Club drop matchday prices of Newcastle United friendlies at St James’ Park after poor ticket sales | OneFootball

It is the final Newcastle United friendlies this weekend.

Pre-season completed with two games at St James’ Park.

Newcastle United friendlies against Fiorentina on Saturday and Villarreal this Sunday.

However, whilst St James’ Park was sold out (see above and below) on consecutive days in June for Sam Fender…

…sadly not the case this weekend.

The original ticket information for these Newcastle United friendlies was as follows:

TICKET INFORMATION

‘Day tickets for Saturday or Sunday will be priced at £30 for adults and £15 for concessions.

Weekend tickets will be priced at £55 for adults and £25 for concessions. This package is available until Monday, 31st July and to secure the discount, both games must be purchased together and contain an equal quantity of tickets at the same age band (eg one adult ticket for Saturday bought with a junior for Sunday will not qualify as a package).

Matchday prices will be £35 for adults and £20 concessions, strictly subject to availability. These games are anticipated to be busy and supporters are encouraged to buy early to secure tickets.’

With the club significantly raising the prices compared to last season’s St James’ Park pre-season kick abouts, the club’s ticketing site shows only around 60,000 tickets sold across the two days for this weekend’s pair of Newcastle United friendlies.

The club reacting to this by dropping the price of matchday ticket prices, an announcement this (Saturday 5 August) morning  showing the club stating (see below) that if you turn up today you will pay £30 for adults and £15 for concessions, instead of the planned £35 and £20 matchday prices.

A sensible and obvious move but all a bit too little too late, when if the prices had been kept the same as last summer, I reckon both of these Newcastle United friendlies would have sold out.

Matters not now helped by the fact that at 9.30am I am currently looking out of the window to see it absolutely bucketing down from the Tyneside skies, hopefully fans will get lucky this afternoon and on Sunday with the weather.

Newcastle United Official Announcement – Saturday 5 August 2023:

‘St. James’ Park will host the inaugural ‘Sela Cup, presented by VisitMalta’ tournament across Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th August, featuring Newcastle United, Fiorentina, Nice and Villarreal, as well as Newcastle United Women taking on West Bromwich Albion Women.

Eddie Howe’s Magpies face Fiorentina and Villarreal over consecutive days, with tickets on sale here.

The tournament has been made possible by Newcastle United’s new front-of-shirt partners, Sela, and event sponsors VisitMalta, which promotes travel to the hugely popular Mediterranean island and supports its bustling tourism industry.

The tournament format will see teams awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and an additional point per goal scored. On Sunday, following the final match, the overall winners will be presented with the Sela Cup, presented by VisitMalta.

Day tickets for Saturday or Sunday will be priced at £30 for adults and £15 for concessions.

Tickets are on general sale from book.nufc.co.uk with in-person sales also available from the Box Office. Online sales for will be available until 10am each day – after that, it will be cash turnstiles only.

Digital ticketing will be in operation for the first time across St. James’ Park and supporters are advised to arrive early. Download links for mobile phone wallets have been emailed to ticket purchasers. Supporters who have already bought a ticket are strongly recommended to download it before they arrive at the stadium and are urged to arrive in good time.