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Post by Wicked Cricket on May 15, 2014 21:58:00 GMT
pd,
Typical, of course it was the 'Screen on the Green'. Me silly.
I'm old if the first prog-rock album I ever bought was 'Atom Heart Mother'. The great aspect of the prog-rock trash canning were
the very best bands survived, recovered and then developed. Genesis and of course Pink Floyd being two examples.
Even Yes went on to greater popular success with 90125. Although, as more of these bands gain a living from playing on cruise-liners
that sums up the age difference!
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2014 7:24:57 GMT
I applaud the ECB. At least, they are trying to make T20 work via the BLAST. Ok, it's another relaunch but this is the best opportunity to date. The counties have to make this work - last chance saloon - and as the standard of business acumen improves throughout the clubs, there is every chance. But if this latest revamp fails, then it's potentially goodbye to Yorkshire, Glamorgan, Durham and Warwickshire. Only a highly successful and lucrative BLAST will help such TMGs to pay off their debt - nothing else will. They need full houses at every home game. That is their challenge over the next four years. No 'full houses' last night. Yes it is early days - but it was a glorious sunny evening all over the country and the football world cup has not yet started so conditions should have been perfect for the great 'relaunch' to get off to a flying start. Some 12,000 at Trent Bridge but just 5,000 at Headingley. Durham disappointed by their attendance and vast acres of empty seats at the Ageas Bowl, apparently. 5,000 at Hove but according to Bruce Talbot, "On the night T20 was re-launched amidst much hype there was the sense at Hove that very little had changed... The ground was pleasantly full and the bars were doing a steady trade but apart from bursts of flames from on top of the scoreboard every time a boundary was scored it didn't feel much like a brave new beginning." We will see how it pans out. But we witnessed nothing last night to suggest that Scyld Berry's cautionary words were not well aimed. |
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Post by Wicked Cricket on May 17, 2014 9:53:46 GMT
Mark Arthur at Yorkshire will be severely disappointed - just 5,000!?! One feels come June, attendances will improve. May is too early for this competition. The World Cup should not be a problem this year. I scanned the England fixtures and friday evenings are unaffected. Only when the QFs occur are their any friday games. Do we truly believe England will make it to that stage? Meanwhile, Gordon Hollins at the ECB came up with a lovely quote. When asked if fridays had been chosen because they were untouched by the WC, he offered a wry smile and said, "We got lucky!" Sooth-sayer Scyld may turn out to be correct but it's still very early days. Let us take stock again in July. Whether it's the IPL or BBL, the tournament takes time to gain momentum. There is always a sluggish start. I firmly believe the 'T20 Blast' has every opportunity to succeed. But then I truly believed Surrey would admonish us last night!  |
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2014 10:40:47 GMT
So the ecb has already got it wrong by stretching the comp over four months? I think there will be a bigger crowd here at lords on a trad Sat afternoon than anything we saw last night, so is it possible that marketing the comp at Friday night drunkards may prove to be wrong,too? We shall see...
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Post by Wicked Cricket on May 17, 2014 11:52:51 GMT
Imho, it is far too early to make judgments. One remembers well the number of times
critics have pooh-pooed the IPL and BBL attendances in the early stages and were then
proved badly wrong.
The excitement of last night should swell numbers at the Hampshire game. Although,
weather plays such an important part.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2014 12:26:43 GMT
But within 24 hrs you have changed your view. You said the big counties "need full houses at every home game". Already we can see that didn't happen at four test match grounds last night.Now you say its because May is too early to have started the comp. I make pyou right about that. But there are more here at lords this afternoon than attended any game last night and its up against the fa cup final. So perhaps the focus groups were not representative when they said they wanted Fri nights. But I wonder if when the question was asked they were even given Sat afternoon as an option?
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Post by Wicked Cricket on May 17, 2014 12:46:39 GMT
bm,
Yes, I did say that but not from the very first game. These tournaments must gather
momentum.
The friday evenings will take time to build and settle. The ECB are allowing 4 years for this
latest format to mature. As the cliche goes: "Rome wasn't built in a day."
I agree a disappointing attendance at Yorkshire (5,500) but Notts (11,000) should be pleased.
A near record crowd there. Sussex have started with solid viewing (5,000). I have no idea on the
other matches.
Surely, not until several months and at least 50% of the games have been played can any
review take place.
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Post by flashblade on May 17, 2014 13:02:07 GMT
But within 24 hrs you have changed your view. You said the big counties "need full houses at every home game". Already we can see that didn't happen at four test match grounds last night.Now you say its because May is too early to have started the comp. I make pyou right about that. But there are more here at lords this afternoon than attended any game last night and its up against the fa cup final. So perhaps the focus groups were not representative when they said they wanted Fri nights. But I wonder if when the question was asked they were even given Sat afternoon as an option? I thought Middx played on Saturday afternoon because they have a restricted number of floodlit matches because of local planning restrictions. They may want to use the lights for international matches, so that would reduce further the number of county games under lights. Does anyone know when Middx's other T20 games are going to be played. What I'm thinking is that Saturday afternoon may not be their preferred option, although they might inadvertantly become the county to prove that weekend T20 is more popular than Friday nights!! |
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2014 13:07:27 GMT
But more momentum on a Sat afternoon at lords than anywhere around the country last night! It was you who said May was too early,not me -although I happen to agree with you. But we are stuck with fridays in May until at least 2017 even if it doesn't work? Lots of families with young children here today who wouldn't come on Friday nights. But as they don't drink countless pints of beer the ecb isn't interested in them!
