India’s ICC Cricket World Cup attracts more than a million fans

The 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup has broken tournament attendance records with the world governing body announcing that more than 1 million fans having already attended matches across its 10 venues.

With just the semi finals and final now remaining, the millionth fan entered the turnstiles during the match between Afghanistan and South Africa at the 132,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad last Friday prior to the final three group games.

Set to become one of the most attended events in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) history the tournament has also attracted record broadcast viewers.

Live broadcasts for the first 18 tournament matches clocked up 123.8 billion viewing minutes - a massive 43% growth compared to the previous edition in England and Wales in 2019 - and 364.2 million viewers tuning in.

Speaking on the milestone, ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley stated “with over 1 million attendees and record-breaking viewership, the Cricket World Cup 2023 has reminded cricket fans around the world of the support and interest in the ODI format that highlights how much World Cup cricket is valued.

“As we look ahead to the knockout stages, we look forward to this event breaking more records and showcasing the best about cricket in one day.”

Earlier in the tournament crowd numbers at games appeared inconsistent with the tournament opening match between England and New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium showing more than 80,000 empty seats in the massive venue.

Amid concerns over ticket availability and that the popularity of the ODI format had waned, the improvement to reach attendances of over a million will be a relief to organisers.

With widespread reports on social media of fans struggling with the online platform used to sell and distribute tickets, and matches or sections of the ground shown as sold out, subsequently being to be largely empty.

Confusion reigned when thousands of tickets were released on the day of India's match against Australia in Chennai - a fixture previously believed to have already been sold out.

Overseas fans are also reported to have encountered visa issues.

The final of the tournament will be held on Sunday, also at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

Images credit: ICC.