Players are free to do as they please, after all they have such a short period in which to build up funds for life after the sport, sure some may turn to coaching, or worse commentary, but for the majority, where do they go after the last game is played....
This is a bubble, at some point it will burst, and there will be a lot of unhappy folks, already hearing grumbling about the 3rd class players moaning about LIV not choosing them, after all it is about the money..
But if broadcasters cannot afford the fee to broadcast, then what? The IPL was almost a non event here in SA, a last minute deal.. Even the great SKY is battling with fee rates, a classic example is INDYCAR, over on SKYF1, they have to make do with a part time local and part time some SKY employee commentating, it is about 50% US and 50% English driver commentary during the INDYCAR GP..No highlights on SKYF1... very bare bones...
Back in the late 70's and early 80's with Kerry Packer and pajama cricket, there was outrage, bans aplenty, rebels and so on, then it all sort of became a normal Friday night at the local stadium, to watch a bit of tobacco sponsored limited over cricket...Fun times, and teams had loyal followers, the same with rugby, Natal had Natal based players, and even a theme song, and loyal supporters, that bled banana yellow blood, black white shark bite/dynamite..
Now, I have not watched a local rugby game for a decade, could really not care, who is who, who does well, badly, it is so not a part of my life, the same with cricket, lost interest once there was no more DSTV, now I have no idea who plays who, and I hate with a triple passion T20/The Hundred...anything less than 50 overs per, or 5x 90 overs 2 innings per game is not cricket...It is a farce...
But that is where the interest lies, I am sure within the next 24 months, we are going to have T10, 2 games per night, like baseball in the US, every night a game, a season will be 3 or 4 games in a row,. 2 per night, an early session, 3 to 6, then 7 to 10pm...Why not... games are 60 balls per innings, T20 is too long, too slow, too boring, especially overs 10 to 16...dead overs, so just have 2 times 10 overs, instead, with a time out...
What surprises me is that there is no 12 month season in the Emirates, games Monday through Saturday, after all they have enough stadiums, hosted a season of IPL, which was better than all others combined...
Players should go where the money is, paid through tv deals, but then what if the TV cannot afford.. Will the oil barons care???
Sounds like time moved on for you many years ago, Justine... :) I guess we just have to try and move with them or we'll be left behind. Unless that's where we want to be!
The question is "What is cricket?" Formula 1 is facing the same crisis, with the introduction of Sprints.. a shorter format event, many fans hate it, and so do many of the drivers, but this is what the teams have agreed to...
No one broadcasts the longer 3 or 4 day game, test cricket is RIP, only played by Australia, India and England... but for how much longer??
I love cricket, test cricket is my passion, and to edit the highlights of a 5 day game would just be for me the best ever, I would go as low as 50 over cricket, less than that, it is pointless, stupid... But that is where the money is for now..
The question is, as long as there is no access, for how long can a sport sustain itself? Already the IPL faced this question in 2023, when it was announced that South Africa would not be on the list of broadcasters of the IPL, a last hour deal, on the day of game 1 this was reversed...
I guess cricket will go the way of milk in bottles, clinking on the wagon as it is delivered by a dairy worker at just before 6am...
The BCCI and IPL's gambit - about not devaluing their 'brand' by allowing their Indian stars to play overseas - was understandable. But the penny is finally beginning to drop that one of the reasons they haven't won a World Cup since 2011 is because their best players don't have regular experience of playing in overseas conditions. So I suspect that 'B' list players (25 and under) might well be allowed into the ILT20 and SA20, maybe even Big Bash, in the years to come.
Infinite sources, Avanish. Well, at least eight - and they are extremely reliable. Four player agents have told me that their best players have been approached with multi-year, multi-team IPL contract offers. And the boards of the ECB, Cricket Australia and CSA are aware of it, too...
Factor in the betting companies too?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/300855101/icc-lifts-gambling-logo-ban-on-shirts-for-tests-and-oneday-internationals?rm=a
There is no elephant in the room, Dennis. There is a herd of them.
