Rain-out or unfinished matches could spell disaster for organisers, and with the entire east coast of Australia expected to deal with wet weather in the coming months, the disaster could turn financial.
Ticket holders in T20 World Cup are entitled to a full refund if less than 10 overs are played. There is an 80% chance of rain for Melbourne this Sunday, which is not good news for the spectators and the fans sitting at home.
According to the Daily Telegraph, refunds for the India-Pakistan game alone could cost organizers up to $4 million if the game doesn’t go ahead, with practice matches in Brisbane already cancelled.
Some damage is insured on the tickets in case the matches rain, but this will still be a day-to-day possibility for the organisers.
Not only could a delay in rain sting viewers, potentially upset the massive live TV audience as well, with previous fixtures between India and Pakistan easily exceeding 200 million.
The BoM earlier this year predicted another ‘La Nia’ event for this summer, a climate event that led to more rain and lower overall temperatures on the eastern coastline.
The Bureau’s head of long-range forecasting, Andrew Watkins, made an unfortunate prediction for organizers that the effects were likely to be seen throughout the spring, as opposed to later in the summer.
“At the moment, this La Nia is not looking particularly strong and it looks like it will probably peak fairly early in the summer or late spring,” Watkins told ABC last month.
“Which is a little unusual, a little different from the La Nias that we’ve been seeing in recent years.”