Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter

JAMAICA CRICKET 2007 Ltd., the Local Organising Committee of the Cricket World Cup, has some work to do if it is to sell as many World Cup tickets as it would like.

So far, the LOC has said, without many specifics, that 95 per cent of tickets have been sold for some games but conversely that others have only seen 10 per cent of the available tickets being sold.

While Robert Bryan, the LOC's executive director, for obvious reasons, neglected to indicate which games were problem ones, the suspicion is that tickets to the warm-up games at the Trelawny stadium between India and Holland on March 6 and Kenya and Holland on March 8 and the Group stage game between Zimbabwe and Ireland on March 15 were problematic.

Marketing focus

Despite the obvious concerns, Bryan says the company's marketing focus should do the trick.

"We are pushing and let's be blunt about it," Bryan said. "There are some matches that no matter what you do you'll have problems selling. "We have to push with the marketing programme and with the strategy we are pursuing we are confident that we can sell quite a number of tickets. You won't sell out all of the matches - that is sort of idealistic," he said, making sure to qualify himself.

That push includes appealing to the minor countries for their support in the stands - a move that has already begun with the LOC travelling to the United States and Ireland to drum up support for the World Cup.

The LOC has been doing extensive marketing in North America where there is also a large population of Irish nationals.

The ideology, according to Bryan, is one where prospective buyers will be sold on the idea of being involved in the experience, making the cricket, in essence, a 'back drop' to the spectacle that is the Caribbean.

Angle

"I think our angle with the Irish team is to drive St. Patrick's Day and create that element," said Bryan, pointing to the interest that could be created from Ireland playing on the festive occasion on March 17.

However, Bryan was guarded against too much optimism by pointing out the traditionally low turnout in first-round games, even in big tournaments.

"The first-round package carries with it some objective conditions. If you look at the ICC Champions Trophy game between Australia and the West Indies, there were a lot of empty seats," said Bryan.

The way to help stave off that kind of turnout would be to get Jamaicans to turn out for these matches, despite not necessarily having the West Indies involved in the games.

"We need to understand those elements and encourage Jamaicans to understand that the far bigger story is our being in the stadium to present the Caribbean," said Bryan.