Eighty fans chase every World Cup final ticket

Nearly 80 fans are vying for every seat available online for the April 2 final of the World Cup in Mumbai, head of the official ticket agency said on Friday.

There is a similar demand for semi-final matches and it would only grow further in the next couple of days before the ballot window is closed, KyaZoonga chief executive Neetu Bhatia said.

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"In terms of demand for tickets for semi-final and final, it's almost at 80:1 ratio and we are still counting," Bhatia told Reuters by telephone.

"The demand stands nearly 80 times of the tickets available. We are very excited about this. Sunday is the cut-off day and people are still going to apply for those tickets."

The organisers have already confirmed that of the 33,000 seats in Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, only 1000 would be available online.

In all, around 4000 tickets are available for the public, while the rest would be distributed among the International Cricket Council (ICC) and clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association.

Last month, the ticket website crashed in 20 minutes when 10 million fans logged in seeking those 1000 tickets, prompting the organisers to organise a ballot system instead.

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"It's actually the first ever such ticket ballot to be held in this part of the world. We put it together quickly and swiftly when it was decided, along with ICC and BCCI (Indian cricket board), that we would go the ballot way," Bhatia said.

"It's the most equitable form of ticket distribution that's used for Wimbledon and Olympics. We are pretty proud of what we have accomplished by putting it together so quickly for an event like this."

After the ballot, successful applicants would have to make the payment and the tickets would start reaching them from the third week of this month, she added.

ICC Cricket World Cup: Final And Semi-Final Tickets To Be Sold Through Ballot

ICC Chief Executive Mr. Haroon Lorgat announced today that the tickets for the finale and semi-finals of the world cup will be distributed through a ballot system that shall be channelized through ICC’s official ticket partner www.kyazoonga.com.

Earlier when the ICC had decided to sell the 4000 odd tickets for each of the matches through kyazoonga .com the number of people wanting the tickets were so many that the site crashed in a matter of few minutes from the time the tickets started selling.

The semi-finals are going to be played on 29th in Colombo and on the 30th in Mohali, while the finals are going to be played in Wankhede on the 2nd of April.  The ballot will start on the 28th February (Monday).

ICC Chief Executive Mr. Lorgat said: “It was most unfortunate and no blame should be directed at Kyazoonga, the ICC’s official ticketing partner, as no one could have anticipated that tens of millions people would be trying to access the site an hour before it went live. In truth Kyazoonga have been an innocent third party in all the issues we have had with ticketing.

“In conjunction with the hosts, we have now agreed that a ballot system is the best means of releasing any available tickets for the semis and final. The high demand clearly proves the massive attraction of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and format of 50 overs cricket.”

In dismissing media perceptions about a letter addressed to ICC President Mr. Sharad Pawar, Mr. Lorgat added: “To help resolve our ticketing challenges we have also engaged the offices of the ICC President Mr. Pawar to assist us as he has done with several other issues related to World Cup planning.”

The tickets selling process can be summarized in six steps:

Step 1: You can apply for the ICC CWC Ticket Public Ballot from the 28th February to the 6th March. The public ballot application form is to be filled in at http://cwc2011ballot.kyazoonga.com. Only two tickets per applicant is allowed and only one application per person shall be considered. In case you do fill up another application the second application shall be automatically avoided.

Step 2: You will receive a Ballot Confirmation Number once you complete and submit your application form. No upfront payment is required at this stage.

Step 3: Try to follow all the instructions and rules myopically. If you break any of the rules then the tickets offered to you shall be immediately cancelled. All Ballot applications must be submitted no later than 6 March 2011.

Step 4: The draw will be made by computer on 10 March 2011 and successful applicants will be informed by email on 11 March 2011. If you have not heard from Kyazoonga by 12 March 2011, please assume that your application was not successful in the ballot.

Step 5: Successful applicants will be able to pay for their tickets through Kyazoonga’s secure payment processing website where they will be shown the transaction amount and asked to pay online using credit card/debit card/net-banking. If your transaction is not successful, your place in the draw will be offered to the next polled applicant from the draw.

Step 6: Upon successful payment completion, you will receive a confirmation page and email. Please print the page and keep the email. You will receive your tickets from the third week of March 2011.

World Cup final tickets to be sold via ballot

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Tickets for the Cricket World Cup final will be sold via a ballot after the official website crashed under the pressure of huge traffic.

