Cricket league a new innings for Indian sports

SUBHASH Chandra's Indian Cricket League, scheduled to start playing in September, has the potential to revolutionise the stoic Indian sports industry, if successful. It may spawn more such leagues, freeing players from the fiefdom of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Players may be traded – for instance a Sachin representing Birla's Bihar Boys today and Mittal's Mumbai XI tomorrow. Teams may be sold for a bounty and private equity firms and bankers willing to finance team buyouts. It may spark a new era in sports branding and marketing. Welcome to the new cricketing era!Team buyouts in sports are quite common in the US and Europe. Washington Redskins, which plays in the NFL (National Football League) in US, was bought over by ex-freelance journalist Daniel Snyder in 1999 for $800-million along with two stadia. The team’s worth, mere $10 million in 1999, shot to $1.1 billion at last count. In 2005, the English Premier League generated revenues of over $2.5 billion, National Basketball Association (NBA)—$3.2 billion, National Hockey League (NHL)—$1.8 billion and NFL— $5.2 billion. Like other leagues, NFL provides $100 million per year to each team from its rich kitty build through hawking TV and radio rights, sponsorships and ticket revenues.
Rich league teams also build their own infrastructure. For instance, Daniel Snyder built 18 stadia and sold naming rights of many to sponsors. Naming rights of its Maryland stadium were sold to FedEX in 1999 for an average of $7.6 million per year. If successful, cricket leagues can give the much needed boost to domestic cricket infrastructure by building world class pitches. ICL has tied up with infrastructure development company IL&FS (Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services) for the same. Cricket leagues may start their own broadcast channel or sell broadcast rights. NFL for instance has launched its own cable-TV channel. Teams also have their own radio channels. NFL's Super Bowl is the top-rated TV program in US today unlike most cricket matches in India, which catch an average TRP of 3-4% on par with a B-class TV soap opera. SuperBowl TV ratings range from 41% to 58% in local markets, where the game is being played. According to Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the cost for a 30-second TV spot during 2006 SuperBowl rose to $2,500,000. Other leagues like NBA, PHL in US and English Premier League in Europe attract equally high TV ratings.
BCCI's monopoly over Indian cricket may well end if the government starts choosing best players from different leagues to form a national team. ICL has shot off a letter to BCCI to work in tandem and share players. "We may offer better salaries and contracts at better terms," said an Essel Group official. BCCI's Niranjan Shah told ET: "We are thinking on it. A decision is yet to be taken." Globally, sports leagues have well defined rules for buying out players. In NFL, for instance if a club offers a higher salary package to a player, the player's current team has "right of first refusal" over the contract at those terms, and may sign the player on new terms. A player, who has five or more years of experience becomes an unrestricted free agency, whereby his current team has no guaranteed right to match outside offers to that player. In NFL, a player's salary includes an annual pay and a onetime signing bonus, paid in full when the player signs his contract.