Only half of the $50 million that is being invested in the forthcoming ICC T20 World Cup, is going to the redevelopment of Kensington Oval.
Chairman of the National Organising Committee (NOC) for the global June event, Noel Lynch, made that clear at a Zoom press conference held yesterday afternoon.
“Half of the $50 million goes to the refurbishment of Kensington Oval while the other half will go to building that solid platform for the redevelopment of our cricket,” he said.
Lynch said the redevelopment phase will encompass the in-door facility at Kensington Oval and three other venues that are being worked upon.
He said that all efforts will be made to ensure Barbadians feel they ‘own’ the World Cup.
“We are encouraging Barbadians to believe that they own this World Cup. We are not leaving you out, at every stage of the process, the Barbadian public will be involved.
“We want Barbadians to be involved again in cricket, more participation, more people, more fans, more partnerships.”
Lynch mentioned that this was an opportunity to involve Barbadians in an event that is going to do a lot for them, pre the World Cup, during the World Cup, and post the World Cup.
He said legacy will be a key component of the World Cup which will be held in the Caribbean and the United States in June.
“When we leave this World Cup, we want to ensure that a number of things are happening to our people. One of the things that we are really interested in doing is ensuring that the cricketing component of it, and we have slipped a number of years, so we want to use this particular event as a platform for rebuilding and renewing our cricket globally.
“We want more participation, we want more people involved, we want more fans and if we are able to do that, I think we will see a resurgence in West Indies’ cricket.’’
Lynch said his team has already met with Legends Barbados, and noting there was a cultural aspect to the event, have begun discussions with the Ministry of Culture and the National Cultural Foundation.
The former Minister of Tourism said it was too early to come up with numbers in terms of visitors expected on the island for the event, but mentioned the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) is “very much involved”.
“In the next couple of weeks, you are going to start to see the beginnings of the advertising and promotion strategy for what is going to happen across Barbados,” he said.
Lynch stated that no one will be allowed to drop passengers at Kensington Oval with a park and ride system to be instituted.
“We are not encouraging anyone to be dropped off at Kensington Oval. What is going to happen is that there are going to be park and ride areas. Fans will have to walk at least 400 metres to get into Kensington Oval, and through those corridors, we are going to be engaging entertainment, vending of many kinds, encouraging Barbadiana to be creative within those areas,” he added.
The former Cabinet Minister said there will be three major fan zones – a fan zone is an area outside or away from a sports stadium for people to watch the game on a large screen – and four or five which will be called watch party areas where vending opportunities will be available.
Lynch said it was the intention of the NOC to engage the folks from the entire district in and around Kensington to be part and parcel of the World Cup.
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