It takes abdomen guards of steel to place a $1 billion bet?roughly one-fourth of India?s entire annual ad spend?on the emergence of a cricket cult that is more a gleam in the eyes of media majors than a ground reality at the moment. Yet, that is exactly what Sony Max has done. This satellite TV broadcaster, along with World Sport Group, has signed a deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India for the media and production rights of Indian Premier League cricket matches for the next ten years, until 2017. Sony expects to make the most of South Asia?s fascination for the game with its TV footprint, while World Sport hopes to recoup the investment via feeds for various media devices in the rest of the world. Are these expectations realistic? Cricket in India is undeniably lucrative to broadcasters, and the Twenty:20 version of the game has clicked already. But the success of the clipped format at the international level does not automatically translate into a mass upsurge in favour of league cricket, which involves club-style teams without any obvious loyalty base. The Zee group?s Indian Cricket League has tried to mimic American NFL football in its use of Indian city names. But while its first-ever tournament in December put Panchkula on the world cricket map, it is not clear whether the local equivalents of LA Raiders or Washington Redskins can evoke similar levels of passion. And if that doesn?t happen, league cricket might just fail in India.
Such being the risks, what motivated Sony?s zeal for the deal? A decade?s span, the charitable may admit, is a long time in an economy touching double-digit growth rates, and much could change to make the $1-billion deal seem less reckless. India?s ad spend, for example, could conceivably expand as a fraction of GDP from its current 0.4% odd, which is depressingly low for an economy emerging at least partly on the strength of attitudinal changes among the multitudes. League cricket could possibly catch on, too, if it throws up young stars all of its own who are identified strongly with the league teams. Or if team brands acquire emotional equity of some other sort. It all looks rather iffy. Sure, Twenty:20 cricket has smashed its way into Indian consciousness, with India?s dramatic victory in the new format?s World Cup held in South Africa. But that was an international match.
