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Players Sweat it out on the ground, Audience off it!
Inflation has truly hit us, the end consumers. “It is quite apparent with the way we were fleeced at the first IPL match here in Chennai,” comments Shiva Krishnamoorthy, a huge cricket enthusiast. “It is quite sad that. Inflation is reflected in the ticket cost whereas there is a huge deflation in the maintenance of the stadium, earlier there used to be fans and televisions in and around the MCC pavilion (now rechristened T3 for the IPL), now both are missing from the allotted stands.”. “Most of us did not have a good time at the match primarily because it was so hot also making it worse was the lack of basic arrangements from the coordinators” explains Siddharth, a Business Analyst. “I don’t understand why they would schedule a match in this hot weather with poor arrangements” he continues.
“I came here with my entire family to cherish our first LIVE game and unfortunately, for me everything went wrong from start to finish,” narrates Mr Naren, a business man. “For starters we were stuck in a traffic about 20 m from the stadium for about an hour and since I was self driving I didn’t have a choice but to find parking. And once outside our gate we get to know that there were no parking arrangements in spite of many huge vacant spaces being in the vicinity of the stadium. The lack of planning was just too obvious. The traffic was just the beginning for the main course there was poor seating arrangements as well as poor air supply. I had to leave the match mid way as my seven year old son could not handle the heat. It’s really sad that in spite of spending a fortune for a 3 hour match one does not get any satisfaction,” continues Mr Naren.
. “The closest I could get parking was opposite the Ice house building in Triplicane. And there was so much traffic that I had to walk back the entire stretch to the stadium. All this to watch a LIVE match at Rs 2000 a ticket,” laments Mr Ajay a club cricketer. “I think it’s about time that things such as traffic, venue and crowd management were planned and implemented by private agencies. At least that would ensure more detailing and lesser inconvenience,” suggests Lucky Singh, an event manager by profession. It’s about time that the organisers stopped taking us for granted and gave us seats and parking in direct proportion with the money spent.
What works in the favor of the IPL in spite of some horrendous organization and management is the unstinting support and love for the game. All the above mentioned individuals agree that at the end of the day going through all the pain appears to be an aberration when one sees Dhoni hit one right over the bowlers head or when Hayden reverse sweeps Shaun Pollock.
The organisers from the look of it seem to be utilizing this great love for cricket and “any money for cricket” attitude of people to charge huge sums and provide below par arrangements and viewing facilities.
