller and Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully, viewing preparations at The Cloud function centre.

Miller complimented the "fantastic structure" that was being prepared for the 40th Pacific Islands Forum, running from September 6, before a quick switch to Rugby World Cup mode.

"This isn't just for 44 days of the Rugby World Cup, it's a great legacy for Auckland," Miller said.

McCully said he had no qualms over the short changeover time for The Cloud.

"We've always planned to be able to make the switch."

Miller agreed and said despite "lots of little issues", he was happy with Cup preparations and urged fans to snap-up tickets.

"You may find there aren't any tickets available for the match you want to go to or at the price you want," he said.

"You're not getting the Rugby World Cup back here for a long time."

- © Fairfax NZ News