After the awe and excitement of Germany, the spotlight shifts south to the Caribbean for the next major sporting spectacle – the ICC Cricket World Cup.
This world-games showpiece is less than eight months away and, with the Application Phase of Public Ticketing fast closing on July 31, 2006, there’s no better time than now for fans worldwide to ensure they have a chance to secure match tickets to this Event.
The public has 20 more days to apply online (www.cricketworldcup.com) for match tickets or, for those persons in the Host Venues, there’s the option of completing Ticket Application Forms and submitting them – with the requisite payment – to the ICC CWC 2007 Official Ticket Centres in their respective country. Official Ticket Centres will accept cash, credit card or debit card. Online applications must be paid for by credit card (see website for details).
More than 800,000 tickets are available for purchase in the largest edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup to date, with a significant percentage of these expected to be sold via Public Ticketing which caters to persons seeking “tickets only”.
All persons who apply for tickets during the May 1 to July 31, 2006, Application Phase will have a fair and equal opportunity to be allocated tickets and, notes ICC CWC 2007 Commercial Manager Stephen Price, “it is clear thousands of Caribbean nationals will be among those seeking tickets”.
At end of June, following two months of Public Ticketing, applications had been received from 114 countries with the most applications coming from (top ten): the UK, USA, Barbados, Australia, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, India, Canada, South Africa and Guyana respectively.
“There are four Host Venue countries in that top ten which is a very good indication of the strong interest the tournament is generating in the countries in which it will be held. It is also a sign that Caribbean people are heeding what we at CWC 2007 have been saying – if you don’t apply for tickets now you risk not seeing your preferred matches or possibly not seeing any matches at all,” stated Price.
“There is a huge demand for Cricket World Cup tickets. Remember we have 16 teams competing in this tournament – some of them with massive fan bases – and we also have to accommodate persons from other countries in the ICC (International Cricket Council) family. However, we want to ensure that Caribbean people – who have long supported cricket – have ample opportunity to enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime experience on their home soil so we are urging them to make sure they apply by July 31st.”
Price also reminded that persons wanting to see all of their particular team’s matches or all of the matches at a particular stadium needed to apply for Follow A Path and Venue Combination packages in the Application Phase.
“These special packages are proving very popular but they will not be available after this phase. This is the only stage at which they can be sought,” he reiterated.
The Commercial Manager reasoned that the pricing structure would allow every fan the opportunity to experience the ultimate in international cricket in the picturesque Caribbean, with match tickets ranging from US$10 for a Single Match ticket at warm-up games to US$300 for the best seats at the Final. There is a limit of two applications per household and each applicant can apply for a maximum of four tickets per match.
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NOTE: Ticket Allocations will take place in August. For an undersubscribed match, all applicants requesting tickets for that match will receive tickets. For an oversubscribed match, a ballot will be held (among all applicants requesting tickets for that match) to randomly allocate tickets.
Phase 2 of Public Ticketing runs from Friday September 1, 2006, to Thursday November 30, 2006. This stage will be conducted on a “first come, first served” basis with remaining tickets available via the Official Ticketing website and Official Ticket Centres in the nine Host Venues.
The third and final phase of Public Ticketing begins on Monday January 9, 2007, and will end on the morning of the Final on Saturday April 28, 2007 – again on a “first come, first served” principle – with actual seats being sold from the Official Ticketing website, Official Ticket Centres and Venue Box Offices in the Host Venues.