International cricket is on a roller-coaster ride in a fairground of mist and mirrors: cash is king; the sale of commercial rights is the essential succour; entertainment on-field must be spectacular, floodlit, fast, with all the trimmings of hard merchandising and corporate hospitality, embellished by hugely paid star players. Each national board of control attends the International Cricket Council to fight for its own agenda: many cannot resist the chance to do deals behind pillars and cram the programme with too many matches to balance the books. It is not unknown for there to be a racial alignment in the voting on cricket?s big issues. In such a maelstrom of self-interest and with so much money swilling around, the doubts grow daily about the governance of the game. And in such a scenario the world cup is the cherry on the cake.
?Charles Fry, chairman of the MCC and grandson of CB Fry, on the forthcoming cricket World Cup in February-March 2011.
It will easily be the most hyped sports event on Indian soil and perhaps also the most talked about and followed by people from across the country and the sub-continent. With India trying to erase memories of the 2007 World Cup disaster in the Caribbean and Sachin Tendulkar trying to add the last missing piece of silverware to his kitty, the cricket World Cup in February-March 2011 is a marketers’ dream. While the cost escalations of the Delhi Commonwealth Games will sure remain unmatched, the World Cup, in terms of its value as a commercial property, will be the best investment option for companies and businesses operating in India in the first half of 2011. Its brand value has been significantly enhanced by a relative drop in brand equity of the IPL, which, unfortunately for the BCCI, has been marred by controversies since the ouster of Lalit Modi. Such controversies, which show no signs of abating, have raised serious questions about the future economic viability of the IPL, in turn converting the World Cup into a safe and lucrative investment option.
The World Cup economy, if one can call it as such, isn?t confined to sponsors and marketers. For the media as well, it is the first big-ticket event in 2011, an event that is sure to catch eyeballs and garner high TRPs. Knowing full well that the World Cup will have to be covered from start to finish with the same intensity, most networks have already finalised their line-ups for the mega extravaganza. And in so doing so, they have ensured that even lesser-known cricketers who have hardly had good international careers, end up making huge monies as experts from the six-week gala.
The process of contracting cricketers for the World Cup started in September. Agents seeking to make the most of the opportunity have enlisted cricketers from across the world on the promise of getting them lucrative deals from Indian media networks. Barring the stars who will be doing commentary for the host broadcaster, ESPN-Star Sports, many cricketers have been lured in by the opportunity of earning anywhere between $800-1,500 a day. While some will work for periods of two to three weeks, others will do the full 44 days, standing to earn anywhere between Rs 20-25 lakh from the tournament.
The hierarchy of payment is also interesting. If someone is a top cricketer and good enough to be carried on the sleeve of a news channel, he will command $1,500 a day. Others, who aren?t really big-ticket, but speak well and have made a decent media career, will earn $1,000 a day. This is not all. Add to the fee a business-class return fare for the player and his wife from his port of origin to India, $150-200 a day as daily pay and subsistence allowance as and when applicable. Finally, for all 44 days, these experts will have to be put up in no less than five-star hotels or even higher, costing a fortune to the networks. Ask why such vulgar monies are being paid, a senior news broadcaster says on the condition of anonymity, ?It has become the norm with networks. We all need to come to the table and renegotiate, for if we don?t, the costs will soon hit the roof. For the moment though, the demand is far greater than supply and the players and their agents know that well. It is a sellers’ market and they are taking advantage of it.?
Interestingly, most reputed news channels aren?t stopping at hiring two or even three stars. Knowing that they will have to deliver multiple shows a day to retain viewer interest, the panels number a total of seven to eight experts of repute. Of these, one or two will be sent out to the field for live reporting from the venue, while the rest will be doing duty from the studio in either Delhi or Mumbai. ?It is important we are visible both on and off the field,? says the editor of a leading news channel. ?Our ambition is to build up our World Cup coverage from the middle of January so that the viewer knows where to come to for his post-match and pre-match analysis. Repeat viewing is essential and for that we need to have a proper build-up to the event. The purpose is to emphasise to the viewer that he can catch all the live action on the host broadcaster, but then his one-stop-shop for all the stories, controversies, insights, interviews and analysis is the news channel.?
He is not alone in nurturing this ambition. With over 50 round-the-clock news networks operating out of India, most will be looking at the World Cup to achieve a similar goal, a determination that helps explain the sky-rocketing of price for talent.
The agents, too, are aware of this golden opportunity. Says Jamie Dean of Radar sponsorship based out of London, ?We know that the World Cup is a lucrative opportunity. For us, it is a stepping stone into the Indian market. We have signed up a number of notable international players and are offering them to Indian networks at reasonable cost on the assumption that the World Cup will start a relationship that will outlast the tournament. With India touring England in the summer of next year, the relationship built during the World Cup can be cemented in the course of 2011 itself.?
While most look at the Indian market for rich returns, smaller markets from across the world are no less significant. For example, a West Indian legend of repute will be working for an Indian news channel, while also doubling up as the expert for a Trinidad-based television station. The Caribbean station, which isn?t in a position to afford a crew or hire talent, will pay the expert a fee for a certain number of interviews, monies that will only help swell his already fat pay check. A number of British and Australian broadcasters are doing similar deals with experts in trying to minimise costs and ensure maximum return on investment. Commenting on such short-cut methods, Carl Ramdeo, host of the only cricket show broadcast out of the Caribbean, laments the absence of funding in the West Indies. ?The Caribbean is not India. Monies are scarce and especially after the recession, we have to be very careful how we spend or allocate our funds. At the same time, we are aware that we cannot ignore the World Cup, with the West Indies playing in the competition and with a significantly large Indian population at home closely following all the action. In such circumstances, the short-cut is our best option. The expert is already in India and is doing duty for an Indian station. We will enter into a deal with that network and get a certain number of interviews sent across to us. For the Indian network, this will offset some of their costs and for us it will meet our requirement,? he says.
