Sports
New challenges for world cricket order (News Analysis)
By
By Veturi Srivatsa New Delhi, May 10
The new global cricket
venture by Subhash Chandra's Essel Group has to be seen in the context
of recent happenings in world cricket, particularly in India.
The
uncertainty over the functioning of the Board of Control for Cricket in
India (BCCI) and the resentment among some boards, particularly the
Associates, over the way the International Cricket Council (ICC) is run
may have prompted Essel to take on the establishment.
Whenever a
global cricket venture is talked about, the first name associated with
it is none other than Lalit Modi, who is credited with all the good and
bad things of the Indian Premier League (IPL) he conceptualised and
successfully launched eight years ago.
The Essel Group, which
floated the short-lived Indian Cricket League (ICL) before the IPL put
it out of business, is quick to deny Modi's involvement in its new
global vision for cricket. Modi, on his part, also said he had nothing
to do with it.
Votaries of the free market, Modi and his mentor
Inderjit Singh Bindra always believed that cricket should be liberalised
from the control of a handful of a cosy club of international
boards/members. In fact, the BCCI had offered Subhash Chandra the
telecast rights for offshore cricket during Sharad Pawar's regime, but
this fell through for non-cricketing reasons.
Subhash Chandra,
perhaps, perceives himself to be modern day Kerry Packer whose World
Series Cricket (WSC) showed cricketers how to make big money without
conforming themselves to traditional forms of the sport. He does not
make bones about his intention that he is in the global sports business
and feels cricket can be taken beyond the confines of the Commonwealth
countries. Not a bad vision, but how will it work?
Calling it a
part of its business promotion plans, Essel has registered companies in
Australia, New Zealand and Scotland, the names sounding like parallel
boards.
It is not clear as yet whether Essel is challenging the
ICC or just looking at pure business prospects. Whatever be the case,
the apex body of world cricket is forced to take note of the group's
unusual "business interests".
The company hastened to say that
the new business model has nothing to do with Ten Sports, thus
safeguarding its existing interests. The TV network has broadcast rights
for South Africa, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Zimbabwe,
saying the channel has nothing to do with the new venture.
The
concept of taking cricket to far and wide is an old one. Even Jagmohan
Dalmiya, when he was ICC chief and the then Indian board chief, used to
talk about taking cricket to the Japanese and Chinese markets just as
the European sports czars today see India as a potential market.
Modi
is clear that the proposed new league might gobble up the financially
unsteady English counties. If Subhash Chandra succeeds in getting the
English cricketers on his side he might as well go ahead with not only a
parallel league but also a governing body to bargain with other
established boards.
There is this talk of enticing top stars like
Michael Clarke and David Warner by paying them $50 million in
multi-year contracts. That's some money, but the point is whether the
two have the power to wean away international cricketers, paying them
close to what they themselves are promised. Then again, it will be like
ICL getting Brian Lara when he was past his best cricketing years.
After
the ICL fiasco, Subhash Chandra will not jump in without a proper
blueprint and execution plan. He will also be wary of the Indian board's
potential to sabotage his venture a second time.
The media mogul
is frustrated by his unsuccessful bid for telecast rights to beam
cricket in India for his Zee TV and its subsidiary Ten Sports and he
sees there is no other go except to challenge cricket's established
order. There can't be a better way to do it than planning a global
Twenty20 tournament.
The group is aware of the pitfalls that
pulled the 2007-09 ICL down and gave it a bad name in market as well as
among cricketers. Some 50 players are said to have been shortchanged and
some of them went into litigation. To assure the players of safeguards
this time the players may be given bank guarantees.
The other
issue the organisers are taking care of is to have enough grounds to
host matches, at least a dozen if their intention is to play home-away
matches among some 10 city-based franchises. The grounds maintained by
the state associations affiliated to the BCCI are out of bounds.
Interesting
days are ahead, but it may not be easy to disturb the world of cricket
as it is - more so when India is the real market.
Tailpiece:
Subhash Chandra and ICC chairman Narayanswami Srinivasan are old pals
and both know a thing or two about business and how to help each other
in times of distress.
(Veturi Srivatsa is a senior journalist. He can be reached at v.srivatsa@ians