Cricket can be separated into three financial segments: (1) India, (2) Australia-England, and (3) The Rest of the World. Financial growth means more talent acquisition, robust systems, better grassroots growth, and eventually, more World Cup wins.
Simple as that. Australia has been employing this model for decades.
India last won an ICC trophy in 2013, when the IPL was still in an infancy and the ‘Big 3’ were coming into being.
Team India has finally attained the silverware they deeply desired. The 2024 T20 World Cup victory ensures that the domination of Indian cricket has begun.
Indian cricket is now officially a monopoly in the cricketing world.
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The Pros and the Cons of an Indian Cricket Monopoly
The Affirmative
Just like almost everything in life, there are two sides of the coin. First we begin with the affirmative.
1. Jarrod Kimber argues that the IPL and money flowing in cricket means players like Ali Khan and other Associate cricketers can now become professionals. Cricket has lost many cricketers like American legend Bart King because their individual international teams were simply not good enough. And this is not the first time we are seeing a monopoly in cricket. The Sunil Gavaskars, West Indian legends, South Africans, etc. played in County Cricket because it offered cricketers a great experience and financial incentive back then.
2. Furthermore, when Indian cricket grows, not only do Indian players flourish, but international players prosper as well. The profits BCCI earns are reinvested in the sport along with donations made to charities and investing in other sports. Sounds all pretty and rosy, doesn’t it?
3. The growth of the IPL has also resulted in the growth of other leagues around the world. While the CPL, PSL, and SA20 might not be at the same level as the IPL, one can argue that these tournaments have rekindled the passion for cricket that was missing in these regions and have provided additional opportunities.
4. The IPL provides financial security. Indian cricketers can now take up cricket as a viable career even if they do not make the international level.
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The Negative
The main argument against the Indian monopoly is that the BCCI can strong arm any cricketing decision to be in their favor.
1. Case and point, the 2025 Champions Trophy. Pakistan are scheduled to host this tournament with India’s matches currently slated in Lahore. What is most likely going to happen is after few uncertain months, India will end up playing their matches in a neutral venue while the rest of the tournament takes place in Pakistan.
2. Despite the political tensions and bilateral international boycott against Pakistan, India will most definitely still be looped into the same group as Pakistan in every single tournament from now till forever. Why? Because money.
3. The backbone of the Indian monopoly lies in the Indian players. As long as professional Indian cricketers are barred from playing non-IPL leagues, the IPL will remain the greatest domestic T20 competition. Every other league is essentially fighting to be the second best league because there is no chance to upstage the IPL or just survive.
4. We can already see what happens when a couple of nations dominate the ICC decision making. We get 10-team World Cups, an unbalanced World Test Championship, direct entry to World Cups (without qualifiers for top teams), lack of knockouts in World Cup formats, no tangible movement for 2-tiered Test system, and many other such great ideas that do not see the light of day.
5. And finally, there are unspoken decisions that make you wonder: quasi-guarantee of last group match (in case NRR goes south), no reserve day for one semi-final, no evening matches (to potentially avoid dew), biased commentary, and a favorable flight schedule unlike Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and later Afghanistan.
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What does history teach us?
Post the US Civil War (1861-1865), America entered the ‘Gilded Age’ that lasted till the end of the twentieth century. This was an era marked by remarkable economic growth, Industrial Revolution, and railroad expansion but also widespread political corruption, poor working conditions, strikes, and economic inequality in the United States.
I recommend you watch The Men Who Built America on Amazon Prime. It covers the stories of JP Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Henry Ford and portrays the journey of the great monopolies—U.S. Steel, Standard Oil, Tobacco Company, etc.
According to Statista, John D. Rockefeller’s net worth (inflation adjusted as of 2006) was $305.3 billion. Carnegie ($281.2 billion) and Vanderbilt ($168.4 billion) closely followed.
These men ran businesses unchecked across America for several decades until the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 (and later, the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914) finally began to restore free market competition.
Most of these businessmen would go on to become larger than life philanthropists later in life and by the time the era had come to an end, the US had become a global economic superpower.
BCCI, fueled by the IPL, may change the economic face of cricket in the generations to follow, but cricket needs its own version of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act before it is too late.
A Warning
The economic imbalance had become so extreme that JP Morgan had to loan money to the US government and pull banks out of the Panic of 1907.
In the current proposed financial ICC model, BCCI is set to earn 38.5% of the ICC share (approximately $231 million out of the estimated $600 million) over the next four-year cycle. Apart from this revenue, Indian cricket earn loads of money from the IPL and broadcast deals. Imagine a situation where the BCCI loans money to the ICC in times of crisis and thereby holds a higher leverage in international cricket.
There are plenty of other examples of monopolies in world history as well. Think Dutch East India Company, the British Empire, De Beers, AT&T, and now the Big Tech companies in the US or the Ambanis and Adanis in India.
Just like them, the Indian cricket machinery has now has become both a soft and hard power in international cricket.
In fact, India has now become the new benevolent dictator in cricket. Is this good or bad?
You tell me.
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© Copyright @Nitesh Mathur and Broken Cricket Dreams, LLC 2023. Originally published on 07/29/2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Broken Cricket Dreams with appropriate and specific direction to the original content (i.e. linked to the exact post/article).
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