The Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI's) apex council, which meets on April 9, has an important decision to make – when to issue the tender for media rights for bilateral cricket at home and in what form? To do this, it will also need to grasp the value that home seasons can attract if put to bid.
At a time when bilateral cricket is struggling under the onslaught of T20 leagues and the International Cricket Council (ICC) is trying hard to create its annual window to keep pace with these competitions, the future of bilateral cricket hangs in balance.
How India, the world’s biggest cricket market, draws the blueprint for the 2023-27 cycle will define the future of the bilateral cricket series, which once used to be a big draw.
This decade, among other things, will certainly see the end of all “irrelevant cricket”. In a market, catered to by an industry that’s shape-shifting in favour of the next generation, the term irrelevant cricket underlines every bit of the game that fails to keep the cash flowing.
Poor as that may sound, it is the reality for any top-dollar sport – it is consumption that sets the rule of the game.
The challenge is huge. The apex council needs to decide how bilateral cricket is looked at.
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At what value and how?
At the current value – close to Rs 60 crore a game – the last five-year cycle turned out to be a massive loss-making proposition from broadcasters’ perspective.
If the BCCI decides to sell all three formats—Tests, ODIs and T20s—together once again, the idea of a Test match folding up inside three days and the increasingly jarring effects of an average one-dayer could easily eat into the T20 pie – the only format that promises a price hike and can deliver.
But will that mean there will be no takers for Test cricket? Of course not.
But, Test cricket doesn’t really need to earn at the levels of T20 to survive and sustain. The longest format can instead create a niche of its own and still be in good hands.
How can Tests be sold better, so that stakeholders don’t lose money?
* Sell Day 1 and Day 2 together.
* Sell Day 3 and Day 4our separately.
* Sell Day 5 probably at a premium.
And, allow the broadcaster to pay separately for these packages.
Given the number of Tests India will play at home over the next five years, it is not a difficult task. Ensure players also get paid separately, as per these packages and handsomely.
The BCCI doesn’t need to make money from Test cricket anyway. There’s enough coming from T20, more than it can use effectively. Test cricket, therefore, is not a worry.
It is one-day international cricket that the BCCI, or the patrons of the game anywhere in the world, need to worry about. Had India not been hosting the ICC ODI World Cup later this year, industry executives believe that the “ODIs-are- dying” cries would have been deafeningly loud by now.
If the BCCI can figure out its ODI priorities, it will not just do itself but world cricket a big favour.
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What next?
The Indian board cannot afford to sell temporary rights because no broadcaster will come to the table, wary of showing the hand.
Given the emphasis on “transparency”, the BCCI will also have to once again ensure an ‘e-auction’ like the one for the sale of IPL media rights.
And to make it happen, the BCCI, the world’s richest cricket board, will have to get a “word” from the broadcasters that are game. For that, approaching these broadcasters with a “formal pitch” is the only way forward.
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