CRICKET VS OTHER SPORTS' FINANCIAL GAP - Kailasha Online Learning LLP

In India cricket is a religion. Denizens eat, sleep, walk & talk cricket, it’s flowing in their veins. While cricket would not become a religion until the Kapil Dev & Co. gave us the first reason to do so. Cricket picked up in popularity and importance after 1983 victory.

The corporates heard the sounds of the upcoming waves of cricket fever and started giving attention towards the sports, the media started to give Indian team the recognition they deserved. The sport got a figurehead in the form of Sachin Tendulkar, The rest is history. Cricket got Indianized to an extent that led Ashish Nandi (An Indian Psychologist and Winner of Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize) to proclaim ‘Cricket is Indian game accidentally discovered by English’.

When it comes to other sports, the story is completely different. Football, Hockey or other Olympic sports are not supported and appreciated as much as cricket. Despite its huge population, India is always almost at the bottom in the Olympics medal tally because of the lack of facilities provided. Even the poverty-stricken African nations manage to bag more medals than we do.

Sportsmen other than cricketers in India are not financially supported which results in the weak performances in international events. The huge financial gap between cricket and other sports leads to performance relatively.

Let’s have some reality check.

Cricket being a National Obsession

If we consider the largest market research in sports conducted by ICC true. ‘There are almost 1 Billion cricket fans around the world and India constitute 90% of them.’

During Cricket World Cup 2019, INDvsNZ semifinal and INDvsPAK in the group stage shattered the world records. It grabbed the highest ever concurrent viewership of a live stream thanks to Indian fans. The IPL and T20s have only added to its popularity. The huge fan base of cricket in India leads to the financial boom for the BCCI, which attracts more sponsors.

BCCI doesn’t rely on government financially, its financial plethora enables BCCI to provide more amenities & facilities to the cricketers which keep there moral high and outcomes in better performances in International and domestic events. But when it comes to other sports, people are not that much curious or interested in them. This leads to a few viewers, hence sponsors do not give much attention to them and the sportsmen are bound to rely on the financial aid provided by the government which is very low.

Marvellous management and branding of sports in the country by BCCI

The BCCI is India’s richest sporting body and the richest cricket board in the world. Unlike other sports boards, BCCI does not depend on the Government of India for its finances, Hence BCCI is not a governmental body. This independence lets BCCI conduct its own marketing campaigns and its policies don’t change with the government. They do not show any skimpiness when it comes to providing the required facilities to its players. BCCI pays its players in four categories viz. A+, A, B, and C the get relatively 7 crores, 5 crores, 3 crores and 1 crore per year. Management of the Board and the Presentation of an event are the main factors that set them apart from other sporting bodies in India.

However, the story of the other sporting boards is different. They completely rely on governmental amenities, politicians and bureaucrats keep interfering in internal matters. Branding and Marketing are not given much importance. As far as ‘facilities provided to the sportsmen’ is concerned we all are well aware of the fact that we don’t stand anywhere. The example of Abhinav Bindra, who won gold in the 10m Air Rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Abhinav Bindra comes from an affluent family and all his efforts were self-financed, self-trained and self-sponsored. It shows the negligence of the government towards other sports. The government doesn’t invest adequately in branding and promotion of these sports. People are also now aware of these sports which outcomes in fewer fan base and results in, events of these sports don’t generate much of wealth.

Understanding of the other sports among the Indians

It’s hard to find an Indian who doesn’t know the basics of cricket but it’s certainly a sorry state of affair when asked about other sports.

Who is responsible for it? Us or Government?

I would say both. We are so much obsessed with the cricket that we don’t give much attention to other sports. An INDvsPAK match, a Cricket World Cup Match or other cricketing event is a matter of National Prestige to us but what about our Olympic performances?

What about our situation in world football? Aren’t they also a matter of national prestige? The government must invest more in the promotion and spreading information about other sports. The more people would know about the sport more it would get a fan base, more fan base will bring more sponsor which would lead to more finances and hence better performances globally.

If there are sporting superheroes like Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, M.S Dhoni and Virat Kohli in Cricket than there are superheroes like Major Dhyan Chand (Hockey), Dhanraj Pillay (Hockey), Marry Kom (Boxing), Sushil Kumar (Wrestling), Saniya Mirza (Tennis), P.T Usha (Sprint), Saina Nehwal (Badminton), Hima Das (sprinter) and many more too.

Like those cricketing greats, they have also made our nation proud on the global level. Our performance in other sports must also be taken as a matter of prestige. The gradual success of ProKabaddi, Indian Super League and ProWrestling are a good shine but the government must learn from BCCI on how to promote a sport on the national level. How sportsmen are taken care of. How to attract people’s attention toward sports?