Without the universal worldwide appeal of soccer or the affluent fan base associated with golf and motor racing, it seemed that cricket would remain relatively starved of sponsorship dollars. As a result professional cricketers, by and large, retired to take up jobs as coaches or commentators while their compatriots in tennis and golf married film stars and bought villas in international tax havens.

The advent of Twenty20 removed one major constraint, making cricket more viewer-friendly. Twenty20 packaged cricket into an intense three-hour viewing experience; this was what TV audiences demanded, and what broadcast executives craved for.

Cricket fans in countries like India, South Africa and Sri Lanka, where the centre of gravity of cricket’s fan base today lies, will soon be (if they are not doing so already) buying cars and washing machines, and manufacturers of these, and hundreds of other products, are keen to advertise to them.

The Indian Premier League is a culmination of these trends, where television spots priced at more than Rs 5 lakh for 10 seconds translate into player salaries of over $ 1 million for the ?season?. While this may pale in contrast to the weekly take-home of a David Beckham or a Roger Federer, it is still several times what a cricketer even a generation ago would have dreamt of earning.

With the Indian economy rebounding from last year?s slowdown and IPL?s second season having proved the league?s ability to aggregate sizeable television audiences even without the benefit of home matches, both the broadcaster and the teams can look forward to growing their top lines in the 2010 season. This year franchises will expect to monetize sponsorships, local events and advertising, digital initiatives and merchandise sales more aggressively.

Compared with leading sports teams elsewhere, IPL franchises are still overly dependent on television revenues; nearly half the revenue, for a typical team in 2009, came from its share of broadcast rights. In contrast, for leading English Premier League clubs such as Arsenal and Chelsea, this proportion was less than 40%. Growing match-day and commercial revenues would be the challenge for IPL teams in the medium term. Ticket prices for a Twenty20 match in India are a fraction of the ?45 that spectators pay at Old Trafford for a Manchester United match. Similarly, prices for an IPL team T-shirt cannot rival the 50 euros that fans would pay for a Barcelona FC shirt.

International sports clubs have been pioneers at building new revenue streams. Indiana Colts earns approximately $122 million over 20 years from Lucas Oil for naming rights to its stadium. Arsenal in addition to signing a deal with Emirates worth over ?90 million for stadium naming rights and shirt sponsorship, earns significant income from property developments at Highbury. Several NFL teams earn revenues from parking and retail concessions in and around stadiums owned by them.

What cricket still lacks is a regular year-round league, with matches featuring the top teams played every weekend through most of the year. Part of the reason Real Madrid, the world’s richest soccer club, earned over 450 million euros in the 2008-09 season was because it played over 50 matches?25 at its own Santiago Bernebau stadium. Top teams, such as Manchester United and Real Madrid, earn over $5 million in match-day revenues from each home match; more matches and longer seasons also mean higher broadcast revenues and sponsorship fees all around.

The IPL is the richest cricket league in the world by some distance. But being the richest league has not, thus far, guaranteed it the best teams?at least not judging from the results of the Champion’s League played last year. Unlike the top footballers, leading cricketers can play for several Twenty20 teams today?so despite paying top dollar to an Andrew Flintoff or Shane Bond, an IPL club could well find him on the opposing side in a face-off against a club from Australia or England. Lack of exclusivity on player contracts limits the ability of a league, and of its constituent clubs, to build a strong brand.

It is possible that, over the next few years, economics may change the structure of international cricket. Twenty20 club leagues could expand to occupy a larger space in the international cricket calendar with ?windows? being created for international test series rather than the other way around. Already, some leading cricketers are retiring from test cricket to concentrate on the more lucrative Twenty20 circuit. In most sports, talent eventually follows the money, and the money follows the audience.

For IPL clubs, a longer season and more comprehensive player contracts could mean the opportunity to build commercial revenues through higher merchandise sales, more lucrative sponsorships and more regular fan events; match-day revenue could be grown through corporate and hospitality revenues and food and beverage concessions. A year-round league might even justify investment in a stadium? almost all leading NFL teams in the US own their own stadiums as do leading European football clubs.

And, of course, this would mean more income for the top cricketers. Today, for an IPL team, player salaries constitute only about a third of its expenses; for leading

European football clubs they often account for more than 50% of cost. As club incomes grow and salary caps are removed, it is quite possible that the next generation of cricket stars will retire to mansions in Monte Carlo.

The author is director, strategic and commercial intelligence, KPMG India