If cricket needed another warning light to tread carefully, it sure got one with the news that the IPL’s stepping into English cricket.
So, here’s the deal: the GMR group, which also co-owns the IPL’s Delhi Capitals, is looking to buy Hampshire County Cricket Club. Bidding about to kick off for a big stake in the Hundred teams, and trust me, this won’t be the last spending spree from an IPL giant.
It’s not much of a shock, really county teams are in urgent need of cash, & IPL owners have wealth to burn.
But remember back in the mid-1990s when Kerry Packer, the guy behind World Series Cricket, said something like “Don’t let a media company run your sport”? Yeah, it rings true today. The trend of businesses calling more shots in running cricket is growing fast.
IPL owners already hold significant stakes in T20 teams across places like UAE, USA, South Africa, & the Caribbean. These clever owners are also starting to lock in top players with longer contracts. This should definitely send alarms ringing for cricket administrators.
Better players might find themselves tied more to an IPL owner than their own boards. That’s when conflicts of interest start raising eyebrows and causing rifts. It all links back to how most countries’ cricket scenes are crying out for funds while these IPL owners are rolling in it.
Cricket boards can’t dodge responsibility for not having a solid long-term plan decades ago. They could’ve created a working strategy to tackle this whole mess. Unless they genuinely think the future is just about T20 leagues run by wealthy franchises.
But this idea isn’t as clear-cut as “Is this good for cricket?” Let’s face it: successful business folks usually don’t get there by being nice guys. Will enough money flow back into cricket? Or will most just go to line shareholders’ pockets? Just because someone’s great at business doesn’t mean they’ll be a good team owner. Will these business minds try to control what happens on the field? And what about all those unpaid volunteers who keep cricket running? Are they still gonna stick around?
Arthur Morris, that fantastic Australian opener, put it perfectly when asked after retirement what he took from cricket: “Poverty.”
Sure, big bucks look tempting for everyone involved! But from what I’ve seen, business people often either don’t get or just overlook the difference between laws & rules. They have a tendency to twist things to serve their interests anyway. Irving Rosenwater once pointed out that cricket has laws that shouldn’t be broken.
When administrators welcomed the T20 boom with open arms, they ignored how much authority they were handing over to players. Now those star players have both wealth & choice funny how that works since they often lacked both for years! Arthur Morris hit that nail on the head when he said: “Poverty.”
One major miss in cricket administration is how little we lean on ex-top players’ expertise at high levels. In Australia? It’s glaringly obvious.
Running cricket isn’t easy it’s complex with loads of different challenges and satisfying every fan is nearly impossible! Still, it gets even tougher without a clear vision for the future that blends financial security for players with satisfaction on-field. The game needs teamwork between players and administrators going forward.
I may not be a finance guru or a company whiz, but I’d hate to see young players miss out on long-form cricket experiences. If someone opts out of playing long-form stuff that’s their choice! But it’d be so sad if they don’t even have that option available anymore.