Bumper attendances at Grace Road

Leicestershire County Cricket Club is delighted to announce a 48% increase in average NatWest T20 Blast attendances for the 2015 season.

Figures released by the ECB this morning show that it was a record-breaking year for international and domestic attendances and Leicestershire had growth both in the NatWest T20 Blast and County Championship.

Leicestershire worked hard to attract and retain new NatWest T20 Blast supporters to Grace Road by activating several initiatives.

Those included hosting the Varsity match between Official Club Partner De Montfort University and the University of Leicester before the opening game against Derbyshire, matchday offers for local residents, clubs and schools, pre-match coaching clinics, the Foxes Blast interval challenge and a post-match FanZone where young supporters could get autographs and selfies with their favourite players.

The Foxes’ NatWest T20 Blast aggregate attendance was 18,521 in 2015 compared to 14,637 in 2014 but one of our seven matchdays was a washout, so the average attendance increased to 3,087 from 2,091. That meant the club had the second largest increase of the 18 counties, with Yorkshire the only county to register an average percentage above 50%.

Leicestershire CCC Membership and Ticket Sales Manager Jack Bradley said: “It was great to be working in such a busy ticket office on matchdays and the Birmingham Bears televised game was a particularly good day, with our best pre-sale, glorious weather and a good match.

“We also launched our 2016 Membership packages before the end of the season to allow people to renew at 2015 prices as part of the Early Bird scheme. We have been extremely encouraged by the number of people who have already renewed or signed up, and there is still a week left to secure our best prices.”

In the County Championship, Leicestershire got off to a great start given the club’s Open Day attracted a four-figure crowd - the largest recorded on the opening day of the season for many years. A large number of families came to Grace Road to enjoy the cricket and many other activities for our younger fans, including the Red Monkey play area, arts & crafts and a Foxes treasure hunt.

There was an increased overall attendance of 37% in the competition as 3,374 more people came through the gate, figures rising to 12,517 in 2015 from 9,143 in 2014.

Leicestershire and Rutland Cricket Chief Executive Wasim Khan MBE said: “We would like to take this opportunity to thank Members and supporters for their continued backing of the club. It was my first season as Chief Executive and it was great to have so much support of our new era.

“Everybody at the club has worked hard to give a fantastic matchday experience and we have been looking at further ways to improve facilities both for our Members and supporters.

“It was also a key aim to attract new audiences to Grace Road. We opened our doors for the first day of the season against Glamorgan and also planned a Community Day for the Royal London One Day Cup match against Surrey but sadly that was affected by torrential rain.

“Overall, it was brilliant to see so many people at the ground over the course of the season and there was a family atmosphere at our matches. It was encouraging to see so many young supporters enjoying the cricket and activities at our home games and our Charlie Fox Club Membership for under 16s is fantastic value as it is still just £10 for a whole season.

“It has been a busy time putting plans in place to ensure that we progress both on and off the field. The club unveiled a five year Business Plan over the summer and recently made the signings of experienced batsmen Neil Dexter, Paul Horton and Mark Pettini, so we are really looking forward to the future.”