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Post by Wicked Cricket on May 17, 2014 13:09:55 GMT
"I wonder if when the question was asked they were even given Sat afternoon as an option?"
I believe the four focus groups conclusion was either Friday or Saturday evenings but as the ECB
were so determined to have Championship Sundays, Friday was the obvious choice to allow clubs
a day's break for the players and time to clear up and tidy their ground. No Sunday cricket and
Saturday evenings might well have been chosen. Although, it was always going to be evening
cricket. I believe that was what the 'Populus' marketing of 25,000 people concluded.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2014 13:18:07 GMT
I have the mddx fixture list in my hand. Only two more t20s at lords as far as I can see. Both floodlit v glos and surrey and both on a Thursday rather than a Friday!
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Post by flashblade on May 17, 2014 14:25:39 GMT
I have the mddx fixture list in my hand. Only two more t20s at lords as far as I can see. Both floodlit v glos and surrey and both on a Thursday rather than a Friday! Interesting. Wonder if the local residents objected to floodlights on a Friday night! |
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2014 8:28:02 GMT
The first full house of the new Friday night league is anticipated ...at Taunton this Sunday afternoon. Almost all tkts are sold for Somerset v Surrey; a handful are available on the gate but are expected to be snapped up early.Yesterday, Lords attracted 13,500 on a Saturday afternoon up against the FA Cup final.
So what happens if over the course of this season the weekend afternoon games persistently out-sell the Friday night floodlit games? Answer: nothing, as regardless of whether or not it works, the ECB insist there will be no changes to the set-up before 2017 at the earliest.
I've looked up the average T20 attendances in 2013 and across the board among those who hosted home games on the first Friday night of the T20 Bash, the attendances were actually down on last year. Sussex were only marginally lower - the average T20 crowd last season was 5,341. But depsite a high profile national launch by the ECB and busy local marketing at Headingley, Yorkshire managed to lose 22 per cent of the 6,504 they averaged in 2013. Durham and the Ageas Bowl were also down on 2013 attendances. Notinghamshire was the one place to buck the trend by managing to put 2,300 on their average 2013 gate.
Far too early to make a definitive judgement, but the ECB will be disappointed by the evidence of week one. Perhaps it needs time to 'build up'; but equally the optimum time to attract new customers is probably at the launch point when there is wall-to-wall publicity.
I gather the target is to double the numbers over a three year time-frame and some of the figures at the bottom of the average attendance table make pitiful reading - Kent (average attendance 3048), Worcs (2,762) and Leics (2,268). Changing the competition name and trying to persuade people to spend Friday night at a cricket ground rather than in the pub is worth a try. But selling a couple of thousand more tickets at Canterbury, Worcester and Grace Road is not going to save county cricket. Ultimately bolder thinking is going to be required and it will involve considerably fewer than 18 teams, I suspect.
It seems we are going to have to wait until 2017 for that. In the mean time county marketing directors had better schedule a trip to Trent Bridge this week to find out how Notts did it!
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Post by flashblade on May 18, 2014 8:37:54 GMT
It'll be interesting to see how the Sussex attendance this afternoon compares with last Friday evening's. It's not a Blasted T20 match, but Sri Lanka are an attractive T20 side.
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Post by Wicked Cricket on Jun 5, 2014 15:58:54 GMT
What a major cricketing news day. It's all blasting off! Hard to keep up. Now it is Yorkshire's turn to show off their off-field ambitions and match their TMG competitors. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-27711959www.espncricinfo.com/county-cricket-2014/content/story/750471.htmlBut here lyes the problem. The club are already £24m in debt with their Chairman Colin Graves personally underwriting this deficit via his personal fortune of £50m+ after selling his shares in the supermarket chain 'Costcutter' - a company he founded. The club's debt has risen £4m over the last 16 months, so there is no sign of them being able to reduce it. Question: How are Yorkshire now going to raise a further £50m? Who is going to be foolhardy enough to lend them this level of money? Common sense suggests, the club should have walked away from these plans, lowered their ambition and at least pay off a majority of their original debt first. But no. As Graves says, "The stark reality is that if our stadium fails to evolve, we will lose our Test Match status which would be a devastating blow to the region." So, is this foolhardiness good ol' Yorkshire pride? This is the same club who on facing relegation to division 2, said it was a catastrophe, describing themselves as the Manchester United of county cricket. And they meant it, too. These latest planned developments are surely a folly of the greatest order and is another sign of the delusional grandeur that prevails amongst certain TMGs. |
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