Cricket: NZC shrugs off $250k shortfall in ticket sales

Ticket sales are $250,000 below budget. Photo / Thinkstock

New Zealand Cricket is relaxed about being off the pace in terms of budgeted ticket sales for the Pakistan tour.

About 90,000 tickets have been sold for the tour, which included three T20 internationals, two tests and six ODIs, the fourth of which is in Napier today.

That is 10,000 below budget, or about $250,000.

But NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan is adopting a realistic view .

"You have to take it all into context," he said yesterday.

"We were coming off a losing [ODI] streak and Pakistan are never a team we sell out stadiums with. So we need to be realistic about the size of the crowds we're going to get."

The tour began well from New Zealand's perspective, with victory in the T20 series. However the test series was lost - and the first test in Hamilton was over inside three days - and the second ODI in Queenstown last week was washed out.

The crowd in Christchurch last Saturday was ordinary, but it was an unpleasant, windy day. NZC has fingers crossed that the last three games this week will provide a solid late boost to sales.

"We're really hopeful that with the best players on show in Napier, Hamilton and Auckland we get to see really good support there," Vaughan said.

Gate receipts form between 5 and 8 per cent of yearly total revenue for NZC. The main providers of revenue are sponsorship, broadcasting rights and International Cricket Council events, such as the upcoming World Cup on the subcontinent.

NZC commercial manager Peter Dwan said ticket sales for the Eden Park ODI on Saturday had been "tracking pretty well".

That might turn out to be the series decider, as it is now a five-game series after the Queenstown washout, and if it was two-all that would also help get the turnstiles clicking.