What fits, with guide prices
£20–40 a head, guide price
Lower-league football
Tickets on the day more often than not, and a proper pie.
£45–120 a head, guide price
Top-flight football
Harder to get six seats together, so this one rewards planning ahead.
£25–60 a head, guide price
Club rugby
A friendly crowd, a decent bar and seats you can usually get as a group.
£60–150 a head, guide price
International rugby
The big day out. Tickets go early and the whole city joins in.
£20–45 a head, guide price
T20 cricket
Three hours on a summer evening, done by ten.
£30–80 a head, guide price
A day at the races
Dress up or don't. Group tickets are common and often cheaper.
£20–40 a head, guide price
Ice hockey
Loud, quick and easy to follow even if nobody knows the rules.
The hours are what Vennado looks for in a free window before it suggests the idea. A football match lasts ninety minutes and still asks for about four hours, because nobody is beamed into their seat.
How far ahead to book
Lower-league football is the one you can decide on a Thursday: tickets are available on the day more often than not. Club rugby is a similar story, with seats you can usually get as a group. Group tickets for the races are common and often cheaper, and Vennado suggests the races from four people up.
Top-flight football is different. Check who is allowed to buy: at some clubs tickets go to members first and only reach general sale if the match has not sold out. And treat the fixture list as provisional. The Premier League's explainer on why matches move says about five matches in each round are moved for television, with new dates announced around six weeks ahead before January and five weeks after. Lock the plan in once the date and kick-off are confirmed, and book trains after that.
International rugby tickets go early. If the group wants one, somebody has to buy long before most diaries are settled, and Vennado cannot change that.
Sitting together when there are six or more
One buyer and one purchase is the only reliable way to get a row. Two people buying three tickets each get two blocks, possibly in different stands. Sellers usually cap how many tickets one person can buy, so check the limit before you promise anyone a seat.
Clubs' group booking schemes are worth a look, but read the minimum. Manchester City's group bookings page, for one, asks for at least ten people at the same fixture, which would leave a group of six buying ordinary tickets.
If you cannot get six in a row, three and three a row apart is fine. You are watching the same match, and you will meet at half-time anyway.
Which kick-off suits the group
A 3pm kick-off needs the afternoon, roughly 1pm to 5pm, so it wants a Saturday with nothing that morning which might overrun. T20 cricket and ice hockey are evening ideas and fit after work on a weekday. If no fixture suits everyone, the guide to finding a date everyone is free is about exactly that search.
If someone in the group is on shifts
An afternoon kick-off is no use to someone whose long day finishes at 8:30pm, and it falls in the sleeping hours of anyone who worked the night before. Vennado keeps seven hours clear after a night shift unless that setting is switched off, so it will not offer them that match.
Evening fixtures suit Cat, a nurse finishing an early at 3pm, and are no use to Ffion, a chef who is in a kitchen until late. For a group with both, the answer is usually an afternoon match on a day they are both off.
Leave on call counted as busy for match days. A stadium is a hard place to leave in a hurry. The pages on emergency services rotas and planning around night shifts go further.
Splitting the cost
- Agree the seats before buying. The guide price for top-flight football runs from £45 to £120 a head, and where you sit decides where in that band you land.
- Collect first. One person has to buy for the seats to be together. A buyer who is owed for six tickets is running a small unsecured loan.
- Split what was paid, fees included. Child and concession tickets pay what their ticket cost, not an even share.
- Keep food and travel separate. Everyone buys their own pie. Fuel and parking are split between the people in that car.
Before you pay
- The date and kick-off time are confirmed.
- You are buying from the club, or from the seller the club's own site sends you to.
- The seats are in the section you think they are. Six home shirts in the away end is a long afternoon.
- How the tickets are delivered, and whether one can be passed on if someone drops out.
- What you get back if the match is postponed or moved.
Vennado does not list fixtures or sell tickets. It finds the window and suggests the kind of match that fits. The fixture list is on the club's or the league's own site.
Questions people ask
How far ahead do we need to book match tickets for a group?
It depends on the level. Lower-league football can often be bought on the day, and club rugby seats are usually available as a group. Top-flight football and international rugby need booking as soon as tickets are released, and for top-flight football the date itself can move for television, so wait for the confirmed kick-off before you book travel.
Can six of us sit together at a football match?
Usually, if one person buys all six in a single purchase and the seller's ticket limit allows it. Two people buying three each will get two separate blocks. Clubs' group booking schemes can help a bigger party, but some start at ten people, so read the minimum first.
What if the kick-off time moves after we have locked a plan in?
Vennado does not track fixtures, so it will not know. Open the plan again and see whether the new time still falls inside a window when the group is free. If it does not, look at the near misses, then check what the ticket seller offers when a match is moved before deciding who goes.
Which match days suit people who work shifts?
Evening fixtures, such as T20 cricket and ice hockey, suit people who finish in the afternoon. Afternoon kick-offs really need a day off, because they sit in the middle of a long day or a late, and in the sleeping hours of anyone who worked the night before. International rugby needs about seven clear hours.