Football trumps Cricket

Mon, Jun 28, '10

 

Journal entry by Michelle McDonald at Kensington Oval, Barbados
 
Sunday 27 June 2010, 1:03pm, Media Centre: Just arrived here. Place dead.  Usual media suspects though.  Wonder how many of them wished they could be home watching Formula 1, then football later? Probably won’t get any player to interview, so will probably do an article about what, if anything, the BCA could have done to attract more spectators into the ground.
 
Most cricket lovers are generally sports enthusiasts.  That must have been a factor in their decision to stay away from Kensington Oval for the third and final Test match between the West Indies and South Africa. Spoiled for choice with the exciting Football World Cup, Wimbledon and the less popular European Grand Prix taking place, we counted less than 200 persons in the stands during the post-lunch session on Sunday – Day 2. It was even worse on Day 3.
 
Could the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) have implemented any initiatives which may have encouraged more spectators to leave their houses?  What action did they take when they realized what other sporting activities they were up against?  CaribbeanCricket.com went in search of answers.
 
Conde Riley, the BCA’s first Vice President, and a Director of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) confirmed that from early on, they were aware of the clash with the other sporting events.  But with about 1,680 paid up members, the BCA thought they would always come and support cricket at Kensington Oval.  “There is a rich cricket culture in Barbados.  We are in the middle of our local cricket season.  There is no match this weekend,” Riley explained.
 
However, one factor which impacted attendance was the price of the tickets, especially when compared with those for the recent successful staging of the ICC World Twenty20.  For that tournament, spectators gobbled up tickets priced at US$15 for a double-header at Kensington Oval.  For a Test match, they were asked to fork out an average of US$35 per day, for the first three days.
 
Riley accepted that they erred in this strategy.  “We should have been a bit more creative.  To move from US$15 to US$35 per day, it would always have been a challenge to change the mindset,” he said.  He further stated that although ticket prices had been discussed at a Board meeting, “we were naive.  We hoped that patrons would have said ‘it’s a Test Match’, but in hindsight, it [price difference] was too stark.”
 
Although the BCA 1st Vice President did not have exact numbers, he said that less than 2,000 tickets had been sold for the entire Test match.  Kensington Oval has a capacity of 14,000 which includes the Party Stand.  There was no life in what is usually a den of merry-making.
 
Only two stands were opened – the 3 W’s and the Greenidge and Haynes stands.  “If you open all stands, you have to clean them,” said Riley, in explaining the reason for it.  “When we realized the number of tickets sold, we realized it made no sense,” he further said.
 
On Sunday, two big matches were being played in the FIFA World Cup – England vs arch rivals Germany, and the mighty Argentina vs Mexico.  On Monday, it was favourites Brazil in action.  Could the BCA have ensured that if spectators came to watch the less exciting Test match, they would also be able to see the football games?
 
To our surprise, Riley said the football feeds were in fact available throughout the stands.  “Once we could get the feed, consideration had to be made of the [Digicel] Sponsorship,” Riley said.  This was cleared and CaribbeanCricket.com spent a few minutes taking in Argentina running rings around Mexico in the Greenidge & Haynes stand on Sunday. Ideally, Riley said, the BCA had wanted to show the game on the big screen which also features the scorecard, but knowing this would not have met with Digicel’s approval, it was never requested.   
 
Riley does not believe that publicizing the availability of the football feeds through advertising would have been enough to bring more spectators into the Oval. “We are in a financial meltdown.  Everybody is being cautious about their spending. Cost is a major consideration,” opined Riley.  As a member of the WICB’s Finance Committee, he said they knew this was a match they would not have made any money on.  He went on to give his opinions on a wide range of matters including the state of West Indies cricket, cricket in general, and the controversial remarks made by the WICB’s CEO Dr Ernest Hilaire.
 
That is another story.  In the meantime, the story here is that the West Indies team is racing to an innings defeat.  Maybe they too, like the missing spectators, prefer to stay home and watch football.  Go Brazil go!