Rugby League World Cup chief executive Jon Dutton has defended the tournament's ticket pricing policy and revealed it is battling to break even after the twin impact of its one-year delay and a subsequent surge in inflation.
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Crowds for some early group games have been disappointing, amid criticism of an inability to access the lowest tier of tickets, and Dutton acknowledged on Thursday that hindsight might have yielded a different model to confront the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
"We have made some mistakes and we hold our hands up when we make mistakes," said Dutton.
"It we had the opportunity to do this all over again, having gone through the pandemic, would we price stuff differently?
"Yes, but we are now into the cycle, we have customers who bought tickets two years ago and we are comparative at entry level with anything that happens in Super League."
England's thumping opening win over Samoa drew an attendance of 43,119 at St James' Park, and attracted a peak television audience of two million with a 22 per cent audience share. The hosts' second Group A game at Bolton on Saturday is heading for a sell-out.
But a disappointing crowd of just over 5,000 was present for New Zealand's opening match against Lebanon at Warrington, and empty seats have been a feature at other venues.
Some fans have complained that sections earmarked for the cheapest seats have been empty despite being declared sold-out.
The negative narrative began with an electrical failure that cut short the opening ceremony in Newcastle but Dutton is determined it should not overshadow some exceptional sport, like Tonga's epic group win over Papua New Guinea watched by an impressive 10,000-plus crowd.
"The focus for us is to move forward now," said Dutton of the incident at St James' Park.
"Personally, I was absolutely devastated by what happened.
"My disappointment is that I don't want to take away from what is happening on the field of play.
"This has been many years in the making, and to stand in that stadium and watch that Tonga v PNG game on Tuesday was a personal high moment for me."
Dutton revealed the current tournament is operating a different financial model to previous iterations, where direct profits have been shared with the International Rugby League (IRL) in order to invest in the development of the global game.
This year, organisers have already paid a pre-agreed rights fee to the international federation, with recent financial developments making it harder to achieve their ambition to break even.
Australian Associated Press
