The commercial capital of cricket: Charu Sharma
India became the commercial capital of cricket at the turn of the millennium.
If it sounds too good to be true it probably is! That is a pretty accurate representation of the story of Indian cricket over the past quarter of a century. We only have to go back to the 1970s to remind ourselves that cricket was not a source of livelihood for even the top 15 players of the country. The match fee and allowances were negligible. The players got by with jobs in various corporations.
The tide turned in 1982-83, with the Ninth Asian Games in New Delhi. Colour TV arrived and suddenly television became a coveted household item. Along came June 1983 and rank outsiders India went on to win the World Cup. Our story begins.
In 1983, VST Industries, with whom I was privileged to be employed those days, quickly cemented its association with the gentlemen at the Board of Control for Cricket in India or BCCI. VST signed up the first official three-year contract for sponsoring one-day internationals or ODIs, and domestic cricket, which rode piggyback.
The sum: Rs 3 lakh per ODI, which was considerable in those early days of sponsorship. I dare suggest that all parties were happy. The Board was assured money, the players were beginning to sniff it and the commentators were kept busy. The viewers suddenly began to get a regular diet. The broadcaster, at that time the national channel, couldn't have been happier laying its hands on eight to 10 hours of software. And the real gold mine? Thirty seconds of advertising revenue every four minutes.
In 1987, VST wished to renew its contract for another three years. The new, commercially astute management of the Board hit VST with a demand of Rs 7 lakh a match. Under the threat of competing sponsors being in the queue, VST paid up. The story of wild exponential increases commenced. Consider the current situation. Team sponsorship: Rs 3.3 crore per match (Sahara). Apparel sponsorship in 2005: $27.2 million, or Rs 118 crore (Nike). And the whopper is TV rights: Rs 2,000 crore until 2014 for all India matches.
After India's success in 1983, the subcontinent staked its claim to host the 1987 World Cup. Reliance picked up the title sponsorship. The subcontinental fan following made it all worth it and the World Cup was quick to return in 1996, sponsored by ITC/Wills for Rs 40 crore. Satellite TV had arrived by then, and competition between multiple channels kept driving up telecast rights fees. With India's economy opening up in the first half of the 1990s, the stage had been set for another boom in the cricket stakes.
India had already become the commercial capital of cricket at the turn of the millennium. Did it have an even bigger capacity to spend on the game? Along came the Indian Premier League or IPL. But only after the Indian Cricket League or ICL.
It is important to remember here that until 2006, all the massive commercial gains of the sport benefited only 15 or 20 players in the country. Great for them. But the next rung of the country's best were still very poorly remunerated. It was a very unhealthy gap - a gap you did not want to experience once you had been at the high end. So injuries had to be hidden. And the exclusive club members protected their own. The ICL changed that by offering a very decent source of livelihood for 10 times the number of players. And the biggest commercial development, the IPL, offered the best domestic players a substantial source of income. All domestic players' fees and allowances were instantly trebled. There is little need to elaborate on what the IPL did to those who played for the national team - except to gently remind you about a lanky Indian fast bowler who earned Rs 1.5 lakh for every delivery bowled.
The writer is a cricket commentator
The tide turned in 1982-83, with the Ninth Asian Games in New Delhi. Colour TV arrived and suddenly television became a coveted household item. Along came June 1983 and rank outsiders India went on to win the World Cup. Our story begins.
In 1983, VST Industries, with whom I was privileged to be employed those days, quickly cemented its association with the gentlemen at the Board of Control for Cricket in India or BCCI. VST signed up the first official three-year contract for sponsoring one-day internationals or ODIs, and domestic cricket, which rode piggyback.
The sum: Rs 3 lakh per ODI, which was considerable in those early days of sponsorship. I dare suggest that all parties were happy. The Board was assured money, the players were beginning to sniff it and the commentators were kept busy. The viewers suddenly began to get a regular diet. The broadcaster, at that time the national channel, couldn't have been happier laying its hands on eight to 10 hours of software. And the real gold mine? Thirty seconds of advertising revenue every four minutes.
In 1987, VST wished to renew its contract for another three years. The new, commercially astute management of the Board hit VST with a demand of Rs 7 lakh a match. Under the threat of competing sponsors being in the queue, VST paid up. The story of wild exponential increases commenced. Consider the current situation. Team sponsorship: Rs 3.3 crore per match (Sahara). Apparel sponsorship in 2005: $27.2 million, or Rs 118 crore (Nike). And the whopper is TV rights: Rs 2,000 crore until 2014 for all India matches.
After India's success in 1983, the subcontinent staked its claim to host the 1987 World Cup. Reliance picked up the title sponsorship. The subcontinental fan following made it all worth it and the World Cup was quick to return in 1996, sponsored by ITC/Wills for Rs 40 crore. Satellite TV had arrived by then, and competition between multiple channels kept driving up telecast rights fees. With India's economy opening up in the first half of the 1990s, the stage had been set for another boom in the cricket stakes.
India had already become the commercial capital of cricket at the turn of the millennium. Did it have an even bigger capacity to spend on the game? Along came the Indian Premier League or IPL. But only after the Indian Cricket League or ICL.
It is important to remember here that until 2006, all the massive commercial gains of the sport benefited only 15 or 20 players in the country. Great for them. But the next rung of the country's best were still very poorly remunerated. It was a very unhealthy gap - a gap you did not want to experience once you had been at the high end. So injuries had to be hidden. And the exclusive club members protected their own. The ICL changed that by offering a very decent source of livelihood for 10 times the number of players. And the biggest commercial development, the IPL, offered the best domestic players a substantial source of income. All domestic players' fees and allowances were instantly trebled. There is little need to elaborate on what the IPL did to those who played for the national team - except to gently remind you about a lanky Indian fast bowler who earned Rs 1.5 lakh for every delivery bowled.
The writer is a cricket commentator
