Aug
9
How Indian Cricket League is doing it wrong
Filed Under Sports
The Zee promoted Indian Cricket League has got itself into a controversy, mostly of the avoidable kind. In the process, it is also spending zillions to lure players. Here’s how they could have handled all this smartly, ensuring BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) unable to do a thing and the event costing them only a fraction of what it is now:
- Sought permission quietly: There are hundreds of private cricket tournaments in the country, some approved and some not approved by a state association. Zee could have taken permission for a cricket tournament anywhere by paying a nominal fee. All approved tournaments, for any sport, can then invite anyone to play. There is also nothing in these approvals to say you cannot telecast on TV, get sponsors, offer big prizes and generally create a hype around it.
- Or taken over an existing tournament: Plan B could have been to buy out an existing tournament, preferably one running for a long time with prestige attached to it. The reality is most tournaments either make no money, or actually survive on someone’s personal patronage. Many promoters would have loved to hitch with Zee’s corporate resources.
- Create your own stars: Why on Earth is Zee so star-struck willing to pay millions to stars with one foot in the retirement grave? Beyond the 11 who make it to national teams, there is so much unutilised talent out there who can play as attractive a game as a Lara or a Ponting. Get these guys, from all over the world. They will come at a fraction of the cost, and be free of any blackmail. Groom them, smarten them so they look and behave like heroes.
- Make money from star endorsements: With the power of TV behind Zee to make these players known faces, companies could well find them a bargain. And Zee can be the agent for these stars.
- File a Public Interest Litigation: If the BCCI still makes life difficult for Zee, they should move court. Logic: BCCI cannot control private events. If legally it can, then even every neighbourhood tournament has to be controlled. (Sounds like a joke, doesn’t it? But it is a matter of principle: either all or no one). And how can it bar anyone from playing unless they are on the lifelong pay-roll of BCCI? Players need to make a living; if BCCI cannot provide for them, they have to be allowed to earn from elsewhere.
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