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The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is scheduled to be hosted by England and Wales, from May 30 to July 14, 2019. The hosting rights were awarded in April 2006, after England and Wales withdrew from the bidding to host the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, which was held in Australia and New Zealand. In a media release on May 30, 2018, ICC Chief Executive, David Richardson had said, “The ICC Cricket World Cup in England and Wales is truly unique. It offers every competing nation a ‘home crowd’ atmosphere with passionate fans.” He continued, “We’re going to make this event a great celebration of cricket and the cultural diversity of our sport.”

Participating teams and venues

The format of the tournament is simple. A group of ten teams will be playing against each other and the top four teams will qualify to a knockout stage of semi-finals and a final. The teams participating include India, England, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and West Indies.

A total of 45 matches will be played in 11 stadiums.

Ticket demand

According to a media release on September 12, 2018, the high demand for tickets during the Public Ballot resulted in over 1.6 million applications for tickets and took the total number of tickets applied for at the tournament to over 2.5 million. Tickets were bought across 148 different countries. Tickets have been bought from countries like Madagascar and Mexico which is reflective of the global appeal of this World Cup.

Matches involving hosts England and top-ranked teams have been highly sought after as have sales across all the 11 venues to watch the ten competing teams. India versus Pakistan remains the most popular fixture with enough ticket applications to fill the Wembley Stadium several times over, alongside key matches such as England vs Australia and the final at Lord’s. All the tickets are heavily oversubscribed at all price brands.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Managing Director, Steve Elworthy said, “The tournament will be the biggest sporting event taking place in England and Wales next summer and the demand for tickets reflect the excitement of the public here and all the fans around the world.” He continued, “We have developed a pricing structure to drive accessibility with U16 tickets from just (pound symbol) 6 and adults from as little as (pound symbol) 16 as we wanted to make this world-class sporting event experience open to as many fans as possible. The demand for tickets serves to demonstrate the success of this strategy and help us grow the long-term fan base of the game.”

Tickets for India’s nine fixtures in the tournament are all sold out. The tickets for India’s games were sold out during the priority window leaving literally nothing for the general sale. The 34-hour long priority window was opened on September 25, 2018 to give a chance for those who had enrolled during ballot phases in July and August but could not book a ticket.

Broadcasting rights

Following a thorough tender process, ICC awarded Star Sports the global broadcast rights for all ICC events from 2015 to 2023. This included exclusive live and highlights rights across all platforms for all major ICC events – the ICC Cricket World Cup and its qualifiers, the ICC Women’s World Cup, the ICC World Twenty 20 and its qualifiers, the ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. Star’s distribution efforts ensure that ICC events are available live to more than 1.5 billion people.

Tourism

VisitBritain hosted a networking dinner in May, 2018, in Mumbai for select travel agents to promote the ICC Cricket World Cup. Speaking at the event, Matt Hancock, MP and Secretary of State for digital, culture, media and sport, said, “We want more Indians to come and watch the world cup in England and travel to England too. It is a great tourist opportunity and good reason to travel in England.”

Tricia Warwick, Director-Asia Pacific, Middle and East Africa, of VisitBritain, said in Mumbai, “In all probability this will be a family trip so we are thinking of how to engage all members and include experiences beyond the games. This will also ensure visitors stay back after the games to check out nearby places of interest.”

The India outbound market is at number two globally in terms of value for VisitBritain. This is primarily because around 68% are repeated visitors and most Group Inclusive Tours (GITs) are London-centric. Around 40% of business originating from India is GIT. VisitBritain is working with partners like Thomas Cook, Cox and Kings, SOTC and Reliance Jio to market itineraries around the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Growth for Indian advertising market

The advertising market in India is expected to reach Rs. 72,169 crore in 2019 with an expected 15% growth rate. Cricket World Cup, Indian Premier League, and the general elections in the country will be the key drivers for the market, according to the Zenith Global Advertising Expenditure Forecasts. According to Tanmay Mohanty, Chief Executive, Zenith Global, “The 2019 is the year of the Indian general elections. These and the assembly elections in some states will boost marketing spends. Additionally, the ICC Cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League will drive growth.”