The ICC Champions Trophy has always been controversial - when Dalmiya introduced it many years ago, it was when he was ICC boss, and he figured it was the best way to raise money for the ICC ostensibly to expand the game to newer countries. However, the format which was adopted then just kept growing, and the farce in 2004 in England (with Aus V USA taking the cake) was perhaps the last straw - in an overcrowded calendar, teams didn't like playing this tournament, and with too many riff-raff teams playing, the value was diluted immensely.
2006 was India's chance to host the event - but they don't like doing it. They protested to the ICC that this format of the game should be scrapped - but since they have committed earlier, they will have to go ahead and schedule this edition anyways.
Why don't India like the tournament anymore? Pure and simple - money. Since this is an ICC event, bulk of the revenues goes to the ICC. TV revenues, sponsorship money and any other licensing opportunities are owned by the ICC. The host nation gets compensated somewhat for hosting the event, and some proportion of gate receipts (not sure on this one). However, that is paltry compared to what India would have got from a normal home season. What really takes India's goat is the fact that nearly 2 months of prime cricket-playing time is taken away. Oct-Nov is peak for India's home season, and normally India would schedule atleast 4-5 Tests and 7-10 ODIs - resulting in huge revenues for the BCCI. So, in cricket season 2006-07, these months will yield a paltry sum thanks to this tournament no one wants!
With the BCCI trying to schedule more bilateral tours with top (read lucrative) countries, it wants the ICC to host as few events as possible. The ICC is naturally not happy, but can it do anything much against the might of the BCCI? Also, the ICC is bound to face opposition from other nations on pure cricketing reasons alone - because the format and scheduling of the Champions Trophy has been terrible. Come on, how can this event be held just 5 months before the World Cup? You are devaluing both events this way.
As things stand, India has a barren home season this year. After the Champions Trophy, India travel to SA in Dec, and NZ in Feb, before the World Cup. Every other team is occupied in bilateral series in Nov and Jan - and India will have to use all its might to arm-twist some other team to come over to play atleast an ODI or seven! Aus and England will have the Ashes to focus on, SA and SL have already come and gone, India are touring NZ anyways, and Pak host WI. So that really leaves Bangladesh (India don't particularly like them coming here) and Zim! Hmm!!
Category: Sport business, cricket
No comments:
Post a Comment