The Business Sense of.. CRICKET !!

It might be just a sport for some or a casual way to kill time, but it is a RELIGION in India. The way people in India follow or are attached to the game of cricket is incomparable to any other nation.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI ), founded in 1928 is the richest board in the world at this point of time.

People in India love to watch cricket irrespective of the time and date, and BCCI knowing this fact capitalizes on this opportunity.

Since the start of the second decade of this century, most Indian players, if not all, have been playing cricket almost throughout the year which is to the pleasure of any Indian cricket fan but different to rest of the countries playing cricket which do get some time off their international cricket calendar.

Whether it be an international match in which India is a part of or an IPL ( Indian Premier League ) game, an enormous amount of money is involved. Whopping amounts of money is generated and earned by the BCCI through sponsors, advertisements, etc. The current value of the board is $ 295 million and it reportedly earned a profit of $50 million in 2011-12 with the ECB ( England and Wales Cricket Board ) being far second with difference being more than $25 million.

Talking of ordinary people earning money through cricket, one way the people probably earn is by betting on matches. Betting or gambling in India is illegal unlike in the UK, for example. With the system in India being not that strict, people do get away with earning a lot by betting on cricket games and have made a business out of it. The lure of making money in a flash has infected a large number of people. But, it gets really ugly when the bookies try or even do fix matches or indulge in spot fixing ( spot fixing – fixing a particular aspect of the game which might be very minute so that it doesn’t come in the eyes of the people watching then ) .

Some of the ugliest cases of fixing have been the Hansie Cronje scandal in 2000, the IPL scam in 2013 and the 3 Pakistan players being banned in 2010.

The way the TV networks earn their share is through  grabbing the viewing rights which enables them to televise the match for the audiences to see. For example, Channel 9 in Australia, Star in India, Sky Sports in England etc.

Also, various brands like Adidas, Kookaburra, make and sell the cricket equipments like gloves, pads, cricket bats, and even balls which are endorsed by players.

Cricket is also a business which should be done fairly and with respect to the viewer’s point of view.

Word Count : 448

Bibliography:

1. http://sportzwiki.com/cricket/top-10-richest-cricket-boards/10/
2. Google Images
3. Google
4. Wikipedia
5. http://listdose.co/top-10-match-fixing-cases-in-world-cricket/