International Cricket Council announces Aramco sponsorship and fan experience plans for T20 World Cup

With the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup set to commence at Geelong’s Kardinia Park on Sunday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has revealed the digital experiences that fans will enjoy during the tournament, while also announcing Saudi Arabian energy and chemicals company Aramco as sponsors of major men’s and women’s ICC events scheduled until the end of 2023.

With Aramco to aid the ICC’s sustainability efforts, the partnership will include Aramco sponsorship of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa, the ICC World Test Championship Final in the UK and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India.

The sponsorship will connect Aramco with a global cricket audience of more than one billion cricket fans and will it granted naming rights for ICC Player of the Match awards, which celebrate elite performances throughout each event.

It also reflects a shared focus on sustainability and innovation, as the ICC moves towards making cricket a more sustainable sport. Aramco recycling machines will be installed across all seven match venues in Australia for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup with plastic waste recycled from these machines to be converted into clothing for future ICC events.

Fan Engagement 
The ICC has also explained how it will build on the digital impact of the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup in Oman and the UAE, which delivered a record total of 2.55 billion minutes of action consumed across its digital assets.

A total of 618 million fans were said to have engaged with the tournament on digital platforms, a 28% jump from the 2019 Men’s Cricket World Cup.

Within tournament venues, fans will get access to new interactive features including in stadia voting for what music will be played at matches and being a part of interactive light shows at certain events. 

At certain matches, fans will also be able to engage in a ‘Big Time’ immersive AR experience.

Australia T20 World Cup hosting
Australia’s staging of the T20 World Cup comes two years later than originally planned as a result of its July 2020 postponement due to the COVID pandemic.
With the rescheduled tournament, the first time the Men’s T20 World Cup will be held in Australia, running from 16th October to 13th November over 600,000 tickets have already been purchased

The highly anticipated India v Pakistan fixture, to be played the following night at the MCG on 23rd October, will be played in front of a full house after additional standing room tickets released two months ago were sold within 10 minutes. 

Aramco Sponsorship
Commenting on the links with Aramco, ICC Chief Executive, Geoff Allardice declared “we are delighted to welcome Aramco into the family of ICC global partners. 

“Our shared commitment to excellence is the foundation of the partnership and we are looking forward to working with Aramco on our major men’s and women’s events through to the end of 2023.”

Aramco Global Public Affairs General Manager, Talal Al-Marri added “this represents a significant addition to our network of global partnerships and we are pleased to join forces with the ICC.

“Excellence is one of our core values and this is reflected in our support of cricket at the elite level. It is a sport that demands high levels of focus, teamwork, discipline, integrity and ability - and these are all attributes that we value highly at Aramco.”

Image: The 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup will  commence at Geelong’s Kardinia Park on Sunday. Credit: Kardinia Park Trust.