…pocketed mega bucks for a few hours work last weekend, the pride of Ireland’s cricketers deserved mega bucks for winning their third successive Intercontinental Cup. There were no big cheques for century-maker Niall O’Brien or Man-of-the-Match Alex Cusack, but last weekend they were up there with the best of them when it comes to sporting prowess.
Well done CricketIrelandon and off the pitch, as it rounds off another solid year of progress with some memorable milestones on the way. What a pity we don’t have a Stanford to bankroll our game and put us really in the big picture.
A lot has been made about Stanford’s Twenty20 circus, but any cricket match that can command a television audience of over 700 million has to be something special. Love or loath him, Sir Allen Stanford has bought his way to the international cricket table and he’s produced the goods. OK, so it wasn’t the glorious game we all know, but who cares for once, and wasn’t it great to see players genuinely play to win. Anyone who thinks the Caribbean players didn’t put in a massive effort for this tournament doesn’t know what they are talking about, because these guys trained and practiced with a purpose for almost six weeks. They didn’t moan about the lights, the wicket, the timing of the tournament, and certainly not who was sitting on the boss’s lap! They wanted to win, and it showed. And they deserve it all, because they’ll spend it on their families, friends, health, homes and charity.
A lot has been made about the money involved but was it really that outrageous? After all a prize fund of US$20 million might be a first for a single match but on Sunday Lewis Hamilton won the Formula One world championship and some pundits have estimated its value at over US$200 million. One point separated him from Felippe Massa, and while the Brazilian is not exactly short of a million or two for his season’s work, that one point equals $200 million and it all came down to the last few seconds.
On the same weekend Manchester United millionaire superstars toiled to beat a budget team from Hull City in front of 70,000 plus spectators. Gate receipts for that game and television rights would probably take the match revenue to over US$10 million plus sponsorship. Most of the United players are huge wage earners, so they’ll certainly not be overawed by what happened inAntigua.
Then there’s the golfers and the tennis players, almost exclusive private clubs for the elite in both sports. And if your name is Tiger Woods, you can pick up a cool US$300 million from just putting your name on a Nike shirt.
And if you are a really good college basketball player you won’t be selling yourself short on a mere US$20 million for signing up to an NBA franchise as you have a license to print money in that sport. Baseball and ice hockey aren’t that far behind either.
When all’s said and done cricket has a long way to go to make up the difference at the top of the money lists, and if the IPL and Sir Allen Stanford are raising the money stakes then hopefully some of it will spin off into the traditional end of the sport where life is very different. Maybe that’s why the English media skeptics can’t give Stanford any praise, because he’s used his vast wealth to show up all the deficiencies and narrow-mindedness that continues to keep the game in the dark ages. The ECB and the West Indies Boards have hardly been setting the world on fire with their vision and innovation in recent times, but along comes a bunch of entrepreneurial Indian businessmen and a Texan billionaire and the whole face of cricket has been lifted to another level. And just to put Stanford’s US$20 million into perspective, Kerry Packer used to gamble twice that amount on one evening at the tables and that was over 20 years ago.
Like Stanford, big Kerry loved to show his wealth and sport was a huge beneficiary. He even had one brush with a Texan millionaire and when the abrasive American tried to muscle the Australian with his wealth, Packer asked him what he was worth.
“A hundred million bucks!” was the reply and quick as a flash Packer said;
“OK, I’ll toss you for it!”
And he meant it.
It was game, set and match to Packer, and it was game set and match to Stanford last weekend.
Clarence Hiles
Editor