The World Cup market isn?t restricted to the participating countries alone. In fact, the second-biggest market barring the sub-continent is the United States. With a huge south-Asian diaspora crazily following cricket, networks will look to maximise the opportunity offered by the World Cup to penetrate into American homes. Back in 2003, when the cable revolution hadn?t proliferated to every possible household conceivable in the ever-growing south-Asian diaspora, Dish Network charged a whopping $299 for a World Cup package. Students at the International House at the University of Chicago, for example, had bought a couple of such packages for their common rooms and, in turn, levied a token fee of $20 on fellow students wanting to catch the action. Indian and Pakistani restaurants in Chicago went a step further. They advertised their fare, stating that a meal at the restaurant will allow the client the World Cup viewing experience for free. Not without reason did Devon Avenue, Chicago?s south-Asia hub, do tremendous business during the world cups of 2003 and 2007.
Sample Monica Eng on the India-Pakistan match at Centurion, South Africa, during the 2003 World Cup in the Chicago Tribune, ?This was the first match in the historic India-Pakistan cricket series, which started last Saturday (Friday night in Chicago) in Karachi, Pakistan, and marked the first time India has ventured into the land of its nuclear rival to challenge Pakistan to their national sport in 15 years. And while it may have caused barely a blip on the radar in this country during March Madness, it’s a match that drew an estimated 600 million viewers worldwide, thousands of them from Chicago’s Indian and Pakistani communities who gathered in restaurants and homes Friday to watch. Similar scenes played out Tuesday morning for the second match and Thursday night for the third. The next match starts at 3 am Sunday. Rashid Minhas, owner of City Travel & Tours and the party’s host, is only one of the many cricket nuts who shelled out $200 to the Dish Network to tune into this ground breaking series. He, like many of Chicago’s south-Asian community (which numbers about 1,00,000 Pakistanis and 1,50,000 Indians, according to community groups), said it was well worth it to witness this cross-border classic, this sub-continental series, this Super Bowler-athon of south Asia. Plus, it was a rare opportunity to watch the two neighbours compete in an arena that involves neither bombs nor disputed territories.?
Cashing in on such amazing popularity, smaller businesses tend to make the most of the World Cup opportunity in the US and Canada. In fact, within hours of the matches coming to an end, DVDs of entire games are available on Gerrard Street in downtown Toronto, in the south-Asian spice stories. Knowing fully well that such sales are illegal, these DVDs are hidden in racks inside the stores and only select clients have access to them. I had picked up copies of Yuvraj Singh?s exploits in the 2007 T-20 World Cup in South Africa from one of these shops and now have DVDs of all of India?s matches from that competition. With Toronto boasting of a huge south-Asian diaspora, it is only natural that Gerrard Street will be buzzing in February-March 2011.
Others who are looking at the World Cup with keen interest are tour operators from across the world. Especially for Indian tour operators and planners, this is their big-ticket opportunity to sell packages to NRIs who will inevitably make their way back home to catch the World Cup action. Pramod Mistry, who runs one of the best known travel agencies in California, has already sold a number of packages to clients and is awaiting his opportunity to sell more in the coming weeks. A survey demonstrates that the India-England match in Kolkata on February 27 is the biggest hit so far. Says Neetu Bhatia and Arpita Majumdar of Kyazoonga, official ticketing partners for the World Cup, ?The number of enquiries we have received for tickets of this match is unbelievable. Most are from the UK, while we have also received calls from other parts of the world. Unfortunately, the match is already sold out and we have to say no to most callers.? Other matches that are in demand are the India-South Africa tie in Nagpur and the India-West Indies tie in Chennai, which has special attraction for the huge number of Indian techies based in the US.
Even participating countries are looking at the tournament to make their presence felt beyond the field. The Irish, for example, have already been in touch with their embassy in Delhi and are also negotiating with Indian media networks to promote Irish cricket. Looking at an Indian brand ambassador to help them do so, Irish cricket perceives the World Cup as a major opportunity to offer a fillip to the sport back home. Irish cricketers will give interviews, participate in promotional activities and interact with fans in trying to raise money for the game in Ireland. Peter Frawley, a London-based cricket aficionado who is helping cricket Ireland in their effort, suggests that the World Cup in the sub-continent is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. ?Cricket in Ireland can receive a major boost from a decent Irish performance in the competition. If the Irish can do an encore of 2007, there?s no reason why cricket in Ireland will not take off in the next few years. All of the marketing efforts are being planned with this end in mind.?
In the final analysis then, the World Cup is much more than a cricket competition. It is a battle for TRPs, a platform for rival brands to leverage the opportunity and for marketers to make hay when the sun shines. For the ICC, cricket?s apex body, it is their last opportunity to demonstrate that the one-day, 50-over version of the game is viable and thriving and isn?t under threat from the T-20 format. It is also a platform to demonstrate that nationalist sport continues to be the mother of all sport. If the World Cup attracts more crowds that the IPL, which will follow within a week of the completion of the World Cup, it will prove once and for all that inter-country cricket still triumphs over a domestic competition despite all its glitz and glamour. In this situation, one can safely conjecture that as the cup nears and excitement reaches fever pitch, men and women from across the world who constitute the World Cup economy will start having sleepless nights. After all, they are playing as well, and none of them can afford to lose.
?The writer is a sports historian