Saudi Money will LIV Cricket

They may not have a cricket ground, yet, but no problem...

    The vast majority of us mere ‘sports people’ have little grasp of the power of global cash. I’m not even sure whether a billion dollars is a hundred million or a thousand million. When we’re changing brand of supermarket because the cheese is cheaper it hardly seems relevant.

    In case you missed it, the new Saudi Arabian division of the established American and European golf tours has cost them well over three billion. Dollars. They paid a well-known 46-year-old left hander over $250million to be their headline star. They are paying has-beens and never-weres half a million dollars per event for shooting three 77s. There is no ‘cut’ in LIV events.

    The potential cost of buying into cricket must seem laughable. Especially with the IPL now officially rated as the second most valuable sporting commodity in the world, behind the AFL. Frankly, the Saudis could shatter the IPL’s T20 hegemony just as easily as they have broken and divided golf’s established order. More easily.

    But it’s not quite that simple. Phil Mickelson had gambling debts over $100m, so he was an easy target. Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen were soft targets, one-time Major winners but never with the personal drive to become anything in the game other than rich. Great players, and easily bought.

    Australian Cameron Smith, prodigious talent, was the reigning Open Champion when he was approached with an offer of $125million. He said no. But he’s a Queensland country boy and everyone has their price. When it was topped up to $150million he succumbed to the scoreboard pressure. Even the possibility of not being able to defend his title and compete for more Majors was enough to turn down financial security for his entire town, if he so wished.

    There are a few Indian cricket stars so wealthy already that Saudi money would be waived away. Perhaps. Virat Kohli is said to have assets in excess of $400million. The Saudis could double that from the petty cash till but, perhaps Kohli is the sort of man who asks ‘when is enough, enough?’ There aren’t many cricketers with enough in the bank to ask themselves the same question. For the Indian players, of course, there is the question of future vitriol and retribution.

    Could they live happily (safely?) in Bangalore, Chennai or Mumbai after walking out on the IPL for $50million to play in a SaudiT20 tournament? To our minds, would it matter wheather they could buy an island in the Caribbean or a villa in Monaco after a couple of seasons. But 95% of the world’s best cricketers would have no moral compunction whatsoever about signing a life-changing contract for their families and every generation to come for the conceivable future.

    This is not, I am told by those who know far more than me, mere speculation. Just as IPL teams will consolidate their assets after the 2024 T20 World Cup by signing their biggest names to multi-year, multi-tournament contracts, the ‘Saudi Super League’ will happen.

    It is intriguing that discussions have been taking place between Saudi representatives and the BCCI for over 12 months - and that India has ‘leaked’ the information that their players will not being released to play in any other tournaments outside the IPL. A power-play is taking place, and the BCCI is very good at them. But even they are whitlings in the ocean of Saudi excess. Should Rohit Sharma, Indian captain and about to turn 36, accept a three-year deal for $75million, hundreds more would be sure to follow.

    The turmoil in the three ‘major’ cricket nations will be interesting to observe. There will be much angst, no doubt. But India, England and Australia have established a cosy threesome in which generous inter-personal wealth-sharing is the priority while the ‘small seven’ will have to make do with whatever they can salvage.

    From 2025 onwards the IPL franchises will no longer tolerate the sharing of their assets. Tristan Stubbs, for example, cannot be shared between the Sunrisers (Eastern Cape) and the Mumbai Indians. Building ‘brands’ is a multi-million dollar business and Stubbs, as a commodity, can only be one or the other in a business trading in billions. He is just one, convenient example. Player agents are already working on deals which will see the like of Jos Buttler, Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock, Glenn Maxwell etc signed up for life.

    In less than three years from now the best, most high-profile players in the world will be seeking permission from their franchises to play for their countries rather than vice-versa. It’s a challenging and confronting proposition for those who always believed cricket was, somehow, different to other sports. It was. But it won’t be for long.

    The difference is this: How many other meaningful ‘formats’ of football (American or International) are there? And will the repetitive, unmemorable, sugar-rush nature of domestic T20 leagues really be sustainable? No need to speculate because time will tell. It’s going to happen.