Cricket, they say, is India's number one sport. On the evidence of the Board of Control for Cricket in India's annual financial reports, it is also the richest.
But despite the popularity and money, the BCCI still courts unprofessionalism and controversy. Every time a side is about to tour India, the telecast rights issue tends to rear its head. All those watching the India-Pakistan Test series may believe that the issue does not concern them. But it does. The money that the Board makes has to eventually filter down to the grass roots and that is where it will benefit everyone.
"Indian cricket is a goldmine as big as the National Basketball Association or the National Hockey League. In fact, in my view if we set up our own channel in four years, Indian cricket will be worth two billion dollars. In six months we can set up our own channel," says former BCCI president Inderjit Singh Bindra, who is currently head of the Punjab Cricket Association.
In the United States of America, the NBA basically sees club sides compete against each other and the finals are called the World Championship. They call their baseball finals, the World Series. They can do this simply because for them the world is America and this is so because all the money is coming from American sponsors.
"Similarly," argues Bindra, "world cricket is driven by Indian corporates. If India is playing, 85-90 per cent of the money comes from Indian corporates. There is no reason why we should play 27 days in India and allow countries to make money at our cost."
There are few of us who can never forget the time when Doordarshan used to produce and telecast the matches in India. The fuzzy images and rank bad commentary that we grew up on will scar us forever.
It hasn't really changed. Yes, the picture quality is better but, at least, first we could watch the match. Now we watch more advertisements than actual match-play. There is only one way to resolve the telecast rights issue and that is to be transparent in the bidding process.
"If you are inviting bids from just two channels, out of which one is bankrupt [Bindra did not mention which channel. ESPN or Zee?], then the bid is a farce. Invite open bids; not restricted bids. Why did the bidding process undergo a change? Why will we invite bids only from channels for overseas rights? Earlier it was not so," said Bindra.
For the 1987 Reliance World Cup, the BCCI made a profit of only 20,000 dollars. For the 1996 World Cup, when the Board allowed marketing companies like Nimbus and TWI to makes bids, the profit margin went up to 24 million dollars. The difference is huge and it also shows several flaws in the working of the BCCI.
"It makes logic doesn't it? If a channel buys the rights then the other channels don't go ask for the rights. But if a marketing company buys the rights, then it is their business to try and make as much money as possible. They will ensure that they can get as many clients as possible.
"For the 1996 World Cup, if we had sold the rights to a channel we would not have made more than 4-5 million," Bindra points out.
In 1993, the BCCI decided to produce the matches themselves. In 1994, the Board got a Supreme Court decision in their favour which allowed it to uplink directly without having to go the DD way.
"These were important decisions taken by the Board but since then nothing new has happened. In 1999, DD bought the rights for 225 crores for five years. Even then I had gone on record to say that the rights were worth at least 600 crores. We were underselling then, we are underselling now."
It all eventually boils down to the way the BCCI functions. Take for instance, the England Cricket Board invited bids for the telecast rights of series beginning 2006 in 2004. It's relatively simple; less time means less money. In contrast to the ECB, the BCCI generally wakes up two weeks prior to a series.
"That is precisely what I am talking about. The BCCI is losing millions due to incompetence and unprofessionalism. I mean even today, 308 million is nothing. The telecast rights are worth much, much more."
Any channel that bags the rights sees their market cap go up almost immediately to the tune of two million dollars.
"The BCCI can make all that money if it launches a television channel of its own. We get that kind of money; we will be bigger than the NBA. I have already given a proposal too the Board and am ready to take the responsibility.
"I mean, the rights for college basketball in America are worth 600 million. And if anyone tells you that the rights for Indian cricket are worth only 308 million then that person is fooling the public. Give me the responsibility and if, within two years to four years, I don't bring the market cap of the new channel formed by the BCCI to two billion, I will leave cricket forever," says Bindra with a confident thump.
It seems highly unlikely that Bindra will leave cricket any time soon. The question here is whether the BCCI will be ready to accept his proposal? He certainly is trying to get their attention.
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