Eight months ago, India was on top of the cricketing world – Champions, backed by the game’s richest board. It’s been on a losing streak since then, and not just on the field in England and Australia, says Ayaz Memon.
Sunday’s meeting between the top honchos of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Sahara Group could be a defining moment for cricket administration in the country. In all likelihood, some compromise will be reached, but the equation between the BCCI and sponsors is unlikely to remain the same hereafter.
About time too, for this equation has been hopelessly lop-sided and the arrogance of the BCCI was beginning to look a little tattered at the edges. The recent disastrous performances in Australia — coming soon after the whitewash in England — opened up Indian cricket to critics and sceptics; and this time, they have enough cannon fodder.
Even eight months ago, India was the envy of the cricketing world. The BCCI was the richest, most influential of all the boards. To further emphasise this superiority, India won the World Cup, apart from being the top Test nation. But soon after that, things began to fall apart.
To compound matters, Sahara, a sponsor of Indian cricket for 11 years and who had paid almost $400 million to buy a franchise in the Indian Premier League, has pulled out, leaving the BCCI facing a crisis where it hits the hardest – in the wallet. Its chief sponsor has gone, the IPL is riddled with a fresh problem, its broadcast rights are in swampy territory, and its team is not performing — the BCCI seems to be fighting a multi-headed hydra. What has gone so drastically wrong so quickly?
A little hindsight can perhaps demonstrate how this story unravelled. The tremendous growth of Indian cricket depended on the fidelity of the fan. The fan’s interest in cricket grew exponentially with India’s economic growth and the reach of cricket spread far beyond the old metros and their traditional playing fields.
The BCCI harvested the fruits of this boom with expertise and speed, but without adequate concern at how the world was changing. Secure in its belief in the infallible allure of cricket in India, it did not look at the challenges and challengers growing under its very nose.
Fact is, television and liberalisation have also introduced India to other sports. International football and F1 have huge currency in the metros, even if India features nowhere in these sports. So what if 15 years ago no one had heard of the English Premier League, today names like Manchester United and Chelsea trip off every city kid’s tongue.
The BCCI’s show of arrogance was not limited to the fan, but extended to the sponsor. All over the world, sponsors are feted and cosseted. In these tough economic times, sponsorship is vital for the survival of sport. From FIFA to ATP and WTA to Formula 1, no official fails to prostrate at the feet of the sponsors at the end of every event. The BCCI has worked the other way around.
Now it is looking for reconciliation to a situation which never should have arisen. It must be said, of course, that the controversy is not in plain black and white. The Sahara Group seems to be mixing apples and oranges when talking of rules not being tweaked in an extraordinary situation in the IPL just as they were in the Champions League. While the format and some teams remain the same, the rules differ for the two leagues for, while the IPL is a property of the BCCI, the CL has two other joint owners in Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa.
Yet the language of disagreement (or agreement) it appears has not been the same. Subrata Roy has made it clear that it was a gradual culmination of issues which led to its decision to move out. This implies, at the least, that Sahara has been unhappy for a long time, which the BCCI has ignored. And let’s not forget that Sahara had an 11-year sponsorship relationship with the Board, along with the more recent one with IPL.
Dispute is integral to human life and never far away from sport. The NBA this year faced a lock-out and lost half a season as basketball stars demanded more. FIFA has battled allegations of bribery and corruption at the top. And the 2012 London Olympics is caught in a PR battle to defend its main sponsor Dow Chemicals because of its links to the Bhopal gas tragedy after it bought Union Carbide.
But every dispute has to have a redressal mechanism, and that is where the BCCI has to step up to the plate. Within the IPL governing council, for instance, there is no representation of franchise owners despite their importance to the format. This does not make for professional and sanitised governance, as the spate of controversies which have hit the league in the past two years bear out.
To be fair, in spite of all the name-calling, the BCCI has improved conditions for players and other contributors to the game, and the IPL — apart from being a hugely successful league — has provided livelihood for many. Moreover, it was only last year that India won the World Cup and was also the number 1 ranked Test team. The talent pool in the country is, by all accounts, rich and plentiful.
But it has been blindsided by its success and that is partly why it is facing such a tough situation today — flagging fan interest shown by stadium attendance and TV audiences, a team which is failing to perform for a number of reasons, and its main sponsor pulling out.
The main problem appears to be that the BCCI behaved like a monopoly and like all monopolies, it was neglectful of its resources and responsibilities. It has been taken up with its own achievements, leading to delusion.
To draw an analogy, it has been much like the BJP was with its India Shining campaign in 2004. The part of India that wasn’t shining reacted and the BJP lost the general election. A similar sort of wake-up call is being given to the BCCI.
It’s all money, honey
* BCCI (Team India, Ranji, etc) had gross income of Rs 805.04 crore last year and total expenditure on these events was Rs 782.37 crore, recording a surplus of Rs 22.67 crore.
* IPL had gross income of Rs 973.38 crore and total expenditure of Rs 854.62 crore — a surplus of Rs 118.76 crore.
* IPL offshoot, the Champions League T20, had gross income of Rs 247.97 crore and total expenditure for this multi-nation event was Rs 199.68 crore -- a surplus of Rs 48.29 crore.
* So out of a combined surplus of Rs 189.72 crore, the BCCI’s first class cricket format contributed Rs 22.67 crore, while the T20 format raked in Rs 167.05 crore.
The Sahara Factor
If those are big numbers, consider this: Sahara Group contributes over Rs. 2,200 crore to the BCCI kitty by way of IPL franchisee fee (Rs. 1,700 crore over 10 years) and sponsorship of Team India (Rs. 558 crore). Way more than what the BCCI runs from its operations. This is what the BCCI stands to lose if it can’t reach a compromise with Sahara.
Rocky relationship
* In 2001, Sahara began its long relationship with the BCCI when it signed the biggest three-year deal in the world of cricket. Although the amount was not officially disclosed, it was estimated to be worth $52 million, covering all Tests and ODIs.
* In September 2002, Sahara withdrew sponsorship after the Indian team walked on to the field against Zimbabwe during the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka without their sponsor’s logo.
* The ICC had forced the BCCI to drop the logo after a complaint from South African Airlines, the official sponsor of the event. However, Sahara reversed its decison after the Champions Trophy.
* In December 2005, Sahara retained the sponsorship rights of the Indian team. Air Sahara (which was sold to Jet Airways later) signed a four-year, $88 million deal, which raised BCCI's net worth to $550 million.
* In May 2010, the Sahara Group signed its highest sponsorship deal with the BCCI after they won the
contract by bidding Rs. 3.34 crore ($719,000) per match until Dec. 31, 2013. The total worth of the deal was estimated at Rs 558 crore ($121 million).