What is wrong with India's cricket stadiums?

[Magneto]

I recently had the pleasure of watching two Test matches and an ODI live in stadiums across three states, all featuring the same line-up - India vs West Indies. Though the thrill of watching those amazing contests live (two of them were nail-bitingly close), were something to be truly cherished, I could not but help wonder how much our stadiums need to improve in order to make cricket viewing a genuinely pleasureable recreational activity. The points that need to be really taken care off are: a) Ticket disbursement - There is no transparency about the number of tickets available for any match online or otherwise. The stadiums are not clear about it at any given point of time, neither do the websites declare how many tickets they have been allotted and how many have been sold out. The number of tickets that are distributed online (through websites like Kyazoonga etc) get sold before anybody has a whiff of it. It also seems that only a handful of tickets are given to these websites. They should get at least one-fourth of the capacity of the stadium, which is possibly never the case. (Assuming that the capacity of the average Indian stadium is 40,000, it might be safe to state that at least 10,000 spectators would know how to purchase tickets online). So eventually, the websites put up a 'Sold Out' board, leading to huge queues in the ticket counters, and in reality when one expects the stadiums to be filled chock-a-block, not even half the stadium gets filled up. Also there is lack of uniformity about the availability of online tickets - for example, in this series, the tickets for the Kolkata and Mumbai Tests were sold online, but the tickets for the Ahmedabad ODI were not sold online. Most of the state associations have their own websites (actually all state associations should have a website, it's quite shocking that the Gujarat Cricket Association doesn't have one, they only have a Facebook page), and they should put up clear details of ticket availability on their sites. At the Wankhede, on the 5th day, many people after having heard that India was on an exciting run chase, ran to the stadium to purchase tickets, but returned empty-handed after being told that all tickets have been sold out. But the people present at the stadium could spot many empty seats. Also, at the Wankhede the season tickets were sold only till one day before the match, and many people who wanted to purchase those season tickets on the 2nd or the 3rd day were flatly refused. It is puzzling why the authorities would not want to sell season tickets during the Test when there is a demand for it. Accessories - For people in India who visit stadiums regularly, the fact that no accessories like bags are allowed in a stadium is pretty well known. But not for people who visit stadiums once in a while. At the Wankhede, many people left their bags on the nearby footpaths and walked in, when they were not allowed to get in with their bags. Is it very difficult for the authorities to advertise loud and clearly about this aspect, or create a space where the bags are deposited and taken out later on? Most people suffer on this account because of a lack of experience, and the authorities do nothing at all to communicate on this matter. c) Seats - It seems that all the authorities care about is to sell the tickets in some manner, push the spectators in the stadiums, harass them about security measures and leave them to fend for themselves. A lot of seats in all of these stadiums are unclean and downright dirty, and when the stadium is half empty it's not really an issue. But on a day, when the stadium is completely filled up, a decent seat is all you want and when the seat of your choice is filled with droppings with a lacing of some strange liquid, you really don't know where to go. A case in point would be the final day at Eden where the police were insistent on people sitting on their alloted seats. When a gentleman pointed out that his seat is too dirty for anyone to sit, pat came the policeman's reply" 'It's your problem, you solve it; go tell the guy who's sold you the ticket'. The old solution of using a newspaper to cover your seat is no longer applicable because the security asks you to leave your newspaper behind when you enter the stadium. (The reason is fairly good; some people torch the newspapers and throw in onto the ground, when disgruntled) d) Food - If you have walked into an Indian stadium to watch an ODI or a Test, food is going to be the biggest pain throughout the day. There will be one or two stalls for every block, and essentially these few stalls would have to cater to a crowd of five to ten thousand if the stadium is jampacked. Eventually, for every game there is a free-for-all for food, and people with better pushing skills and patience manage to grab a few overpriced morsels of food, while the rest wait for their turn hungry cursing the system. The management of food is one of the biggest issues in stadiums, and the authorities need to wake up and figure out how they should feed 40,000 people who are sitting in the stadium the whole day. One of the simplest ways is to allot as many food stalls as they can (in proportion to the number of tickets that are expected to be sold) and use the policemen to regulate the queues in the food stalls. There are never any queues though, it's just an ugly scene of a thousand people pushing and shoving each other with notes in their hand while the people in the stalls go bonkers. e) Sanitation - The sanitation of stadiums like Eden and Wankhede are just about okay, but a Test centre like Motera leaves a lot to be desired. At best, the loos of Motera are of the standard of badly managed public loos (the kind found in bus stations and all) and even then, most public loos will win the race with the toilets of Motera in terms of hygiene and sanitation. If a popular stadium and Test centre like Motera is this bad, one shudders to think how bad would the smaller centres be. Unless the authorities seriously take note of these issues, watching a game from the stands is not really fun, no matter how big a cricket fan you are. No wonder a lot of first-timers vouch not to come back to a stadium after having been sufficiently harassed and harrowed. And people in the media keep complaning and wonder about the lack of attendance in stadiums, and debate as to why the fans prefer to watch the games from the comfort of their homes rather than battling it out at the stadium.

