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Crowds

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Leaving aside debates over the quality of the cricket, there is no doubt the crowds have been terrible.

Even for the supposedly bigger games they have been wanting. No doubt they will pick up in the Super-8's but thats little excuse and there is no guarantee that sell outs will occur.

Circumstances such as high ticket prices and mid week games have been suggested but I would say that it was obvious crowds would be poor before the tournament was close to bginnning.

The Reasons

a) I would guestimate the cricket playing Carribean has a total population of less then 6 million people. Far too few to adequately support an event of this size.

b) The fact that the games are being played on seperate small islands across a massive area means that it is very difficult for local fans to travel to different games. For example where I lived in the UK within a couple of hours drive there was Headingley, Trent Bridge, Old Trafford, Durham etc. Obviously other countries are far more spread out but it is still easier to travel to different grounds than in the WI.

c) Islands with tiny populations are asked to pack grounds. It just never was going to happen.

d) The reliance on tourists was a business gamble. For a tournament to be successful it must have local foundations with tourists as a bonus. Also the geographic location of the WI and the tournaments timing is poor. Apart from the UK and mainland North America, pretty much everone else has at least 2 flights and massive travel effort to get there. Its off putting. Also add into the fact that it is after the Ashes series and you suddenly have less of the biggest cricketing tourists (England) traveling.

Quite clearly, the tiny crowds should have been expected. In fact there was never any other possibility and the tournament planners and the ICC should have recognised this early.
 

Swervy

International Captain
Leaving aside debates over the quality of the cricket, there is no doubt the crowds have been terrible.

Even for the supposedly bigger games they have been wanting. No doubt they will pick up in the Super-8's but thats little excuse and there is no guarantee that sell outs will occur.

Circumstances such as high ticket prices and mid week games have been suggested but I would say that it was obvious crowds would be poor before the tournament was close to bginnning.

The Reasons

a) I would guestimate the cricket playing Carribean has a total population of less then 6 million people. Far too few to adequately support an event of this size.

b) The fact that the games are being played on seperate small islands across a massive area means that it is very difficult for local fans to travel to different games. For example where I lived in the UK within a couple of hours drive there was Headingley, Trent Bridge, Old Trafford, Durham etc. Obviously other countries are far more spread out but it is still easier to travel to different grounds than in the WI.

c) Islands with tiny populations are asked to pack grounds. It just never was going to happen.

d) The reliance on tourists was a business gamble. For a tournament to be successful it must have local foundations with tourists as a bonus. Also the geographic location of the WI and the tournaments timing is poor. Apart from the UK and mainland North America, pretty much everone else has at least 2 flights and massive travel effort to get there. Its off putting. Also add into the fact that it is after the Ashes series and you suddenly have less of the biggest cricketing tourists (England) traveling.

Quite clearly, the tiny crowds should have been expected. In fact there was never any other possibility and the tournament planners and the ICC should have recognised this early.
It has been a shame, but I would say a lot of people will have planned going to the Super 8s. I know someone who has gone over there already (but to Guyana), not going to any of these early games, but is going to half the Super 8s.

Star fans so far though, the Irish!!!!
 

Dead Badger

State 12th Man
Agree with all of that, but there's one major factor you missed: price. Due to all the reasons you mention (and as you rightly point out), it should really have been obvious from a very early stage that many of the group matches were likely to be almost unattended. If the ICC really sought to mitigate the criticism of their format, they should have at the very least provided massive discounts for locals; given free tickets to local schools, etc. and so forth. They could've given themselves a massive grass-roots boost in this manner, but instead you've had the unedifying spectacle of some guy in a mascot suit wearing an ICC badge walking round near-empty stadiums practically begging the few kids present to pretend to be amused by it.

As you say, the arguments about the length and quality of the group stages can roll on all day, but to my mind it's undeniable that the ICC have missed a trick to make the sport properly accessible to all, and in a group of nations where a boost to local perceptions is looking really quite necessary, that's pretty criminal.

Edit: I'm an idiot. You didn't miss the price factor at all. I blame Mr. Bordeaux.
 

LA ICE-E

State Captain
i thought the biggest was problem that the visa...look at the irsh fans and canada fans they are coming in fairly ok considering they are minnows....but big teams like india and pakistan and bangladesh(in terms of support) are not coming in becaus eof the visa problem...it was said in cricinfo that the india and bagladesh game was a sell out but it looked pretty empty to me this may been the cause of the visa-fans probably bought the tickets but couldn't come to the tournament because of it or at least not on time. (it takes like 3 months or something to get your passport back after appling for it). The smart thing would be to give free visa to every participating country since they were hopeing to make money of the expected tourist for the tournament...they put lot of money into it so they should have done that too but i think the WI will be more in debt which they hope would be the opposite after the world cup
 

pasag

RTDAS
This was widely predicted a while back, similar to what LA ICE-E said, people weren't happy with the visa system and alot of people just said "cbf" because of it.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
This was widely predicted a while back, similar to what LA ICE-E said, people weren't happy with the visa system and alot of people just said "cbf" because of it.
Doesnt explain the lack of local support though. It also kind of makes the merits of a tournament being held in a region completely reliant on people from other countries attending from look dubious.

