Thousands of seats sat empty at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium on 10 August 2026 as the European Athletics Championships opened, prompting criticism from fans, commentators and athletics figures over ticket pricing. A crowd of 13,623 attended the evening session in a venue with an advertised capacity of 23,000, even as Britain's Amy Hunt claimed her first senior international title in the women's 100m final.
The event marks the first time Britain has hosted the European Athletics Championships in the competition's 92-year history. Hunt's victory followed her recent form, having won the British 100m title at the UK Championships in June and taken Commonwealth Games silver in Glasgow in July; more detail on her latest triumph is available in our earlier report on her European gold-medal run. Great Britain fielded 96 athletes across the seven-day championships, with Keely Hodgkinson, Dina Asher-Smith and Matthew Hudson-Smith among the home stars competing, as detailed in our preview of Britain's medal push.
Why were so many seats left unfilled?
Organisers' own figures show the stadium was 55% full on Monday morning, rising to 59% by the evening session before dipping to 56% on Tuesday morning. Broadcast commentator Steve Cram remarked on the sparse crowd during coverage of the women's 100m final:
Little disappointing in terms of spectators I have to say that, particularly down the back straight there.
There's not many people at all in those stands. I'm sure Birmingham is going to get to grips with these champs pretty quickly.
Jenny Meadows, coach to Keely Hodgkinson, echoed the disappointment on social media, while acknowledging some sessions had sold well:
Believe it's full for some final evenings but a shame we couldn't fill the stadium for the duration.
Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies also weighed in, arguing that future bids for major events need to prioritise affordability:
We must bid for more events but we must make it affordable, so we get to enjoy it first hand, fill stadiums, support our athletes, promote our country & inspire generations to come to love sport.
Davies additionally criticised concession prices inside the ground, pointing to pork rolls selling for £18.50 and hot dogs for £15.
What are fans saying about pricing and value?
Category A tickets for the home straight on Monday cost £150 with no junior concessions. For Tuesday's men's 100m final, comparable seats cost £110, again without concessions — notably higher than the 88 euros (roughly £75) charged for equivalent seats at the same event in Rome two years earlier.
Spectator Chris Brown, who attended Monday's session and photographed rows of empty seats, told reporters he believed pricing for weekday sessions had been miscalculated:
I think they have the pricing for the weekdays a little off. The cheapest tickets are £26, which is reasonable and most people have bought those and the back rows are full.
Maybe they should invite everyone down to the lower seats to at least make it look good on TV.
The view from the £40 to £26 tickets is pretty much the same, so that price category has become rather redundant. £110 for the best seats I think is reasonable for a weekend evening session, but not mid-week.
But also, the Commonwealth Games may have had an impact, as not many will attend both and both are in the UK within the same fortnight.
There are many fans in attendance in Birmingham who are international, which is great to see, but it's disappointing that many Brits haven't bothered.
Adam Hilton travelled from Manchester with his girlfriend, paying £120 for two tickets to Monday's evening session. He said he did not feel the outing represented value for money and would consider seeking a refund if one were offered:
Seeing the opening day felt very disappointing to see the empty seats, especially in the evening session. In summer, with the good weather, you'd like to see it full-ish.
It's a shame, as it seems to be a trend across most sports where fans are seemingly being priced out of events that should be way more accessible.
For the first European Championships in the UK ever, you'd except to get bums on seats - and a lot of kids who could then learn to love the sport and take it up going forward, especially when there's a major event outside of London.
Hilton also raised concerns about transport links around the venue, noting the nearest train station lies roughly a mile away, with shuttle buses used to move spectators from the city centre. Having driven to the stadium himself, he said he was only able to find parking around two miles (3km) away.
Other fans voiced similar frustrations online. One urged organisers to release cheap tickets on the day to fill the venue, while another said accounting for travel and accommodation made attending
