Money-Gram Internation-al, a global leader in money transfers, is likely to sell the ticket for the Bangladesh part of the World Cup 2011, officials of the local organising committee said on Wednesday.
‘The International Cricket Council wants us to sell the tickets through any of its sponsors. MoneyGram is one of the options we are seriously considering,’ said Ali Ahsan Babu, the tournament director of hosts Bangladesh.
‘We are at the final stage of signing a deal with Indian sports ticketing company Kya Zoonga. Once the deal is signed we will decide on the modality of selling tickets,’ said Babu.
‘Of course the priority will be given to the company which has its outlets all over Bangladesh. In that case, yes, MoneyGram can be a good option,’
MoneyGram became a sponsor of the ICC only on Wednesday when it signed a five-year agreement with the game’s global oversight body for a period from 2011 to 2015. During the period they will be one of the co-sponsors of all ICC events including the World Cup, which takes place in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka from February 19 to April 2 in 2011.
MoneyGram joined LG, Pepsi, Reliance Mobile, Emirates Airlines, Reebok, Hero Honda, Yahoo and Scotiabank as the global sponsors of the ICC.
MoneyGram operates through Agrani Bank, The City Bank, Eastern Bank, IFIC Bank, Islami Bank, Jamuna Bank, Mutual Trust Bank Ltd, Al-Arafah Islami Bank, TMSS, NCC Bank, Premier Bank, Standard Bank Ltd and Uttara Bank and the post offices in Bangladesh.
Ali Ahsan Babu said they will start selling tickets from November, though no specific date has been fixed
yet. Earlier, it was reported that ticket sales will be started on November 11, exactly 100 days before the tournament begins, but Babu said it may not be possible for them to go with the plan.
The two main World Cup venues in Bangladesh – the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium and Jahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong –have a seating capacity of 26,174 and 16,390 respectively.
Five per cent of the available tickets were put on sale online and the officials said most of them have already been sold out.
