The global success of soccer is due to its mass appeal. But it is also fuelled largely due to the massive sponsorship the game attracts. This has its benefits and concerns. IPl cricket is a good case in point
In the midst of the excitement and talk about teams, countries and players as the FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup sprinted to its end, not many noted the profound changes that have occurred in the viewership and economic aspects of the tournament ever since it was first held in Uruguay in 1930. Nobody perhaps could then have imagined that, over the decades, the World Cup would come to be watched and followed by more people than any other sporting event — the Olympic Games included — in the world. Nor could one have imagined the rise of the massive sports entertainment industry during the decades since then on the shoulders of telecasting — which began in 1954 in the case of the FIFA World Cup — advertising and market capitalism. While the Olympic Games, the cricket and other world cup tournaments as well as international contests like the Test matches are watched by vast numbers, the FIFA World Cup, outstrips all of them in terms of viewership.
The FIFA World Cup telecast this year has already broken television viewing records in several parts of the world, including a breakthrough in the United States where, an uprecedented 5.3 million first time viewers tuned in for the round-of-16 match between Belgium and the US on ESPN and Univision channels. Besides, an entirely new dimension has been added with people watching matches on mobiles and tablets. Not surprisingly, FIFA Director of TV, Mr Niclas Ericson, has stated, “We are proud to say that this FIFA World Cup has been the biggest multimedia sporting event in history, with more people watching matches and highlights online than ever before.”
One reason for the enormous viewership is, of course, the growing appeal of soccer, which is played in almost all countries, unlike cricket, which is played in some. Hockey is a spectator sport but sans the appeal of soccer. Badminton, table tennis and athletics have limited appeal. Tennis’s attraction is confined to the relatively more affluent sections. The same goes for golf, which is proverbially regarded as the game played by top corporate honchos and officials and is supposed to be known for the business deals made on the links.
Such stereotyping, of course, has serious limitations. Also, why some branches of sport are more popular than others can be the theme of an engaging but unending debate. What perhaps explains soccer’s appeal is its dramatic, fast-moving nature, which keeps spectators on their toes all the time, the excitement caused by goals and misses, and the short duration of the game, particularly in comparison to Test cricket, which enables people to have their excitement, often cathartic, and go home or wherever (in the West it is often the pub). Also, there was a time before the sponsors and financiers of the clubs took over, when playing cricket or tennis was too expensive for many. For example, buying flannels, boots, bats, abdomen guards, pads and gloves — which one had to do even when playing only at the college and club levels — cost money. While one’s club or college generally provided pads and a couple of team bats, it was not the same as having both of one’s own.
Things have become even more expensive with prices going through the roof. In the late 1950s, an Autograph Star bat, manufactured by Gunn & Moore, and considered perhaps the best of its kind in the world and used by many Test players, cost around Rs 75 in India. Another famous Gunn & Moore make, Canon, cost around Rs 65. That was a lot of money for a youngster those days, particularly one from a less-than-affluent background. Now perhaps the most expensive Gunn & Moore bat (Joe Root DXM Test Players Edition) is priced at $699.99 online, which would be around Rs 42,000 at the current rate of exchange.
Of course, not everybody does or needs to play with such a bat. One can buy a reasonably good bat in India for around Rs 2,000. But even that sum is not easy for many to pay; nor is it easy to pay for the rest of one’s cricket’s gear. On the other hand, the main expense in football is a pair of boots and socks that go up to the knee, which is much less than the total of what one has to dish out in cricket. Further, generally speaking, with even club matches spread over at least a day plus the time spent practising at the nets, cricket consumes much more time than football, which vast numbers find it difficult to spare.
Moneywise, the issue of gears is now taken care of for many sportspersons by their corporate or individual sponsors. Besides, both corporate sponsorship and the boom in telecasting and online viewership of the World Cup — indeed, of most popular sporting events — is no doubt due to the transformation of sports as a branch of the entertainment industry, which, in turn, is emerging as a major pillar of market capitalism.
There are doubtless plus points. There would hardly have been any telecasting of matches and tournaments without advertising support, and corporate sponsors. live telecasting has enabled people to view sporting events in distant countries, which they earlier could not. Close up shots and expert commentaries have enabled youngsters to learn about techniques and strategies that top players use, and that win matches. Corporate sponsorship, advertising and the commercial success of the Board of Control for Cricket in India has brought unprecedented wealth to cricketers and soccer players and considerably enhanced earnings in a number of branches of sports.
Questions, however, remain. One must come up to a certain level to find sponsors, and has to fend for oneself until then. Also, are corporate sponsors and advertising moguls transforming sports to maximise their returns in terms of enhanced images, higher visibility and more profitIJ Is money becoming more important than honourIJ In cricket, the perfume of scandal envelops the Indian Premier league, basically a commercial venture, involving auctioning of players and the presence of scantily-clad cheer girls, who have no role to play in the matches.
The BCCI itself does not emit a pleasing odour. In football, many clubs have become business undertakings which can be sold like players. Match-fixing has become a major issue in several branches of sport. Not very reassuring straws in the wind!