Between the new broadcast deal for IPl, Indian cricket has never been so good. But what nextIJ
Media baron Rupert Murdoch must take India extremely seriously because the bid of Rs 16,347 crore for the broadcast and digital rights of the Indian Premier league made headlines across the world, its almost three billion dollars. This compares to the eight billion dollar deal for three seasons of the English Premier league in Football and the $40 billion deal for broadcast rights of the National Football league in the United States. So, while the Indian Premier league isn’t quite there as yet, the deal is still an extremely lucrative one. Indeed, Star India’s bid, which was one combined bid for global and digital rights, also highlights the fact that over the past decade and despite endless controversy, the Indian Premier league has managed to build a global brand, and it is certain that now, Murdoch’s global media empire will do their utmost to make the Indian Premier league a staple in homes across the world. So much so that even though it failed, even social media behemoth, Facebook, tried to get into the game with a Rs 3,900 crore bid for
digital rights. Combined with the thousands crores from Oppo for India team sponsorship rights and the Rs 2,199 crore deal with Vivo for title rights of the Indian Premier league, this makes PayTM’s deal for India series sponsorship rights at Rs 200-odd crore seem like a bargain.
Indian cricket is going to be awash in money, and one could only hope that the money is reinvested into the sport. For one, it would be great if the Board of Control of Cricket in India spent some of these funds in building and renovating cricket stadia across the country. Only the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai and the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai have seen huge works in the past decade. While several new stadia have come up in smaller cities, such as Dharamshala and Visakhapatnam, historical grounds such as Delhi’s godawful Firoze Shah Kotla, Kolkata’s Eden Gardens and Kanpur’s Green Park, among others could do with a massive re-build even at the cost of losing a few games, as was done in Mumbai. It would also be prudent for the Board of Control of Cricket in India to invest heavily in the domestic game and age-group cricket. The adage goes that success begets success and one major reason for these massive infusions of money into the Indian cricket is because of the fantastic performance of the cricket team which just blanked Sri lanka 9-0 across all formats. But right now, it seems nothing can stop the Indian cricket juggernaut both on the field and in the board rooms.