Cricket-News.Org

A last-day rush for tickets – both online (www.cricketworldcup.com) and at ICC Cricket World Cup Official Ticket Centres in Host Venues – marked yesterday’s (July 31, 2006) end of Public Ticketing: Phase 1 – Application for next year’s tournament.

A notable surge during the last 24 hours of the three-month Application process saw 20 000 tickets being applied for as the first stage of Public Ticketing drew to a close. This figure represents half of the 40 000 tickets applied for in the final week of the Application phase as cricket fans worldwide sought to acquire tickets to some of the best matches at the signature event being held in the Caribbean next March and April.

While online traffic soared, as the hours ticked down to the 11.59 p.m. Eastern Caribbean time (ECT) end of Applications on July 31, staff at Official Ticket Centres across the nine Host Venues in the Caribbean – including Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago – reported a significant increase in the number of fans submitting Ticket Application Forms.

Trinidad & Tobago’s Official Ticket Centres were inundated with submissions. The massive response by fans there is borne out by the fact that the twin-island republic has jumped to third overall among countries from which the most applications have been received. The top ten are as follows: the UK, the USA, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Australia, Jamaica, India, Canada, Guyana and St. Kitts & Nevis, respectively. Fans from 124 countries have applied for match tickets.

Additionally, the attractive Follow A Path and Venue Combination packages – which were only available in the Application Phase – continued to be in heavy demand. More than 8 000 Venue Combinations – which allows a fan to watch all the matches at a particular stadium – have been applied for while more than 3 000 Follow A Path packages are being sought. The latter allows a fan to choose the path which his/her team would travel if that team advances to the Final.

The top five teams for which Follow A Path packages are in greatest demand are India, Australia, England, New Zealand and Pakistan, respectively. Additionally, Barbados, Grenada, Antigua & Barbuda, Guyana and Saint Lucia respectively are the Host Venues for which the most Venue Combinations have been requested.

ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 Inc. Commercial Manager, Stephen Price, hailed the success of the Application stage of Public Ticketing, noting that the rise in ticket applications was a firm indicator that cricket fans worldwide understood the process and had acted accordingly.

“Ever since we unveiled the Ticketing Programme last November we have stressed the fact that regardless of whenever one applied during the May 1st to July 31st Application phase, one would have the same chance of being allocated match tickets,” he stated.

“Public Ticketing has done incredibly well thus far. It’s an overwhelming vote of confidence in the Caribbean’s ability to host such an event and it’s certainly an indication that Cricket World Cup will be well attended.”

As expected, he noted that ticket allocations for some of the tournament’s “top matches”, including the Final and Semi-Finals, would have to be determined by an independent ballot.

“This is the norm in mega-sporting events. Obviously, the final of any tournament will be the most sought-after ticket, followed by the semi-finals and then matches which feature top teams against each other. Applications for Cricket World Cup tickets have followed this trend,” stated Price.

The ICC CWC 2007 Commercial Manager reminded that though Public Ticketing will be suspended for the month of August – as applications are processed and notification sent to all applicants – match tickets can still be acquired in Tour & Travel packages from ICC CWC 2007 Official Travels Agents (OTAs) and in Hospitality packages, which are being sold by ICC CWC 2007 Official Hospitality Agents (OHAs). Contact details for all OTAs and OHAs worldwide can be found on www.cricketworldcup.com.

Regarding how the rest of Public Ticketing will be rolled out, Price explained that Phase 2 will run 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 online and at 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” basis, subject to availability – with actual seats being sold online, at Official Ticket Centres and Venue Box Offices in the Host Venues.

More than 800 000 match tickets were made available for ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 with ticket prices ranging from US$10 for a Single Match ticket to Warm-up games to US$300 each for the best seats at the Final; a policy designed to give every fan an opportunity to enjoy cricket’s premier tournament.