Terrible business plan and rather than expect others to travel thousands of miles it would make infinately more sense basing the WC where the people already are.
 
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LA ICE-E

State Captain
they are there when WI is playing but not for the other games...they expected like 100 thousand vistors but i guess more than half didn't come because of visa...if they could have done the visa right, it would have been at least half packed every game look at the irish(not even a big sport) but they dind't have a problem with the visa other countries had to send their passports to like india or australia or whatever etc and it took like 3 months and ****...i expect atleast half packed crowds at every game the next world cup....this is probably going to be the worst attendance the world cup have had...but take nothing away from the tournament, because that is one of the best world cups in terms of excitement but just screwed up on tehe visa/vistor money which they were banking on and really needed. WI will be in more debt and this is the time that if they are the ICC needs to bail them out...
 

pasag

RTDAS
Doesnt explaun the lack of loacl support though. It also kind of makes the merits of a tournament being held in a region completely reliant on people from other countries attending from look dubious.

Terrible business plan and rather than expect others to travel thousands of miles it would make infinately more sense basing the WC where the people already are.


Not sure how many were offered to locals, I suppose not very many from memories of the Commonwealth Games and Olympics in Australia. Even so, not sure you can expect them to attend games that don't include their country and minnows especially for the cost. But I agree with you and with the massive costs and investment the countries in the Caribbean have poured into the WC, this may end up as an economic disaster for the area. Time will tell for that one.

On the visa thing, here's a cricinfo article for January:

Slow sales for World Cup tickets
January 21, 2007

With just 50 days to go until the World Cup starts in the Caribbean there is concern over dwindling ticket sales. The problems with some nationalities needing to obtain visas is believed to be playing a major part.

Applicants who require visas must either reach their nearest office or mail their passports along with $100 and join a long waiting list.

"This is the worst public-relations nightmare that the Caribbean has ever created for itself," said Josef Forstmayr, managing director of Round Hill Hotel and Villas in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

.......
 

Mr Mxyzptlk

Request Your Custom Title Now!
The crowds have obviously been pretty big for the West Indies games, and the South Africa-Australia and India-Sri Lanka games were sold out before the tournament began. I think when the proper teams start playing each other, the crowds will improve. England-New Zealand is not really a heavyweight battle that you'd expect to draw in neutral supporters. Games involving teams like SA, India, SL and Australia are far better sells.
 

LA ICE-E

State Captain
what do you think will happen if india's out in the 1st round(which im hopeing now that bangladesh and india cant go together)
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Tickets have already been sold haven't they?

IIRC weren't there problems with visas for a lot of people looking to come over from India?
 

Mr Mxyzptlk

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Tickets have already been sold haven't they?

IIRC weren't there problems with visas for a lot of people looking to come over from India?
You're aware of the reasoning behind hosting India in Trinidad, right? Take a look at the history of the country. Utterly needless to say, there's a fair bit of support for India in Trinidad.

Whether or not the stadium is packed on the day, there have been reports of the game being sold out for a while now. I have friends who couldn't get tickets.
 

Craig

World Traveller
Charging US$50 for New Zealand and Canada?

WTF? No wonder there were some poor crowds, drop the price to around US$15-20 at least and you will get bigger crowds. Unless you are a massive cricket watcher who would watch anything and unless you are from one of the two countries, people just won't bother.
 

roseboy64

Cricket Web Content Updater
From a local point of view the price does have an effect. The Caribbean isn't exactly wealthy therefore quite a lot of people can't afford to spend thier hard earned money to watch a cricket game when they have families to support. Also, with games being mid-week, lost of people can't get off work for fear of losing thier job and otherwise. Having the largest West Indian population it was good that Jamaica hosted the WI considering the ticket prices. Jamaicans are willing to miss a day of work and with so many business people, it's expected that despite being a relatively poor country, folks would afford to go to matches. This country is only third world in terms of governance. Put in a first world government and the ICC could probably charge double.
 

LA ICE-E

State Captain
hey its a world cup...you cant have a world cup ticket for 10 dollars...come on....i thought they are pretty cheap comparing to the tickets selling for 400 dollars for a exhibition game- nba all star. but they should have made it easier for visitors again- fixed the visa problem. face it locals are going to go watch other teams...unless he/she just loves cricket... so you need the visitors to come
 

Craig

World Traveller
hey its a world cup...you cant have a world cup ticket for 10 dollars...come on....i thought they are pretty cheap comparing to the tickets selling for 400 dollars for a exhibition game- nba all star. but they should have made it easier for visitors again- fixed the visa problem. face it locals are going to go watch other teams...unless he/she just loves cricket... so you need the visitors to come
I was suggesting that for the games v the minnows. Have ticket prices to be relevant with the games being played IMO (ie New Zealand v Canada or Netherlands v Scotland etc. charge lower prices to get people to come, but for the bigger games you can get away with higher prices).

Let's be honest here, Kiwi or Canadian cricket fans aside, who is really going to play US$50 to watch New Zealand v Canada?
 

LA ICE-E

State Captain
yeah but you'd figure that if a minnow fan is going to come all the way to the WI they can afford to pay 50 dollars...plus its like 40 less than when the bigger nations are playing...those are like 90 dollars...so for those game one thing that could have been done though was give like discounts to the residents of WI
 

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