Cricket is a beautiful game with an ancient history and unique traditions. Millions of fans around the world appreciate this sport for its spectacle and tactical variety, but today I would like to tell you about the other side of cricket, the financial side. We will look at how cricket affects the economies of countries, how much money players and clubs earn, and much more. In general, we will count other people’s money, isn’t it great? Let’s get started.
Worldwide Popularity
It may come as a shock to you, but cricket is the second most popular sport in the world. Estimates of the number of fans tell us that there are about 2.5 million people actively following the game. Most of them are concentrated in South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, but cricket is also very popular in Australia, the UK, South Africa, and several other countries. For many people from these countries, cricket has already become an integral part of the culture, with hundreds of thousands of people living the sport to fuel their excitement with 1xbet online sports betting.
Income Sources
The incredible popularity of this game inevitably leads to the interest of businesses. Let us take a look at the main sources of income of cricket clubs.
- Broadcasting Rights. Television broadcasting rights are one of cricket’s biggest revenue streams. Although prices vary between leagues and countries we can look at some data. For instance, in 2017, Star India bought a 5-year contract to broadcast the IPL, one of the most popular leagues in the world. It cost no less than 2.5 billion dollars.
- Sponsorship and Advertising. Sponsorship is another important part of revenue. Various brands and companies are always ready to pay a hefty amount of money to have their logo on the players’ jerseys, especially if it is a champion’s jersey. Not to be unsubstantiated, a few years ago Vivo paid the ICC about 341 million dollars to become their main sponsor.
- Ticket Sales. It’s simple. The Chennai Super Kings home stadium is one of the oldest in India, seating approximately 50,000 people. Standard tickets cost between 400 and 500 rupees (5-6 US dollars), so calculate how much money one match brings. And all this without taking into account VIP seats.
- Other sources. Don’t forget about merchandise sales, revenue from academies and coaching centers, and renting out the stadium for music concerts and other events.
Players’ Salaries
Player salaries vary greatly depending on the club, league, athlete’s accomplishments, etc. In the highest-paid league IPL, top players can earn over 2 million dollars per season. Virat Kohli is one of the richest cricketers today with an annual income of up to 20 million dollars per year. National teams pay players well, too. Top players of the English national team, for example, can earn up to 900 thousand pounds a year.
Unfortunately, it has to be admitted that women in cricket are paid much less than men, although their salaries are also increasing every year. Women athletes of the England national team today receive about 6 times less than their male counterparts.
Predictions
Looking into the future, there is no reason for development trends to go down. The industry has recovered quite quickly from the revenue slump caused by the coronavirus infection and continues to grow at a very rapid pace. Due to natural population growth in some cricket fan countries, the sport’s audience is growing, and new and more entertaining formats are attracting a new and younger audience of fans.
Thousands of people follow cricket every day in stadiums and on TV, and gamblers are in constant search for the best betting app with the best odds to make the emotions of watching a match even brighter and I see no reason for this to change.
Conclusion
To summarize, it is safe to say that the world of cricket is inextricably linked to big money. This sport not only gives emotions to fans but also fills the wallets of investors, clubs, advertisers, and other partners. I hope you found it interesting and learned something new! Thank you for your attention.
