MARGATE/FL – USA: The recently completed 10th Edition of the popular US Open T20 cricket tournament brought great economic benefits to Lauderhill, with an economic benefit in the range of $8.5M. This is the word from Rodeo Communications who conducted a study of the impact the December tournament had on the area.
A total of 510 cricketers were in the area for the tournament and added to this another 250 traveling spectators attached to the teams would have descended on the Central Broward Regional Park. The tournament was conducted over six days, so players and supporters would have been in the area before the start, so the parameters used was based on one week.
For the period December 11 to 17 the business community in Broward would have benefited from the masses that came to town. Cricket Council USA (CCUSA) did deals with many hotels for teams and supporters, among them being Sheraton Suites, Cypress Creak which was the most popular among players. In all a total of 574 rooms were booked for the period in question. Apart from overseas players and supporters coming in, there were a number of inter-county flights that came to Fort Lauderdale with cricket stakeholders. So airlines would have benefitted significantly as well. Other than the local flights, there were players coming from Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and other Caribbean countries. The airlines servicing these routes were American Airlines, United and JetBlue with US interests. Flights came in full because each team would have travelled with 20 players, five members that make up the back room staff and supporters.
As a sample, one team from Trinidad, the Kumar Rampat Cricket Academy, brought 15 players, three management staff and 102 supporters. This was significant, as they would have come to the US not only for cricket but also to shop with the Christmas Holidays at hand.
A closer check by Rodeo Communications revealed that many of the families that came to cricket actually spent the Christmas Holidays in the US, with most driving up to Orlando after the tournament. Whilst the tournament was taking place, restaurants close to the ground were packed with patrons. Over the week of the tournament business would have boomed for them, as they had to supply the cricket people. CCUSA also catered hundreds of lunches and dinners plus refreshments each day for players and this added to the business for the local restaurants. The car rental companies also benefited tremendously, as visitors needed to move around from cricket to shopping. The malls also saw an increase in walk ins, as visitors took the added advantage of fantastic shopping that was on offer in the States.
CCUSA also employed a number of people during the period of the tournament. They included technical staff, umpires, commentators, cameramen, ground staff, hospitality staff, ushers, dancers and general laborers. The council also allowed food trucks into the stadium to give the visitors variety in their food choices and this led to great business for the owners
