One of the important announcements made after the recent BCCI meeting was about merchandising of the products associated with the Indian team and about the player contracts, which have been dragging for quite a while now. The players would have had a meeting with the new President Sharad Pawar and got to know from him first-hand what the BCCI is planning to do.
Media reports in recent times are not always the best things to rely on, for there’s so much sometimes said and so much sometimes unsaid, that the story is never really complete for whatever be the reason. There were thus some reports in the media that the players’ union had asked that a player should get 60 to 70 percent of his fees if he is injured in a game and thus misses the next few games. Now one thought that the very idea of player contracts was to ensure that if a player were injured, he would still get his contracted fees. Last year, for example, Laxmipathy Balaji was injured for more than half the season, but presumably he got his full contracted fee, whichever category he was in, when the contracts were given in 2004. If a batsman has got a duck or two runs or a bowler has gone for plenty without taking wicket and then gets injured on the last day, how can he expect to be paid the percent that is being talked about, for there’s every chance that he would be dropped from the side for the next game and so wouldn’t qualify anyway. Still, if the BCCI agrees, then good luck, for if the players want anything then this is the right time to ask. There’s a new board in place which will be anxious to show they are with the players and not in conflict with them, and also the team is winning, and that’s always a good time to ask for more fees and facilities. Yes, if the BCCI is going to rake in more from sponsors, TV rights, merchandising, so then the players ought to get more than what they are getting. In fact the three slabs need to be enhanced even if less players are given the contract. The match fees that the BCCI gives also need to be increased along with the logo money the players get.
One offshoot of contracts is that the match fees of players have been adjusted accordingly, and that’s understandable. However, what about the player who is not under a contract with BCCI? He gets less than what the others simply because he is not under contract and that’s an anomaly that needs to be corrected.
For example, before the contracts came in, each player’s fee for a Test was Rs. 2.50 lakhs and Rs. 1.95 lakhs for a one-day game. Now with the contracts, the fees for players who are in various slabs has been reduced to less than half of what they were getting before the contract system came in place. That’s fair enough, but why should a new player who is not contracted get less than what he would have got if he had been picked pre-2004? So the players’ union has to see that a new player still gets at least the fees that were given pre-2004. That would be only fair and if he gets contracted later because of his performances, then the adjustment can be made accordingly in his future fees, but till that happens, why should a new player be deprived of what the others are getting? After all, the reduction in fees is due to the contracts and so there’s no loss to the contracted player, but there’s a loss to the newcomer all right.
The other important announcement was the prize money for the Ranji Trophy matches. This is indeed a welcome move by the BCCI, for its no secret that jobs are drying out for cricketers simply because of too much international cricket, which does not leave international players free to play for offices, and so no offices are giving jobs to players. So the one source of sustenance for the ordinary Ranji player is enhancement of fees and prize money. This will be a tremendous incentive and help the players greatly, especially those who do not come from the metros and thus have less opportunities. With transparency being the leitmotif, how much goes exactly to domestic players from how much received will be interesting. So far, its not known and even matches like the Challenger Trophy where TV rights have been sold at a good price have seen players still getting only Rs. 4,000 per day, which may well be a mini-fraction of what the sponsorship and TV rights have been.
The merchandising too is a great idea. For, far too long have counterfeiters made money, which rightfully the BCCI should have made. There are plenty of avenues for merchandising and not just replicas of team uniforms and caps and I am sure, like me there are others who have ideas on how to merchandise without making it look cheap.
The BCCI would do well to tap all these ideas and pick the ones they feel would enhance the image of Indian cricket and cricketers and also earn something which can be put back into the development of the game.
Yes, these are good days for Indian cricket and it should filter down to the lowest levels of the game for that is where the future is.