Players are free to do as they please, after all they have such a short period in which to build up funds for life after the sport, sure some may turn to coaching, or worse commentary, but for the majority, where do they go after the last game is played....
This is a bubble, at some point it will burst, and there will be a lot of unhappy folks, already hearing grumbling about the 3rd class players moaning about LIV not choosing them, after all it is about the money..
But if broadcasters cannot afford the fee to broadcast, then what? The IPL was almost a non event here in SA, a last minute deal.. Even the great SKY is battling with fee rates, a classic example is INDYCAR, over on SKYF1, they have to make do with a part time local and part time some SKY employee commentating, it is about 50% US and 50% English driver commentary during the INDYCAR GP..No highlights on SKYF1... very bare bones...
Back in the late 70's and early 80's with Kerry Packer and pajama cricket, there was outrage, bans aplenty, rebels and so on, then it all sort of became a normal Friday night at the local stadium, to watch a bit of tobacco sponsored limited over cricket...Fun times, and teams had loyal followers, the same with rugby, Natal had Natal based players, and even a theme song, and loyal supporters, that bled banana yellow blood, black white shark bite/dynamite..
Now, I have not watched a local rugby game for a decade, could really not care, who is who, who does well, badly, it is so not a part of my life, the same with cricket, lost interest once there was no more DSTV, now I have no idea who plays who, and I hate with a triple passion T20/The Hundred...anything less than 50 overs per, or 5x 90 overs 2 innings per game is not cricket...It is a farce...
But that is where the interest lies, I am sure within the next 24 months, we are going to have T10, 2 games per night, like baseball in the US, every night a game, a season will be 3 or 4 games in a row,. 2 per night, an early session, 3 to 6, then 7 to 10pm...Why not... games are 60 balls per innings, T20 is too long, too slow, too boring, especially overs 10 to 16...dead overs, so just have 2 times 10 overs, instead, with a time out...
What surprises me is that there is no 12 month season in the Emirates, games Monday through Saturday, after all they have enough stadiums, hosted a season of IPL, which was better than all others combined...
Players should go where the money is, paid through tv deals, but then what if the TV cannot afford.. Will the oil barons care???
Sounds like time moved on for you many years ago, Justine... :) I guess we just have to try and move with them or we'll be left behind. Unless that's where we want to be!
The question is "What is cricket?" Formula 1 is facing the same crisis, with the introduction of Sprints.. a shorter format event, many fans hate it, and so do many of the drivers, but this is what the teams have agreed to...
No one broadcasts the longer 3 or 4 day game, test cricket is RIP, only played by Australia, India and England... but for how much longer??
I love cricket, test cricket is my passion, and to edit the highlights of a 5 day game would just be for me the best ever, I would go as low as 50 over cricket, less than that, it is pointless, stupid... But that is where the money is for now..
The question is, as long as there is no access, for how long can a sport sustain itself? Already the IPL faced this question in 2023, when it was announced that South Africa would not be on the list of broadcasters of the IPL, a last hour deal, on the day of game 1 this was reversed...
I guess cricket will go the way of milk in bottles, clinking on the wagon as it is delivered by a dairy worker at just before 6am...
Wait, so no Indian players in our version of IPL lite? Not even the b list emerging talent? I'm ok with that.
If this really happens, a shake up in the big three could be good for SA in the short term but it hardly sounds sustainable.
I know they could do both, but FIFA/soccer is ripe for disruption.
Steven,
The BCCI and IPL's gambit - about not devaluing their 'brand' by allowing their Indian stars to play overseas - was understandable. But the penny is finally beginning to drop that one of the reasons they haven't won a World Cup since 2011 is because their best players don't have regular experience of playing in overseas conditions. So I suspect that 'B' list players (25 and under) might well be allowed into the ILT20 and SA20, maybe even Big Bash, in the years to come.
Infinite sources, Avanish. Well, at least eight - and they are extremely reliable. Four player agents have told me that their best players have been approached with multi-year, multi-team IPL contract offers. And the boards of the ECB, Cricket Australia and CSA are aware of it, too...