YoYo,
I was following with some interest the sparring between Lalit Modi and ICC chief Malcolm Speed regarding the MPA and TV rights issue. Everyone likes to hail India as the center of world cricket and beleives it is the unofficial HQ of cricket. Perhaps so, but I am always wondering if that is really true. Yes, its our #1 game. Cricket games draw crowds, the players have multi-million contracts and are role models and all that. But perhaps before claiming ourselves the HQ its time to look at a few questions from the other side of the fence.
From the spectators point of view, the engine that drives the commerce behind cricket.
What does the average fan get in return ? Woeful facilities at stadiums where you loose your seat if you go for a leak. Baking in the 100 F sun or in temp shamianas, sitting on cement-concrete seats for 7 hrs post which you have lost all feeling in your bottom, Exorbitantly charged for refreshments (I can kind of understand this one.) I have now been to a few sports events. Two times at the Nasdaq-100 Open, a Miami Heat basketball game and a U of M college football game with 60000 wild college fans as the audience. What strikes me is how smooth things work. You can actually get to sit relax and enjoy the game. And this wasnt even the premium tickets. In fact the cheapest ones. When I watched the India-NZ game way back in 96, it was worse than a stampede. I cant imagine anyone in the right frame of mind wanting to bring his family over for a day of cricket at the Nehru Stadium.
What peeves me most is the utter discontempt shown for audience confort. Basically they are treated as shit. There is no concern for the well being. It is just assumed that they will show up and put up irrespective of what is dished out. And such is the passion that we actualy do!
Another thing that drives me nuts is the merchandising. I guess this is deviating a little bit but I had a hard time buying a India jersey a few years ago. I finally found one in Colaba on the street stalls for 250 bucks. I recently had my buddy ship one to me-the original one for 1800 bucks. (My mom things I have way too much money on me). Here it is so easily accessible. These guys have found a way to market their game in such a way that the fam feels a part of the team.Jerseys,hats,apparel,pens,keychains every damn thing you can think of. Whay hasn't anyone thought of doing this for our team ? Imagine what sort of response and revenue it would generate. And perhaps then the BCCI would invest some of it in Upgrading stadiums and allow the fans to have some fun.
4 comments:
Ae bhai...this is absolutely true.. all bcci is concerned about is money..they have no sympathy whatsoever for the poor public..they forget that the reason they are the richest sports body in cricket today is because the spectators and the advertisement inside the stadium generate huge revenues.
Sachin
We still have some way to go when it comes to infrastructure, but I don't think the situation today is as bad as what you experienced in 1996. Not that I can really vouch for it. But my understanding is that stadiums have improved over the years, slowly but surely - maybe atleast some of the premier venues in the country? In fact, I had been to the Wankhede in 1997 and was a part of a 50K capacity crowd, and the facilities seemed OK, if not exceptional (ofcourse, all I remember from that day was Jayasurya's murderous assault on our bowlers, so maybe I was too involved in the game to notice the facilities).
Furthermore, only if Indian spectators also promised to be in the right frame of mind. We all know that the Calcutta crowd has been a shame on more than one occasion...and if I am not wrong, there have been stray incidents at other venues as well. Having a passion for cricket is one thing, but showing disrespect for players is another. In the end, no matter how plush and comfortable and convenient the facilities are, will the common man in India promise to "behave"?
Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!
Did you downloaded Wikileaks docs? Give me link plz
By the way, anybody home?!
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