[Needforspeed]

Very revealing post. Add to this the options available to the potential spectators other than sitting thru a 5 day cricket match + the luxury of watching at home on high definiition with the option of switching channels - no wonder the crowds are dwindling. One bad experince in the stadium would be enough to put off people for ever. But like everything in our country, unless something drastic happens, no one will wake up.

[ganeshran]

Great article as usual Saurav :two_thumbs_up: Article is on the site homepage :hatsoff:

[Tapioca]

d) Food - If you have walked into an Indian stadium to watch an ODI or a Test, food is going to be the biggest pain throughout the day. There will be one or two stalls for every block, and essentially these few stalls would have to cater to a crowd of five to ten thousand if the stadium is jampacked. Eventually, for every game there is a free-for-all for food, and people with better pushing skills and patience manage to grab a few overpriced morsels of food, while the rest wait for their turn hungry cursing the system. The management of food is one of the biggest issues in stadiums, and the authorities need to wake up and figure out how they should feed 40,000 people who are sitting in the stadium the whole day. One of the simplest ways is to allot as many food stalls as they can (in proportion to the number of tickets that are expected to be sold) and use the policemen to regulate the queues in the food stalls. There are never any queues though, it's just an ugly scene of a thousand people pushing and shoving each other with notes in their hand while the people in the stalls go bonkers.

How do the other giant stadia like MCG and SCG handle this ?

[Malcolm Merlyn]

Namaste OP Welcome to India Hope you have a pleasant stay

[gaurav92]

Well written :nice:

[Old guy]

its so simple everything u said...it can be easily changed and we will see twice the attendence these people are just plain lazy nothing else they would rather cu the ticket prices then improving facilities no wonder every one here in punjab prefers to watch ipl live then these games lol

[lovish]

I wish people of cricket associations stuffing their pocket with blind money read your post... this is the reason hyden calls india a third world country... n all the indian junta and media goes ba ba over it... have we ever thought why he called india that... gljust go to australia or uk and watch a match there and one feels as if he is in heaven... so much to improve but our cricket association is in the hands of filthy and greedy sharad powar and his group... he deserves another slap for this... :/ Love is eternal - Albus dumbledore

[Serani]

Third world mentality of more seats = better stadium and not actually caring about the enjoyment of fans. Some guys from my cricket club went to the ind eng test at mumbai in 2006 and said it was disgusting.

[Magneto]

Thanks for reading. Hope BCCI opens up to the reality of how they manage their games.

[Spiderguy252]

Indian stadiums don't deserve crowds, so I don't get the whining? Pathetic bits of scum they are. I suppose if they were built by the Britishers from back in the day they would have been much better, but no, they've been constructed indigenously since and worse, managed by politicians since time immemorial. Why bother turning up? Of course, you'll always get the jingoistic, one eyed fans defending the BCCI like a pack of unorganized muppets. Dare them to go and sufer on the hard concrete for five days and maybe then they'll realize that their Sharad Pawar anna isn't doing anything much for them. Pity. To top it off, show them Lord's and the MCG and Jo'burg or even Auckland. That'll do it I reckon. In an ideal world, a stadium like the Eden Gardens should have a cult following like a summertime Lord's test or a Boxing Day MCG event. Instead, it sees a scattering of just over a hundred brave "fans" for the West Indies test just gone by, and the wackos in charge couldn't even get it in shape for that India - England world cup match. Losers. It's no surprise that there are more Indians in this ongoing MCG test than all the tests in India put together over the last couple of years. I mean, which retard is going to turn up to the giant slabs of unsanitized cement come match time? (Not that it is a good experience watching it on TV either - L shaped ads, V shaped ads, U shaped ads - unlucky to be born an Indian I guess). I suppose it is a good thing that the media keeps broadcasting stories about dwindling crowds. As with everything in this joke of a nation, it needs to hit an iceberg before some changes happen. Whatever changes though, it'll still be eons behind the "real" aforementioned stadiums in other parts of the world. Because that's the thumb rule. India = Low Quality. As for Indian fans, ask them to open up and start criticizing the facilities. The BCCI is the richest sporting organization in the world. The stadiums thus should be made of dark chocolate with seats of strawberries if they must. I had a laughable mini-discussion with my father last night whilst watching the highlights and like a spokesperson for the NCP fund raising arm, he shot back - "Don't blame the poor, poor BCCI. You do something about it!". I left it at that.