ECB ponders using Olympic stadiums for 2019 World Cup

The English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is considering the option of using the Olympic stadiums for staging the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. The mega event was previously held in Australia and the hosts were crowned the champions. As the trend has been since the last two editions, the hosts have been winning the tournament. It was India who won it in 2011 and Australia in 2015.

With the 2019 edition scheduled to be held in England, the hopes are high from the English side. Before the actual action commences, a lot of groundwork is to be done by the organizing committee. The ECB is keen on finalizing the venues for the mega event soon. They are now keen on getting the Olympic stadiums for some of the matches of the World Cup. The stadiums have the capacity of as many as 60000 spectators.

While the move might work well in drawing massive audiences on the ground, some of the county teams are perturbed with the news. They believe that they will be betrayed if the traditional venues are ignored and new venues are finalized. The capacity of 60000 is almost the double of the capacity of the existing venues for cricket in England.

This would directly mean that the prices of the tickets will be lowered. England are also hosting the Champions Trophy 2017. The tickets for the India and Pakistan match was sold out within a day. This prompted the ECB to feel that even 60000 capacity could well be a packed house in 2019. One point that the ECB needs to work on is the boundary sizes. The size of the Olympic grounds are shorter than the conventional cricket grounds.

The major worry, however, lies with the county associations not welcoming the move. A county executive recently warned that the move will be “be seen as a betrayal of the game in England”. Also, speaking about the ground size, they mentioned, “would be ridiculously short for international cricket, and would compromise the credibility of the game”.

The county executive further added that if hosting capacity is the question, then the board must help the existing grounds expand and give provisions for it. “The ECB risks undermining the sustainability of current international grounds. If we need bigger capacity then the ECB should assist existing grounds to increase capacity,” said one county chief executive.

“There would be anger if someone misses out,” another county chief executive quoted.

Steve Elworthy, the Managing Director of the 2019 WC said that the preparations are in the early stages at the moment. Once all the functionalities are finalized, the board will disclose all the plans in the media. “We are in the early stages of planning for 2019 and having a number of discussions with multiple venues as we develop the plans, including opening ceremonies, fan zones and inner city activations. The finalised schedule will only be announced after the team qualification process is complete and the ICC confirm the venues and match schedule,” he quoted.