Pro20 crowds on the up - but not enough Print E-mail
Category: Domestic Leagues
Written by Luke Tagg   
Monday, 15 March 2010 22:53
The recently-completed Standard Bank Pro20 series - South Africa's domestic T20 competition - saw crowd attendance at matches rise 18 percent this season over last year's figures.

According to Cricket South Africa 127,120 fans attended the 20 matches that were played this year, which averages out at 6,356 spectactors per game. Last year's average per game was 4,650.

Coupled with a 10 percent rise in attendance during the MTN40, it's good news for administrators and cricket in general.

Both series featured a raft of international players starring in the finals, both of which were won by the Warriors. The Pro20 final at St. George's Park in Port Elizabeth was a sell-out.

It would be interesting to know which of the grounds in South Africa has the best attendance record - I'm betting on Newlands, although St George's was a lot better supported this year as the Warriors dominated all formats.

As great as it is to see attendance rising, it's still pretty alarming that only 6,000 people are turning up on average. When you take into account the big crowds at Newlands and St George's, the other games weren't particularly well supported at all.

It's not really surprising - the marketing of domestic cricket is limited almost exclusively to SuperSport airing promos to their existing customers on DStv. I never see any other form of marketing, although admittedly I don't read newspapers.

Still - the Internet is sitting here, breathing slowly, waiting for someone to use it for free and really promote South African domestic cricket. Why nobody does is beyond me.

It's so bad that the Highveld Lions still have the website address highveldstrikers.co.za - and they wonder why nobody gives a crap about their franchise. All the other franchise websites have outdated information and limited scope.

I'm sure a few of them have social networking presence, but I've never come across any of them which means it's not particularly effective or penetrative.

As sponsors of domestic cricket Standard Bank and MTN should be using in-house methods to promote games to their customers - the least they could do is put up some livery in their branches, or one-line mentions on cash slips, or something.

Finally: Kepler Wessels and Robin Jackman and Brett Proctor as commentators? Seriously? That's about as hip, urban, street and contemporary as an old Wellington boot.

It all just seems a little yesterday. If they really want to get the crowds in they ought to consider joining the rest of us in the 21st century and stop paying indecent sums to marketers who have no clue what they're about.

Article: Standard Bank Pro20 Cricket Attracts Bigger Crowds
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