Crowds

[Arrow]

You'd prefer that they build massive stadiums to accommodate a non-existent crowd?

The stadiums are state of the art.

Id prefer massive stadiums with massive crowds. The Wi cant provide either which is why they should not have hosted the WC.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Id prefer massive stadiums with massive crowds. The Wi cant provide either which is why they should not have hosted the WC.

The West Indies was not ready to host the World Cup. That much is certain.

But to say that the Caribbean cannot attract huge crowds is ridiculous. The main reason for the sparse crowds has been Visa problems, but does not reflect an inability of the part of the West Indies, but ineffective planning. At the time that the West Indies were granted the World Cup, Visas were not a problem. As I said before, the West Indies should not have received the World Cup as early as 2007, but it was nothing to do with the crowds.

Massive stadiums are impractical for the Caribbean. You do realize that the stadiums will not be packed into a box after the World Cup? No, they will remain there and need to be utilized. Large stadiums will not be utilized in the West Indies.

 

[Goughy]

The West Indies was not ready to host the World Cup. That much is certain.

But to say that the Caribbean cannot attract huge crowds is ridiculous. The main reason for the sparse crowds has been Visa problems.

No the main reason is that the WI does not have the population to support an event this size.

The secondary issue is Visas as the fans have to be imported in the form of cricket tourists.

If the 1st problem was not an issue then the problem you mentioned would not be a concern.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

No the main reason is that the WI does not have the population to support an event this size.

The secondary issue is Visas as the fans have to be imported in the form of cricket tourists.

If the 1st problem was not an issue then the problem you mentioned would not be a concern.

Had the Visas been sorted, many of these stadiums would have been filled. The key point here is that they're not very big stadiums at all. They were built firmly with consideration for the population density of the Caribbean. In the heyday of West Indies cricket the cricket-watching population could fill a stadium. The population has only grown since then. The cricket-watching population at this World Cup has been stifled by high gate prices, which one would expect is a means of compensation.

This is not a World Cup inasmuch as the the support is not there. Run properly, a World Cup does not pose stadiums full of the host nation supporters. I still maintain that main reason is the Visa issue.

 

[LA ICE-E]

i agree...just watch for the england vs wi that game is going to be packed because england visitors didn't have the visa problem australia and the other countries had....india didn't even have much fans here because of the visa....last time there were a lot of them in sa....

couldn't it be that todays match wasn't that full because of the weather? because the other WI games seemed to have more crowds than this...

 

[roseboy64]

The other games were staged in Jamaica which has a larger population than Antigua.

 

[pup11]

Basically no matter what i am really disappointed to see half-empty stadiums through the WC so far, its the biggest tournament in the game of cricket and lack of interest in the WC matches is very shocking.


Anyways lets hope the crowd turnout improves through the Super 8's.


P.S: Still to see a full-house during any game of the WC 07 which is a shame.

 

[roseboy64]

No lack of interest IMO just people have to put their families before cricket.

 

[roseboy64]

Basically no matter what i am really disappointed to see half-empty stadiums through the WC so far, its the biggest tournament in the game of cricket and lack of interest in the WC matches is very shocking.


Anyways lets hope the crowd turnout improves through the Super 8's.


P.S: Still to see a full-house during any game of the WC 07 which is a shame.

There were full houses for the WI games.

 

[LA ICE-E]

i still say, people just realize this- the only thing the WI organizers messed up was the visa, which they did it with a good intention in there mind- to make it easier for the travelers, which back fired but in all they did a ok job. just try to remember the opening ceremony, was the best so far

 

[meatspx]

Fans all around the world were complaining about the visa issue months in advance!

A professional host like Australia (even with the ICC badgering them with their idiotic ways) would have never let this happen. They would have faced the problem without being bullish about it - trying to persuade everyone that there wasn't a problem to save their pride!

It's dissapointing to see a lack of atmosphere at the grounds, hopefully it will pick up. Unfortunately it seems that the high ticket prices to remain too expensive for the locals (and understandably so). $90 to see Holland play Scotland? Hahhahaha. Sometimes you have to wonder who is running the ICC at the moment, a bunch of monkeys in a room with typewriters?

