10 August,2024 07:04 AM IST | Mumbai | Ian Chappell
Spectators watch the Indian Premier League match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore last April. Pic/Getty Images
It was explained that the GMR group - co-owners of the IPL's Delhi Capitals - was bidding to acquire the Hampshire County Cricket Club. With bidding soon to begin on the purchase of a large share of teams in The Hundred, this was never going to be the last splurge from an IPL conglomerate.
None of this is surprising as the County teams are desperate for money and the IPL owners are extremely rich. However, it's worth recalling that back in the mid-1990's Kerry Packer, the former boss of World Series Cricket, uttered the immortal words, "Don't let a [media] company run your sport."
The trend of successful companies having a greater say in the running of the game is increasing rapidly as IPL owners already own large stakes in T20 teams playing in the UAE, USA, South Africa and the Caribbean. The shrewd owners are also starting to sign top-rated players to longer contracts and that should be a warning to cricket administrations.
The better players could become beholden to an IPL owner rather than their own cricket Board. That is when conflict of interest becomes a divisive issue.
This isn't a surprise as the game in most countries desperately needs money and the IPL owners are financially flush.
Cricket administrators must accept the blame for not producing a long-term blueprint for the game a couple of decades ago. That way they could at least have had a viable plan for the game to deal with this issue. That is unless cricket administrators world wide are convinced the future is purely the T20 game run by rich franchises.
The weaknesses in this theory are more than just "is this good for cricket?"
Most successful business people don't achieve their prominent positions by being philanthropists.
Will sufficient funds be channelled back into the game or will a large proportion end up as shareholder bonuses awarded by rich business conglomerates? Do shrewd business people necessarily make good cricket team owners? Will the business people want to have a large say in the on-field product? Are the many unpaid people who serve the game still going to willingly provide their services?
While large financial incentives are inviting to all parties it's my experience that business people either don't understand or don't care about the important difference between laws and rules.
Business people are prone to manipulate matters their own way regardless. The master statistician Irving Rosenwater stated years ago, "cricket has laws which are not meant to be broken."
When the administrators warmly welcomed the T20 craze they had no idea how much power they were acceding to the players. The better players now have both wealth and choice, which is ironic when you consider that for many years they had neither.
Former successful Australian opening batsman Arthur Morris summed up the legacy best when in retirement he was asked what he gained from cricket? His succinct answer was, "poverty."
One of the biggest failings in cricket administration is the lack of utilisation of former top players' knowledge of the game at the highest level. In Australia, this has been a blatant omission in cricket administration.
Cricket administration is a difficult and challenging job with many wide ranging aspects; so difficult it's impossible to satisfy every fan's wishes. However, the job is made even more difficult by the game not having a visible plan for the future which includes financial security mixed with playing satisfaction.
Cricket's future needs to be a partnership planned by a combination of players and administrators.
I'm no financial or company expert but it'll be a sad day if a young player is not able to experience the challenges of long form cricket. If a player chooses not to play long form cricket that's their prerogative, but it would be really sad if that choice is not available.
