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Franchise cricket is going to shake up the game
| Businessmen taking over the game may not be a bad thing after all, writes Peter Roebuck |
Eventually the fact that cricket was played in countries with booming economies, vast populations and growing television audiences was bound to cause an upheaval.
Traditionalists may blanch but franchise cricket is going to shake up the game. Before long, Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies and Sri lanka will have their own franchises.
Domestic cricket is dead in the water in these places and something had to give. Worse things could happen than businessmen taking over. Within a decade, the entire structure of cricket will have changed. Debate may rage about the merits of this development but it is inevitable. Nor will there be any going back.
Now players can make money outside the mainstream. And sportsmen know their careers are short and like to make quick money. Franchises tap into insecurity and desire.
Cricket has always been an oddity. The shorter the match the more popular it becomes and the more money it makes. As in theatre and film, the most demanding part of the activity is subsidised by the more readily approachable. It is not so elsewhere.
Draughts and speed chess are regarded as minor amusements. Seven a side football is an entertaining trifle, cricket has struggled with its format.
Throughout, its most satisfying length has been its least marketable.
Cricket’s other distinctive characteristic is that players made money mainly whilst representing their country.
In other games, high wages are paid by clubs. International service is an extra. Apart from periodic tournaments timed to avoid clashing with important domestic commitments, not many internationals are played.
Hitherto cricket has maintained its old-fashioned structures, with a pyramid including clubs and provinces run by associations and beholden to the national body.
In some countries it has worked. In others it has been barely functional. No matter that some of the best players in the world are taking part, crowds for provincial matches are small. Cricket has come to regard domestic contests much as a large company does expenditure on research and development. It has opened the door for outside forces.
For a time, domestic cricket in Australia and England might not be affected by franchises but change will come. Everywhere else the old ways are over.
Premier leagues will be formed. It might not be a bad thing. Cricket has been struggling in the Caribbean and elsewhere and Test cricket is played in empty grounds in most places. Television demanded a better product.
Also the ICC has been trying to spread the game. Showing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow might help.
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