4th and last major of the season in the men’s category, The Open Championship is back this summer in the cradle of golf, in St Andrews. Participation is expected to break all records.
For the festivities of the 150th anniversary, The Open knows an unparalleled craze.
Indeed, the ticket office received more than 1.3 million requests for seats, and 290,000 fans managed to buy tickets for this historic edition of one of the oldest competitions, all sports combined.
This is the largest number of general admission tickets ever issued. The previous record, which dated back to 2000, was 239,000.
No wonder that to ensure the safety of such a large number of spectators, the Royal and Ancient has moved closer to the Scottish government.
Economic success
From a financial point of view, the operation promises to be “juicy,” with around £200 million in economic benefits for Scotland.
The heads of R&A, the Visit Scotland Tourist Board, and the Fife Council commissioned an independent body to carry out an economic impact assessment.
“The 150th Open in St Andrews will go down in history, and this excitement reflects the fans’ desire to be part of this historic moment,” said R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers.
The tournament alone is expected to generate £100 million, and the sale of the TV rights is expected to bring in a similar sum.
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Young people in large numbers
To facilitate and arouse growing youth interest, the R&A has planned to allocate 20% of its tickets to young fans, and, among them, 20,000 people under the age of 16 will be offered entry to the site.
Finally, 80,000 spectators are expected during the training days against 61,000 at Royal Portrush in 2019.