"There will be a ballot and we're working with the BCCI (Indian cricket board) and our official online ticket agents Kyazoonga to finalise all the details. They will still be sold via the website," an ICC spokesman said.

Not a single ticket for the April 2 final to be held in Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium was sold to the public after the official website went into meltdown on Monday, sparking furious complaints from fans.

"We apologise to anyone who was trying to get on but these are exceptional circumstances when 10 million people were trying to get on the website at one time," the ICC spokesman said earlier on Tuesday.

"They (Kyazoonga) were working throughout the night to get it up and running and not one ticket has been sold from the quota we had."

Of the 33,000 seats at the Wankhede, around 4,000 are available to the public -- 1,000 online while another 3,000-odd will be sold later for those who queue up at stadium box offices. The rest are distributed among the ICC and clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association.

On Tuesday morning, the website was back up and at first glance it looked as if all the tickets had sold out since those matches were not showing up on the 'tickets for sale' schedule.

But a small message tucked on one side of the website trumpeted: "And we're back! All semis and finals tickets that are to go up on sale here are intact. Please stay tuned for further updates." Fans continued to bombard the online ticket agency's Facebook page with angry comments for the second day running.

"These guys have not done squat and no update...wow..what a bunch of bufoons (sic)," Ibaad Lari posted from Pakistan.

Another enraged fan, Rishi Dave, added: "I freakin woke up in the middle of my sleep to check if the site was working or not. since me being on Australian time i also checked the website when most of you were sleeping, BUT same as before wudnt (sic) do anything...."

"You guys are lucky you can go queue at stadium ! ... i took day off to book these tickets for final and i cant get on the site !!!!" vented Sam Saleh.

The ICC said it would reveal full details of the ballot as soon as they were finalised.

No tickets for final after website crashes

Not a single ticket for the Cricket World Cup final to be held in Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on April 2 was sold to the public after the official website crashed, the ICC confirmed. Tickets were put on sale at 0730 GMT on Monday via the International Cricket Council's (ICC) official ticketing partner Kyazoonga.com, but the website buckled under the pressure of huge traffic, sparking furious complaints from fans. "We apologise to anyone who was trying to get on but these are exceptional circumstances when 10 million people were trying to get on the website at one time," an ICC spokesman said. "They (Kyazoonga) were working throughout the night to get it up and running and not one ticket has been sold from the quota we had." Of the 33,000 seats at the Wankhede, around 4,000 are available to the public -- 1,000 online while another 3,000-odd will be sold later for those who queue up at stadium box offices. The rest are distributed among the ICC and clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association.

Kyazoonga grinds to a halt with World Cup 2011 tickets up for grabs

Cricket World Cup fever has gripped India and at least the cricket-playing nations. As a result Kyazoonga, the official online ICC partner to sell Cricket World Cup tickets, witnessed the fever pitch levels of support amongst cricket fans as they rushed to Kyazoonga's website to book their World Cup final tickets online. Kyazoonga has a limited number of tickets of the World Cup final in Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium up for grabs.

But Kyazoonga's servers couldn't keep pace with the massive surge of traffic the website received just a few hours earlier when the online ticket booking gates were scheduled for opening. Kyazoonga's web-server couldn't load pages quick enough for the amount of visitors it received earlier today -- it's like a DDoS attack. Naturally, Kyazoonga went down.

According to a TOI report, only 1,000 tickets of the Cricket World Cup final are being sold online (through Kyazoonga), while an additional 3,000 will be sold to fans who queue up outside the stadium's ticket counters.

Alongside the Twitter message, Kyazoonga had this to say on its official Facebook fan page:

"We are facing absolutely unprecedented amounts of traffic from all over the world, with hundreds of millions of people hitting at once. Some of you may have trouble accessing the site. It seems that cricket fever has surpassed all anticipations and expectations. Please bear with us as our global network team works on bringing you the tickets you all have been waiting for."

A lot of cricket fans who were waiting to book their World Cup final tickets online are angry and voicing their frustration on Kyazoonga's Facebook page.

How to Get Your Cricket World Cup Tickets

The Cricket World Cup is just 17 days away, but there’s still a chance to get tickets for many of the first round matches, provided you don’t mind watching some of the less fancied teams.

Unsurprisingly tickets for India’s key games have been snapped up, though the shifting of India vs. England on Feb. 27 from Kolkata’s Eden Gardens to Chinnaswamy Stadium might free up a few, since some people won’t be able to change plans and travel to Bangalore.

