The four abandoned World Cup cricket matches at England due to rains may have disappointed audiences world over, but sponsors and advertisers are not feeling unhappy or worried about it, a top ICC official said.
“No. All the feedback we have been getting is that brands that have partnered us are exceptionally happy with what’s taken place so far and their engagements with audiences of the World Cup.. so that explains”, Campbell Jamieson, General Manager Commercial, International Cricket Council (ICC) told journalists at Nottingham.
He was responding on whether advertisers have now begun expressing disappointment over the washed out games at the World Cup due to the rains.International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global governing body for Cricket.
Reserve day
Jamieson, who has been with ICC since 1996, said that ICC has never had a reserve day outside of the knockout finals in any of its events till date. Keeping a reserve day for every game would have meant extending the World Cup event by a month, he said.
He also said that not more than two games in all of the World Cup editions so far have been washed out. “Just based on this simple data, you wouldn’t contemplate one (reserve day)”, Jamieson said.
As many as four games including a India-New Zealand fixture on June 13 was called off. Even the much talked about India-Pakistan Sunday game at Manchester had curtailed overs due to rains .
Eye on ROI
While ICC may not see sponsors raising an issue about the washed out matches, officials with some of the leading brands associated with World Cup had slightly different take on the matter. Although most companies have taken a long term view of the tournament, the aspect of potential hit on return on investments cannot be ignored in high eye-ball games (like those involving India) that get washed out or curtailed, a senior official of a global brand associated with the World Cup said.
The reporter was recently at London at the invitation of Coca Cola India