Endorsing cricket

By Rajadhyax

Money makes the mare go. And cricket is no exception! Team sponsorships, tournament sponsorships, product endorsements, TV rights, players’ contracts and stadium collections are by far the six major financial transactions in modern-day cricket. Then the miscellaneous ones like sale of memorabilia and kit sponsorships etc will follow. To all of this if you add the money that firms make on the back of star cricketers, you get some picture of how much money is involved in cricket these days. By Jove, cricket is big business…. massive business.

On the sub-continent – and especially in India – where cricket is followed like a religion the amounts of funds changing hands are phenomenal. After all, India is a fast developing country with a lot of international clout and a major unifying factor among conflicting national emotions is the astonishingly popular game of cricket. Had the government not been chronically myopic and not obsessed with Nehruvian utopia, cricket would have been India’s national game already.

But among the followers of the game there are many misunderstandings on the whole issue of money in cricket and it is my fond intention to clear some of them. Having spoken to cricketers and administrators of the game and having watched the players work the sweat out under hot sun, I assume some moral position to provide the explanation.

When cricketers make astronomical amounts of money and some people (many of them being fans of other Indian sports) criticise the flow of funds, these people fall under two categories; those who are envious of cricketers as well as their pay packets and others who sincerely feel that such funds are bad for cricket and they spoil cricketers. The former do not warrant consideration and the less said about them the better, while the latter deserve some explanations.

Fundamentally money is often not a distraction but a motivator, as many a management thinker will vouch. Cricketers are fully aware that they will get the funds as long as they perform to their peak potential on the pitch. So, major endorsements and sponsorships do not push cricketers away from the game but in fact help them to focus on it. They know that a small string of bad efforts on the wicket and they will be down to club cricket once more where earning Rs.5000 per month is a Herculean task. On the other hand, the prospect of making massive wealth hides in match-winning performances. ‘Perform or perish’ is clearly the order of the day and no one, from a star like Saurav Ganguly to a rookie new comer like Ravindra Jadeja is immune from the law.

Tournament collections and money from TV rights also can be explained by a basic economic principle: punters place their heaviest bets on winning horses. Cricket was also as devoid of funding as other sports in that era when India lost frequently and won rarely. But Ajit Wadekar and Sunil Gavaskar onwards, the equations slowly changed. The Kapil Dev era was an explicit boon for cricket in India. The Prudential World Cup win (1982) onwards India started to win very frequently and fan following reached a crescendo. The Sachin-Saurav era consolidated the position and the Dhoni era has continued the good work. The triumphs have pulled in more public attention, greater adulation, advertisements and big-time endorsements. Matches where India is involved are usually a sell-out thanks to residents of the country and the Diasporas all over the cricketing world. As long as the administrative body of cricket ploughs-in majority of those funds for further development of the game itself, no one should mind it too much. And players need not let the money get to their heads.

And yes, cricketers must not get involved in betting and match fixing too. Fortunately, due to the match-fixing scandal that threatened to take the game of cricket down (but could not), everyone is doubly careful now. Police and ICC officials are constantly on the vigil. Cricketers do not want the bad publicity that follows if they get caught. Umpires and administrators are willing to report the smallest of discrepancies. When everyone is staring at the silver spoon, it’s not possible to steal it. Betting will continue on major games, as in other sports, but the players are no longer involved in it. Spectators betting on cricket has nothing to do with the players. Match fixing accusations have been certainly dealt with and it is not possible any longer to pay and fix matches. Fans can rest assured that matches are cleanly played and a bad performance is ‘really’ a bad performance. So no need to scream, “he took money for it” when you see a good fielder drop a sitter next time.

An old cliché states that cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties. Let’s not call those uncertainties a fall-out of corruption or match fixing.

Never forget that because of the fantastic quantum of funds rolling into cricket, the game is developing a lot; academies are mushrooming for youngsters, better equipment is entering and infrastructure is coming up in all sorts of places. Telecast is getting better, commentary is getting articulate, matches are becoming exciting, entertainment values are growing and generally the game is getting well advertised. Even countries like China, Hong Kong, USA, Oman, Belgium and Fiji – traditionally not cricket loving countries – have competent national teams and increasing following of the game. It all augurs well for cricket.