Cricket Stadiums in India: A Harrowing Fan Experience
The blatant disregard to fan experience is a harrowing concern to cricket lovers in the country
When was the last time you went to watch a cricket match? I’m guessing your answer is mostly no or may be long back. I am in the same boat as well.
I was watching the recently concluded India versus Australia cricket series and it got me thinking about the BCCI, stadiums and the way fans are treated in India.
I think there are 4 factors affecting fan experience in India. Tell me if you agree with me.
Cost:
I really wanted to attend the match in Chennai or at least 1 IPL in Bangalore/Chennai. So, I tried booking the tickets and I was appalled at the cost of the tickets!
Yeah, those are the rates for RCB matches in Bangalore!!! They are essentially blocking out the middle-class from the stadiums.
Do you know the worst part? The “Cheaper” tickets are never available because they’re always “sold out” or you have to stand in queue to buy them at the gate (i’ll explain this more in the next section).
If you’re a conventional middle-class family (husband, wife, child), you would have to shell out almost INR 10,000 for a 4 hours match!!! This doesn’t include transportation, parking, food, etc. Who has that much money??? People would rather take a short vacation with it!
So, you’re left with the costly tickets which are usually picked up by the corporates and given to the who’s who of their organization and these people don’t even bother to go the stadium. The people who really want to go can only stand outside the gates and hope one day they could get inside.
Accessibility:
I was mentioning about standing in queues to get physical tickets. I’ll elaborate more on it.
Imagine you didn’t get a ticket online for a cricket match. You are left with no other choice but to stand in long queues on match day to get a ticket.
Fans have to queue for more than 4 hours to get a ticket! Last year in Hyderabad, fans had to stand for 20 hours (Read here)!!!
The sheer incompetence of the organizers does not end here. Even if you buy tickets online, you cannot enter the stadium with the QR code. No No No!!! How can we make it so easy for fans??? You have to go to one of the official pick up points on the day before the match and get physical tickets which you then have to show at the stadium entrance to enter. You may say this is to prevent fraudulent tickets but I’ve seen it work properly abroad and in India as well. Eg: Chennai’s WTA 250 (tennis) requires only QR to enter. Football stadiums in Germany also required only QR. So, it works for small and big tournaments! It is only the BCCI who does not want to put in the effort.
Facilities:
Where do I start? Broken seat, lack of sunshade, long queues at food stalls, overpriced food, reeking toilets, etc. Do I need to go on??? The richest cricketing body has made no efforts to improve the stadium facilities. What excuse can one have for this?
Click here to read more on this: Read here
Overall Experience:
It is really sad, man! We have the richest and the most influential cricketing body, loyal fans, and the world watching us! We can do better.
I have been to football matches, tennis matches and even adrenaline sports outside India and I have also been to cricket matches in India. There’s a stark difference in quality. BCCI needs to know that fan experience is vital if they want the sport to reach greater heights and have to put in the work to improve that. But they also know that we have 1.4 billion people and if I don’t go, they can get another person to fill the seats.
Rohith’s Corner:
The last time I went to a cricket match was in 2018 for the SRH v CSK finals! I even got to sit in the Sachin Tendulkar Stand!!! My friends and I were the only ones cheering for SRH!