The vulgarity of money in sport is often cited to reverse the trend of the money spinning IPL. In this country, aspiring MBA graduates slog for years to get into some of the top B-schools to secure their future with some mind-boggling figures on their pay-packets. Why is the grotesque nature of education not highlighted which now has become a money spinning option for savvy and opportunistic business minds.IPL is after all a game of cricket that has taken a nation’s fancy, and the game’s success was already written with fluorescent paint on the walls for years, much before IPL was even conceived.
Through IPL, BCCI made Rs 182 crore in broadcast rights, Rs 350 crores a franchise fees, Rs 122 crore through sponsors in 2009 alone and whopping Rs 8,200 crore 10 year deal with SETMAX, the official broadcasters. The new entrants, Pune and Kochi, had to dish out close to Rs 1500 crore to pocket a team. The figures are jaw-dropping no doubt, but is it sensible to blame a business idea just because it is generating revenue. Purists believe that money would stain the game and that it has already set forth the process of degeneration.
It is vital to understand that capital is needed to strengthen the game from its foundation up. With millions of starry-eyed youngsters taking to the game in the smaller pockets of the nation it has become all the more important to accommodate their needs. BCCI surely has to put all this dough to good use. Before the popular rising of cricket, the second tier towns and cities had provided Indian cricket with few cricketers. This ceased to be the case in the years succeeding World Cup victory in 1983. Mumbai, Karnataka and Hyderabad were the centres for the game before, now a Jharkhand lad captain’s team India.
It is important to ensure that the money is used properly and intelligently. There surely is a need and space for transparency in the bidding process, but it is the post-bidding actions that really matter. None of the money involved is illegal, at least not to anyone’s knowledge. Again, why so much commotion for money? There was a time when exhibition matches were a regular feature on the cricket calendar which were stitched in just to lend support to a cricketer who had hit a rough patch financially. The game supplied precious little for the greatest stars of a bygone era. A test match game earned them Rs 300 or maybe Rs 500 at most, not much even if one played for the love of the game. Now, with the huge sponsorship and broadcasting deals and sponsors to support the game there is enough and more to provide a pension and certain benefits to all retired Ranji and international players.
Beyond the financial aspect, the opportunities that IPL has thrown up are innumerable. Would we have discovered a Ravindra Jadeja or a Sourabh Tiwary if it wasn’t for the IPL? IPL has plucked players from obscurity and placed them in the lion’s den, where if one does survive, he becomes a hero else, at least he is remembered for a momentary passage of time. For many aspiring cricketers this is as big as it can get. For a young cricketer in Kerala for example, the news of an IPL franchise must be a step closer to a national cap. It, for many players will be the closest they might ever come to playing international cricket. But it is a great opportunity to show-case skills and be in the reckoning for a brighter future.
The next argument would be the influence of money on young minds and the detour they might take from their present pious existence. If all these apprehensions were viable then this world would be unbelievably sinful to live in and Tendulkar would not be half the cricketer he is recognised to be. He exemplifies what passion for the game requires a young mind to do and thereby allow finances to take care of itself. In anycase why this circumspective notion that money will in some way become a vice for the upcoming players. In that case there are enough spoilt kids around who manage to do reasonably well.
In a recent inaugural Annual Review of Global Sports Salaries by sportingintelligence.com the IPL stood second only to the NBA. Now isn’t that a success story for a six week event. There is a market for the game when a national sport like hockey is marred by controversy every other day and all corporate attempts to resuscitate the game have failed miserably. There is a transitory awkwardness in accepting this format of the game. But IPL’s permanency is inevitable unless something dramatic happens. All the money the in world can only enrich the game not countdown its demise.
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