Cricket Ireland will wave farewell to Ireland today with the wind of a new World Cup sponsor in their sails.
The identity of the new sponsor, billed as an international company based in Ireland will be revealed here later this morning after an announcement by Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Paschal Donoghue and his colleague Minister for Sport Michael Ring.
Discussions over a long term partner for the sport to replace RSA whose tenure as overall sponsor of the sport here ended in December are ongoing and the value of such a deal will be shown by what coverage can be gained over the coming weeks.
Cricket Ireland revealed a multi million ten year deal with Indian multinational Shapoorji Pillonji as Academy sponsors in September of last year. It also has deals with Toyota and Newstalk amongst others.
The World Cup gets underway in Australia and New Zealand on February 14th with Ireland’s first game two days later against the West Indies.
They will then play the UAE, South Africa, Zimbabwe, India and Pakistan in pool matches that will draw as big a television audience around the world as has been played before by any Irish international team. The 2011 World Cup semi final between India and Pakistan is reported to have been watched by one billion people.
In 2007 Ireland beat Pakistan and four years later a Kevin O’Brien inspired performance saw off England. A repeat of that level of performance would see cricket surge again in the Irish consciousness and back up the substantial development work on the ground that has taken place over the last eight years.
Ireland will erect a temporary stadium in Malahide once more on May 8th for the one day international visit of England. Sport for Business will shortly be making a corporate supporters package available for that game including an exclusive behind the scenes tour. If you would like to know more about the opportunity, contact us today.
Cricket Ireland is a full member of Sport for Business. To find out more about Ireland’s largest network of sporting and business leaders, click here.
