Commercials between overs

Close-ups and instant replays with ring-side view and appeal

Visibility of players with each team having its own colored uniform

Day and night matches

Technology with cameras and microphones on ground

All these have changed the contours of the game, build up the global audience with a direct bearing on the economics spawned by the game. Like all sports with an international audience, cricket also has undergone a huge transition in a short spate of time. The Parker Legacy is riding on the advent of the growth of cable, satellite TV and the Internet. This is evident from the commercial fortunes of BCCI - the magnitude of advertisements and the amounts involved.

Televised cricket in India alone was estimated a $ 150 million annual advertising market! The BCCI set new records with the sale of global media rights to Nimbus Communication, for all international and domestic crickets to be played in India from 2006 to 2010. In the run-up to the 2007 World Cup, 3 sets of television deals hogged the headlines in newspapers, perhaps more than the results of the game itself! These deals include Zee Telefilms and Sony TV agreements, apart from the Nimbus deal. The much-hyped Nimbus deal was worth $ 612 million for all cricket matches played in India. While Zee Telefilms bagged the broad-cast rights for cricket matches in "offshore' neutral venues (such as Holland, U.S., Malaysia.) for $ 220 million, Sony TV bought the Indian rights for World Cup and the Champions Trophy till 2007 and ESPN-Star Sports for the subsequent tournaments (2007-15).

The growth in cricket broad-casting has a cascading effect. Once the broadcasting channels have the right to telecast the tournament, they can sell the advertising space. Also, the media has a profound effect on the ticket sales and the sponsorship revenue. The expected ticket revenue for the 2007 World Cup was $ 69 million on the assumption of India reaching the finals! (A feat attained in the 2003 World Cup). Despite India's early exit, the Caribbean World Cup sold more than 570,000 tickets and recorded the highest ticketing revenue for a world cup. Also there are ICC/GCC events and tours between the nations, which offer a lot of opportunities for the sale of sponsorship rights including kit, team, hotel, travel and ground.

Next

Dr. Mary Ipe is Professor HRM at ICFAI Business School, Kochi, Kerala.