 

[LA ICE-E]

correction its 50 dollars for those games plus icc didn't organize it...the visa problem came up like a month...while it took about a year to make the special visa because of the countries taking time to sign to it...so it was too late to do anything...

 

[meatspx]

correction its 50 dollars for those games plus icc didn't organize it...the visa problem came up like a month...while it took about a year to make the special visa because of the countries taking time to sign to it...so it was too late to do anything...

Fair enough, though I'm a bit confused about the visa issue. Cricinfo were reporting on the shambles as early as 19 December 2006. Leaving the organisation of it so late was definately a problem, I know of one Australian relative and his friend who didn't travel there because of the uncertainty over it......"if one aspect of the organisation can be that bad, then what are the odds of more problems etc" were some of his thoughts.

 

[pup11]

I think the ticket prices which are on the higher side in this WC (like in most of the ICC tournaments) hasn't really helped matters at all.

So something needs to be done in that area too.

 

[LA ICE-E]

yeah just a need marketing director...but it looked as if the sa vs sri lanka game had more crowd than the wi vs aus...

 

[LA ICE-E]

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/wc2007/content/current/story/287680.html
definetly they need to do something about it now...

 

[Goughy]

yeah just a need marketing director...but it looked as if the sa vs sri lanka game had more crowd than the wi vs aus...

Really? SA vs Sri looked to be played in a near empty stadium. No more than 1/3 full and probably far less.

 

[vic_orthdox]

When there are so many games on, it means that each match has to compete for the same audience. Making tickets so expensive prices out a number of people from the WI whom would go to more multiple matches if they could. So they'll pick and choose the games they want to go to, rather than just attending because they can.

 

[marc71178]

Was interesting listening to TMS yesterday.

A lady wrote in to say she'd got tickets for her, her fiance and her Dad for some of the games (including the finals), but her Dad couldn't make it out there. She'd tried selling them on ebay, but nobody was paying what they were worth, so after hearing about the prices in the West Indies, she was going to bring them with her and give them to any locals in exchange for a home meal while they were there.

The strange thing is, I think it was 4 games plus the final and the total cost to her was $150.

 

[Matt79]

Today we have the first super 8 game, with the biggest possible teams, and the ground is half full, its really pathetic and unbeleivable. The game has a cheap feel to it, not like a world cup match. Looks like it was a bad mistake for WI to host. Crap stadiums and crappy crowds, if this was in australia or england every match would almost be a sell out of 30,000.

Puts a downer on the WC if you ask me.

Crap stadiums? Most of the stadiums are in superb conditions. What are you on about?

They are all small.

Arrow - you do realise that while Viv Richards Stadium holds "only" 20,000 people, the entire country of Antigua only has a population of 70,000. If anything, I'd say that the stadium design is either incredibly forward looking, or a massive over-investment - unless tickets to future events there are free or virtually free they'll never fill it after this WC.

For me, its a combination of the visa problems (which is not appropriate to solve by simply waiving the requirement for visas), a price point for tickets which effectively priced out most of the locals, and most significantly - the tournament is just too long and drawn out. Even for people who can get a visa and afford the airfares, they probably can't take 7 weeks off for the holiday, so they'll have to pick and choose. And I'd pick to come near the end of the tournament and see the semi finals and if possible the final, rather than the start of the Super 8 round, and certainly not the group stage.

The other thing I've heard, that I'm surprised hasn't been raised, is that apparently the officials at the ground have been incredibly tight in terms of acting as fun-police and banning any of the things that people normally like to do at the cricket - much of which has historically been central to the fun vibe of Caribbean cricket crowds. I understand food, drink, alcohol, musical instruments, flags and banners have all been banned from entry into the ground. Apparently the food and (strictly non-alcoholic) drinks available in the ground have the usual obscene mark ups for "official food providers" that are common at these events. Its one thing for Cricket Australia to act like idiots and pull this stuff ahead of the most eagerly anticipated Ashes series in a country where you'll fill the MCG to see a tiddly-winks contest. It's another thing when the price of tickets for a family already represents a sizeable chunk of your yearly salary to be asked to blow a weeks wages on some bad fast food and watered down Pepsi - which will be consumed in rapt silence, thank you, no trumpets, drums or flag-waving!!