ICC T20 World Cup 2024 Fan Park Activation – BatFast x SportFive

Client: Sport Five representing the International Cricket Council

Event: ICC T20 World Cup 2024

Activation: Cricket Simulator

Location: World Trade Center, New York City, USA

The Brief:

The brief was to deliver an engaging fan experience at the official ICC Fan Park at the Oculus World Trade Center in New York City during the T20 World Cup 2024. With the USA being a new market for ICC the key was to introduce as many New Yorkers as possible to give them a taste of the sport. BatFast was part of a fan park that hosted a multitude of activities including a bowling experience, a mega-screen for viewers, Roblox – with Jomboy Media, face painting, sign-making and more.

The Challenge:

Introducing a new sport to a new demographic was the key challenge for this activation. Being a nation that is baseball-loving, BatFast and SportFIVE saw the similarities between the two sports as a simple starting point to educate New Yorkers on cricket.

The Process:

The ICC and SportFive outlined a high-footfall location for the activation to draw the attention of passersby and give them a taste of cricket. With this in mind, the Oculus Center was the chosen location – located centrally in Lower Manhattan and at the heart of the New York Financial District.

Once the location was confirmed, two BatFast simulators were shipped from the Head Office in the UK to New York. The Batting simulators were part of a larger fan park that housed a large screen to view all the T20 World Cup games, bowling experiences and other activities to engage fans.

The simulators were set-up inside official ICC-branded tents within 12 hours and ready to go live on 1st June 2024.

The Fan Experience:

The gameplay on the simulator was simplified to cater to new audiences. We had 3 game modes on offer – easy, medium and hard, defined as below:

Easy: 25-35mph, simple straight balls so players with no prior experience find it easy to hit the ball
Medium: 35-45mph, with very little variation in line and length
Hard: 45-60mph, with a good mix of yorkers, inswingers and off-spin

The Result:

The activation was a roaring success amongst New Yorkers, drawing all kinds of crowds – be it passers-by on the way to work, die-hard cricket fans who huddled to watch their team play or even an NYPD officer who took a few minutes to hit a ball between work. The Fan-Park saw vast coverage from local and national press, while also drawing great attention on Social media, with over 9m views on a single video from South African Cricketer Dale Steyn. Overall, it helped ICC in its quest to grow the game in the USA.

Key highlights from the activation include:

Over 4000 fans faced the simulator while queueing for as long as 30 minutes on average.
25% of the players were aged under 16, including a special meet-and-greet event where cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar interacted with budding cricketers.
Over 24000 balls were delivered across the 13 days, averaging over 300 overs per day
Come rain or shine, the simulator was running for all the games.
NPS Score – 75%
Average customer rating: 9.1/ 10