Bad weather has marred the build-up in Dallas while ticketing issues threaten to cast an even longer shadow,
Well, at least the
officer at immigration knew the T20 World Cup 2024 was on.
The streets of
Dallas are not awash with cricket fans giddy at the arrival of the big show.
Uber drivers don't know it's happening, billboards are advertising FC Dallas vs
LA Galaxy rather than Nepal vs Netherlands, and the opening match between USA
and Canada is not a sellout. The stadium holds 7000 people.
As these things go, it walks straight into the zone of "what are we doing here?" Why is the premier cricket event of 2024 going to kick off in Dallas - in front of an as-yet-unknown number of people - rather than, well, somewhere else?
It's a good
question. And looking out at the soaking outfield at Grand Prairie Stadium as
yet another thunderstorm passes through, it doesn't immediately bring about a
good answer.
A concerning set of
circumstances is building ahead of launch day - that things outside of the
organisers' control are not going to land their way, and neither are the things
that were in their control. Flash-flood warnings and thunderstorms have been present
throughout the week. A few days ago, the big screen fell down because the winds
were so strong. Out the back where the media tents have been built, it's almost
entirely mud.
You can't control
that. If Saturday arrives and so does a thunderstorm, that's sad. But that's
life.
The ticketing,
however, has been a mess. As of two months ago, the opening fixture between USA
and Canada did not have any public tickets available. One would assume that
meant it had been sold out. Wrong.
Hopes of sellouts have given way to announcements that availability is "limited", before the reality was revealed in a USA Cricket press statement on Wednesday. In what was billed as an "exclusive ticketing offer", members of USA Cricket could now purchase up to six tickets to the
must-see event of
the year at a 25% discount. Get your hot cakes here. They'll give you 20 for
free if you agree to go to USA vs Canada.
"Cricket
cannot bemoan the concentration of finances within the 'Big Three' and worry
about the health of the sport outside those countries while giggling at the
notion of the USA giving the sport a go"
The ICC does not
publish a running tally of tickets sold, but did say on Saturday it has
"seen strong sales and expect a good crowd". Officials also said that
it had always been the plan to hold back tickets until four days out for US
cricket members to purchase at a discount.
There is reason to doubt this. The ODI World Cup in India last year ago faced similar problems of sparsely populated "sold out" stadiums early in the tournament. This is not new and how these events are marketed and tickets sold deserves scrutiny.
0 comments:
Post a Comment