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Mumbai: The Central Organising Committee (COC) of the 2011 World Cup insisted on Tuesday they will not repeat the mistakes made during the last two 50-over events the International Cricket Council has organised, saying the average cricket fan will not be priced out of the stands.
Soaring ticket rates had seen many matches during the 2006 Champions Trophy in India and the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean played to empty galleries. Keeping that in mind, the COC has decided that gate money will not be seen as a source to generate revenue for the next edition, to be co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Speaking on the sidelines of the logo launch of the 2011 World Cup, tournament director Professor Ratnakar Shetty said watching the games will be easier on the pockets of the fans.
"Our main aim is to ensure that all the stadiums are packed for all games. While organising the Champions Trophy we realised that we needed to keep the prices of tickets down. Then, the prices of tickets were the same for every match in the tournament but there were very few takers (for games not involving the hosts)," Shetty said.
Another wrong that will be set right is the duration of the tournament, a fall-out of the never-ending World Cup in the West Indies. "We haven't yet finalised the scheduling but the next World Cup wouldn't be a 49-day event like the last edition. It will be anything between 40 to 45 days," ICC president Haroon Lorgat said. More than reducing the duration, what the ICC needs is to see India and Pakistan in the next round.
Shetty also said that work on the stadiums was well on schedule in the run-up to the mega event. "The Wankhede Stadium will be ready in time. The pitches at the venues where the World Cup will be played will be prepared well in advance and a few practice matches will also be played on them," he said.
Pak problem
At Tuesday's meeting, the COC also formally redistributed the games that were to be hosted by Pakistan, while also accommodating three Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) representatives in the committee even though they will not be hosting any matches. This comes as an additional perk to the PCB as the ICC has already decided to extend the $10.5 million hosting fees to Pakistan.
Despite these measures, though, things are unlikely to be smooth between the PCB and the ICC over the coming months. The PCB remains keen on hosting its share of World Cup games in the Emirates and have threatened to initiate legal action against the ICC.
Even on Tuesday, while the PCB did send a representative for the logo launch in the board's director of cricket operations Zakir Khan, he stayed away from the meeting. "I have been advised not to attend the meeting by the PCB," Zakir Khan said.
