World Cup organisers predict US$40 million ticket sales

The nine local organising committees preparing for the 2007 World Cup (CWC) have projected US$40 million in revenue from the sale of tickets.

Speaking to the media yesterday, Ken Gordon, chairman of the board, said that this was a "comfortable estimate". He, however, added that this could only be achieved if Caribbean fans went out and bought tickets allocated to them.

"We have projected US$40 million from the ticket sales, but at present only half the tickets have been sold, so basically, we are only halfway there," said Gordon, who is also president of the West Indies Cricket Board. "We are very confident that we will get the numbers, but the weakness we are seeing is from West Indian sales. We would like to urge Caribbean people to go out and purchase tickets. I'm sure people across the region won't like to see more fans from opposing teams in the stands than our own people."

Earlier this week, the Barbados LOC said they could realise US$13.5 million in revenue from the sale of tickets. When the second phase of public ticketing ended on Thursday, 82% of the tickets for Kensington Oval were sold out.

The CWC office, through ticketing officer Delroy Taylor, has indicated that ticket sales were sluggish and some matches were proving hard to sell. "We have one more phase of ticketing to come, starting in the middle of January, and I urge everyone to go out and get tickets," Gordon said. "People from all over the world have been expressing great interest in getting tickets. The tickets will be sold, I can assure you. I just hope West Indians get them."