Smaller crowd for opening ceremony

Preparations are in full swing for the opening ceremony of the upcoming Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BBPL) T20, slated for December 8 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan said yesterday that only a fraction of the stadium’s capacity could be accommodated for the extravaganza.

Hassan informed they were preparing to accommodate a total of around 8,000. At full capacity, the stadium can accommodate 25,000 spectators.

The positioning of the stage was an issue, which will render it impossible to make seating arrangements at the sides and the back. “Since there is a problem with viewing angles, we can only accommodate a small number of spectators. The problem is that we can’t arrange seating for the sides or the back [of the stage]. How many we can accommodate is a big question. We had to reduce the capacity from what we initially decided,” Hassan told reporters in Mirpur yesterday. “According to our estimation, not more than 8,00 can be accommodated.”

While the arrangement is for 8,000 people overall, there are separate quotas for clubs, BCB councillors and various organisations. Thus, only around 5,000 tickets will be made available to the general public.

“Naturally, there is a lot of demand for tickets, so there will be less quantity. There are some organisations who are intrinsically involved with us and we have to provide for them. Overall, we think that we will be able to provide about 5,000 tickets for the general public,” Hassan said while adding that about 1,000 seats will be arranged inside the ground for VIPs.

The president also informed that information regarding ticket prices would be made available soon.