The only India match for which tickets are still available is the Ireland game on March 6, also in Bangalore. It’s unlikely to be a classic, but you never know, bearing in mind Ireland dumped Pakistan out of the World Cup in 2007.

If you’re looking for tickets, check on the official World Cup Web site. There is a tickets section, which takes users through to a page run by Kyazoonga.com, the official ticketing partner for the World Cup. Hopefully they’ll have an easier time handling online traffic than the Commonwealth Games ticketing partner, IRCTC, the state-run railways reservations portal, did.

A quick hunt around the site shows that there are still tickets for some exciting clashes, including South Africa vs. England in Chennai on March 6 and Australia vs. New Zealand in Nagpur on Feb. 25. Tickets for the semis (in Colombo and Mohali) and final (Mumbai) are not on sale yet, but it’s possible to sign up on the official website so you can be alerted when they become available.

India is hosting the World Cup with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Tickets for matches in Sri Lanka can be bought on the official website, while Bangladesh has designated a number of City Bank and Agrani Bank branches as retail outlets.

For online purchases, local customers can use credit or debit cards, while those buying from outside India will need to use a valid international credit card. Tickets are delivered by courier, although the site FAQs don’t say whether they courier to international addresses. Tickets can also be picked up at the venue. If you’re in India already, I’d go for the courier option to avoid extra hassle at the stadium.

Fans can also buy tickets directly from the venues, though be prepared to queue and be wary of the dangers that seem to crop up whenever India hosts a major sporting event.

According to a NDTV report, a wall at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium collapsed today as hundreds of people waited in line to buy tickets. Two people were injured, the report said. For the second time in as many weeks, the World Cup preparations veered along worryingly similar lines to the mess seen in the run-up to last October’s Commonwealth Games.

So much for learning the lessons from that debacle, and all the more reason to book tickets through the relatively safer Internet route. What could possibly go wrong? Actually, forget I asked that.

Sales of World Cup merchandise may cross $ 1 mn

NEW DELHI: The upcoming cricket World Cup being organised by the ICC in the Indian subcontinent is expected to rake in over $ 1 million (over Rs 4.5 crore) from the sale of merchandise, both online and at match venues. UK's IVS Group, the International Cricket Council's (ICC) venue concessionaire and webstore licensee, is focusing on local production of merchandise like jerseys , T-shirts , caps, headgear and souvenirs.

"We anticipate sales will be in excess of $ 1 million. Our early forecast is for high sales at the event and we have ensured our product mix caters to all cricket fans, both in the subcontinent and globally," IVS Group Project Manager Matt Hassall told PTI. IVS will sell merchandise over the Internet as well as at the match venues and hotels and airports in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, he said. "By using local production for our large volume items, we have quick turnaround capacity," Hassall said, adding that the company will ensure that it has sufficient products available to cater to all tastes. He said the headwear range is already seeing brisk sales. "Both caps and sunhats are selling well online," he added. The ICC's official portal is selling apparel and caps in the range of $ 20 to $ 50 and small items such as keyrings and pins are priced at around $ 5.

IVS has also partnered with KyaZoonga, which is the official ticket partner of the ICC, to offer products to ticket buyers. "We have not even created much noise about it (the merchandise range) yet, but are already seeing people buying products along with tickets. There is a lot of demand," KyaZoonga Chairman and CEO Neetu Bhatia said. It is, however, estimated that overall revenue from official World Cup merchandise sales will be much more than $ 1 million, with India's Future Group -- another official merchandise partner -- revving up campaigns ahead of the mega cricketing event being held from February 19 to April 2.

The Kishore Biyani-promoted group will be selling a wide range of merchandise at its Central, Planet Sports and Big Bazaar outlets, aggregating to over 150 retail points. "We have launched a wide range of merchandise in the past, right from cricket to Bollywood, but expectation from the latest range is much more, as cricket is in the heart of every Indian and the tournament is happening in the Indian subcontinent," Big Bazaar Business Head (North) Vineet Jain said. He, however, did not divulge the revenue expectations from the latest offering. Big Bazaar is offering cricket merchandise such as T-shirts, track pants, shorts, sweatshirts, caps, head bands, bed and bath linen products at prices upward of Rs 199.

That's not all, the retailer has also co-created 'The Sach' brand of toothpaste and bathing bars with legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar .