Greed Spoiling The Spectacle

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Empty seats as the hosts face New Zealand.

By Tristan Holme

The ICC tried to be greedy in their pricing of tickets for the World Cup, but it's caught up with them and personally I hope they feel like fools.

I have yet to witness a stadium packed to capacity thus far and even Tuesday's clash between the hosts and the champions was around half full. Now I find myself watching the West Indies against New Zealand, and I would say that at least three quarters of the ground is empty. It's so pitiful that even Brian Lara expressed concern at the size of the crowds, and it does seem to be having a negative effect on his side.

For those living in the first world, 50 to 100 US dollars is affordable if you really enjoy your cricket. But take into account the thousands of dollars required for food, travel and accommodation in one of the more expensive holiday destinations in the world, plus the loss of income while you're out here and suddenly your average man can no longer afford to follow his team.

I've been surrounded by Aussies in Antigua, while there seem to have been a fair contingent of English and Irish fans in the group stages. However with only a spattering of support for most of the other sides a massive void has been left for all to see.

Of course the ICC should expect this and look to fill those seats with locals, but having been shafted by the governing body it's no wonder that most of them are staying away.

I went to the ticket office this morning to see how much the cheapest ticket would be and found that there were two options - sitting in the party stand for US$90, or in the stands for US$100.

So I asked a local what he would usually pay to see a Test match or one-day international outside of the World Cup. "No more than US$20," the Barbudan said. "Most people here can't afford these (World Cup) prices."

The average income in Antigua and Barbuda is well under US$1000 a month, so paying US$100 to go and watch a one-day match is pretty much impossible. The ICC should know this and get their figures straight.

Instead of hiking prices up on match day when they know the ground won't be full, they should drop them to try and attract the local fans (and I can assure you there are plenty of cricket fans in Antigua).

Had they been less greedy from the start and even charged as little as US$25 for a ticket, then by my rough-but-educated calculations they would still bring in more money from ticket sales than they have, plus there would be much more revenue from food, drink and merchandise sales and most importantly, the stadium would be full.

If they really want to make cricket a world game then they have to make it the people's game, and that means making it accessible to as many people as possible rather than to a small elite. Also, it's not the best advertisement for the game when viewers switch on and see empty seats and no atmosphere at what is meant to be the game's showpiece event.

I sincerely hope they realise their mistake and reform their ways for the remaining Super Eight games, but unfortunately that's highly unlikely.

Shame on you, ICC.