India: Cricket’s dependance on one country for eyeballs and money doesn’t augur well for its future
ICC) event ever, there is a sense of confidence in cricket’s health. But, look a little deeper and you start to doubt your hypothesis. While the games involving India were watched by millions, what about the games that didn’t involve India? How many fans watched the brilliant Australia-South Africa semi-final?
India — or more specifically, it’s fans and market— is cricket’s biggest strength.
And it’s biggest weakness, too.
Just two days after the World Cup final loss fans thronged to the stadium in Vizag to watch the India-Australia T20 match. But the very same fans did not bother to watch key World Cup games that did not involve India. “In the IPL, India wins every night.
Be it Mumbai, Lucknow, Delhi or Chennai, whoever wins an IPL match the Indian fan wins in the end. It doesn’t matter who wins and that has made it a safer investment than any other property,” says the business head of a global giant, which invests heavily in all sports properties in the country.
For example, the Indian Premier League (IPL) is a domestic franchise tournament but it’s way more valuable than the ICC World Cup. The IPL got Rs 48,000 crore for five-year broadcasting rights, but the ICC got only Rs 24,000 crore for four-year rights.
This monopoly is a problem.
Most Indian fans don’t show much interest in the matches that don’t involve the Indian team. And, that is making the cricketing eco-system extremely lopsided and problematic.
Arnab Roy, head of marketing of Coca Cola, India, however, has a contrarian view. “The win-loss thing doesn’t really matter for us because the passion of the Indian fan always guarantees you a wide reach.
