Celebrating tradition and innovation in cricket

The Bigger Picture

TheTicketingBusiness Forum took place at one of the world’s most famous cricket grounds, Old Trafford, as England and Wales prepare to host the sport’s biggest tournament for the first time in 20 years.

And what an exciting moment to engage with one of the top names in the sport right now.

We welcomed Steve Elworthy, managing director of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, to the stage and posed the question… what does it take to ticket The Big One?

Connect, entertain and inspire are the three pillars of the competition, he said: “I want to see a country immersed in the Cricket World Cup.”

With more than 25 per cent of the tournament’s tickets being sold for £50 or under, Elworthy told us that the pricing structure has been set to make it accessible, but balanced that with commercial options.

“All the money from the tournament is planned for reinvestment back into cricket,” he told our TBF crowd of industry experts.

Matches across the 45 group games have been tiered and ticket prices have been applied according to factors including involvement of the “most powerful teams.”

Elworthy told the TBF19 crowd how the organisers created a fear of missing out… and how that led to 95 per cent of tickets being sold.

The Hundred – New approaches for a new tournament

What if you could start an event with a totally clean sheet? How would you sketch out a new way to market? What would you leave behind – and what would you definitely take forward?

Our exclusive session took us inside the ticketing sales strategy of The Hundred, the ECB’s new 100-ball, city-based cricket tournament, which debuts in 2020.

Rob Calder, commercial director of England & Wales Cricket Board, explained that while trying to balance traditional methods, the approach has focused on innovation, with a fundamentally different approach to attract a new, younger audience.

“The central ticketing model will deliver 100 soft tickets,” said Daniel Gidney, chief executive of Lancashire Cricket. “The Hundred has aspirations to be a completely digital experience – everything online, maximise mobile and we need to be agile.”

They asked the crowd: “How do we get new people through the door that haven’t received this product before?

“It’s a big challenge, but huge opportunity.”