Lack of Crowds?

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

Martin Johnson has a piece in the Telgraph on the crowds, or lack thereof. Among the reasons cited are ticket prices, lodging, food and drink. It seems to touch upon the fact that the games were spread out amongst the island nations. The length of the tournament is mentioned as well. But the article goes nowhere really fast, does not offer solutions, just complaints. One only need to look at the FIFA World Cup. As ridiculous as FIFA is most of the time, they know how to put on the show. ICC should have taken a good long look at how they put on the World Cup and borrowed a page or two, even three.

In addition to the high prices, there were lots of restrictions for spectators entering the grounds, e.g they were not allowed to take coolers or their own drinks and food, which they were accustomed to when attending test matches and other matches. They had to purchase their drinks and food from the vendors that were set up at the grounds. The prices were outrageous, like a bottle of water costing US$8.00.

Because of the high prices, vendors, particularly those that sold souvenirs etc, complained of lack of business. I know in trinidad where the Bermuda games were played, some of the vendors welcomed the Bermuda fans, because they were the ones that were patronising them the most.

Bermudians love to spend anyway no matter what the cost. We are used to paying high prices.

I suspect that the biggest problem is that they priced the locals right out of the equation. I think most Trinidadians would be happy to watch a World Cup match between two countries from the other side of the world, but no way in heck would they pay $75 to do it.

Originally Posted by cleazer

I suspect that the biggest problem is that they priced the locals right out of the equation. I think most Trinidadians would be happy to watch a World Cup match between two countries from the other side of the world, but no way in heck would they pay $75 to do it.

You are absolutely right, because $75.00 is a whole lot of money for them, when you consider the currency exchange rates.Eg. $75 US is $474 trinidad dollars, a whole lot for them to pay.

They just talked a little about the ticket prices while killing time on the Australia/Bangladesh broadcast. The cheap $25 tickets are only good for admission to the ground. You have to sit in one of the GA areas (like the swimming pool they get such a kick out of showing) after that. Any of the actual seats has a minimum price of $75! That's just not going to work on an island like Antigua. No way can that small population support 15,000 seats at $75 each for 6 straight matches.

[Sunstroke]

cleazer and marly

Actually Trinidadians can afford such prices. The purchasing power among trinis is strong. Trinidadians however, will not go to a match between teams they aren't too interested in ( unless there is an added incentive to). The India -Sri Lanka match had many spectators, but the main reason why you aren't seeing folks in the stands are the stupid restrictions. Trinis like to go to cricket with their drinks, their food, their music to create atmosphere. Deny Trinis , and by extension West Indians, that bit of fun and you will not get their support. It's a slap to their face really.

Mark Nicholas touched on another good point in his broadcast during the NZ vs WI match. Imagine paying for a ticket and you can't leave the stadium as you like. This means that even if you want to take in cricket on a work day you can't. What usually happens is people take their lunch break to watch cricket..go back to work....then go back to cricket after work. They've denied us that too. I can't blame the vendors too much since they have to make back their money somehow as there is a license fee to sell foodstuff in the stadia.

The LOCS forgot the kind of fans they're dealing with, evidenced by the lack of support in the stands. It doesn't help too when they lie and claim that tickets are sold out

Thanks for your insight Sunstroke, Being a West Indian yourself you better than anyone would know. The part about not leaving the stadium once the tickets are purchased must have been a hard pill to swallow for the spectators.

Originally Posted by marlyminks

Thanks for your insight Sunstroke, Being a West Indian yourself you better than anyone would know. The part about not leaving the stadium once the tickets are purchased must have been a hard pill to swallow for the spectators.

They were talking about that today during the Australia/Bangladesh delay. They said that the people that got there on time around 9:30 were forced to just sit around and wait all day until the match started, while under other circumstances, many of them would have gone back to the hotel to take a nap, gone to the beach, or go wherever, and then returned when the cricket was finally going to start. But this way they were all trapped.

[Lyall]

From what they were saying on the radio a while back was that it would take a weeks pay for a local family to go to the cricket, which is ridiculous

Originally Posted by Lyall

From what they were saying on the radio a while back was that it would take a weeks pay for a local family to go to the cricket, which is ridiculous

The entire world cup has been a financial farce. Expecting families to spend what would be two weeks income on a ticket to a cricket match is stupid enough in itself. This is all about ICC greed, and nothing else.