BCCI sees silver lining but misses the cloud

The Board showed a preview of what one could expect from India playing at neutral venues, henceforth, by selling the in-stadia advertising, signage and title rights for the Abu Dhabi event to Percept D’Mark for a whopping Rs 16 crores. The Board will earn 50 percent of the generated revenue from one match (PCB will get the remaining 50 pc), apart from being completely responsible for the entire sale of their rights.

BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah says that the board is contemplating a series between India, Australia and England at a neutral venue in due time on the same lines (revenue to be shared by the respective boards).

This is a trendsetter for a calendar which, driven by money, could see Team India cricketers playing almost 50 per cent more matches than they currently do. Given that they already have a heavy workload (see box), and that their fitness is anyway in doubt, this could be an extremely myopic plan.

Now, the temptation is stronger. The affluent Indian NRI population extends around the world and venues already under consideration include those in the US (California, New York, Philadelphia), Europe (Netherlands, Ireland), West Asia (Abu Dhabi) and South East Asia (Malaysia, Singapore).

BCCI’s primary aim, now, is to secure the global telecast rights to cover India’s matches at neutral venues. The Indian board has already announced a tender bid for global media rights (to be held on April 6) for matches involving India on neutral grounds.

The BCCI is busy connecting to every possible avenue from where they can make themselves richer and in the bargain, even players aren’t really worried if they have to play a few matches more every year, if it comes along with a couple of crores. Currently nobody seems to be talking because the deluge hasn’t begun yet. When it...