World Cup tickets go on sale

A total of 222,000 tickets for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 in South Africa will go on sale to the public when booking opens on Monday, July 15 at 09h00 South African time (07h00 GMT).

A further 70,000 individual tickets to some of the games will become available on December 2 and, as part of the organising committee's commitment to spread the game, an additional 50,000 tickets will be distributed to bona fide cricketers - black and white - in disadvantaged communities.

Traditional cricket patrons at South Africa's grounds - season ticket holders, suite holders and debenture holders - are also being accommodated through preferential booking. Even allowing for the limitations imposed on the number of tickets these cricket fans can buy, these South Africans have taken up 360,000 of the total 856,000 tickets on offer for all 54 games.

Revenue from preferential bookings has already realised some R20-million. The total takings for tickets is now estimated at R30-35 million. On the corporate front, only those companies which have been involved in sponsoring cricket in South Africa have been granted preferential booking. The tournament's Global Partners, Official Sponsors and Official Suppliers are entitled to a certain allocation of tickets in respect of the ICC CWC's contractual obligations to them.

Taking all of the above factors into account, 300,000 tickets - or 35% of total capacity - are still available to the general public. This takes into account tickets that will become available later for the second round of matches and the knockout stages. Dr Ali Bacher, Executive Director, said: "Given the limitations imposed on us by the nature of this event, we believe that this number is reasonable. We are also happy that the prices for packages have been well received by the public."

He added: "It is important to understand that this is a World Cup and that we have responsibilities far beyond South Africa. Remember, too, that unlike soccer and rugby stadiums our grounds are very small by comparison. Whereas other sports' stadiums can accommodate 50 or 60,000 spectators, the average capacity at our six Test grounds is 21,222, and 9,113 for the six other venues hosting ICC Cricket World Cup matches. "In terms of these capacities, I think we have been very fair in our efforts to accommodate the cricket-watching public."

The ICC Cricket World Cup is a global event owned by the International Cricket Council. South Africa's role is to ensure the successful staging of the tournament on behalf of the international cricket community. Because of a contractual commitment to the ICC and its member nations, partners and sponsors, South Africans should be aware that there is only a certain allocation of tickets available to them, too.

Dr Bacher said: "There will obviously be a rush for these ticket packages on July 15. We would therefore urge potential customers to get in early next Monday to secure their seats."

Sixty percent of the ticket packages will be available at venues hosting ICC Cricket World Cup matches, 20% on the Internet via www.cricketworldcup.com and 20% through the special ticket hotline on telephone +27 (0) 83 123 2003 at normal cellphone rates.

From 15 July till 1 December tickets may only be purchased in packages in two varieties - Stadium Packages for all games at a particular venue and Follow-the-Team Packages for all Pool games played by the team in question.

For Stadium Packages, a maximum of six per person per venue will be permissible but in the case of Newlands in Cape Town the maximum will be reduced to four. For Follow-the-Team Packages, a maximum of six per person will be permissible.

Dr Bacher added: "I wish to reiterate that this tournament goes far beyond cricket in its importance to South Africa. Part of its commitment is to promote tourism to our country - something that is vital to enhance our economy, uplift our people and create jobs - and in this light we have acceded where possible to requests for tickets by our international tour operator (ITO) and appointed travel agents.

It was also policy not to give preferential treatment to South African companies with no historic connections with cricket. "For example, we turned down a request from a large public corporation with many big subsidiaries which asked for tickets worth R750,000."

Dr Bacher said requests for tickets from bona fide cricket-sponsoring companies had not been exorbitant but that, in the case of Newlands, every ticketing request had been trimmed in order to accommodate more members of the public.