Cricket has become a rich sport and the game of cricket has become a major revenue generator in sports in most countries where the game of cricket is played. Thanks to franchise sports entering the game, the game of cricket has seen mind-blowing evolution in terms of broadcasting and coverage which has helped the Global Cricket economics.

BCCI is current world’s Cricket Board Financial Power with the backing of cricket fans in millions, have generated billions of revenue and thus has become the richest cricket board in the world.

 Presented By: Raghunath Nair

Introduction

All cricket playing nation has a cricket board and through the Cricket Board Financial Power, they take care of the operations and administration of the country’s cricket. This includes International and domestic circuits. Both Men and the Women game are handled by the board.

The Boards are also in charge of the finances and are directly responsible for the earnings from the game. Development of the game and acting as a custodian for the game also comes under their preview. Like in other sports, the cricket board needs to be independent of government interventions.

Managing player contracts for both domestic and players playing the International games, and generating revenue through broadcasting rights and sponsorships.

All the boards in turn is administered under the common umbrella of the International Cricket Council (ICC) which oversees the sport globally and organises major world cricket tournaments.

Revenue Streams for Cricket Board

Let’s take a look at the various revenue streams the Board focusses on to earn from the sport.

Cricket Media Rights:

Cricket media rights is a massive source of income for any board. The Board of the host nation gives media rights to broadcast the matches for a fixed period of time for a huge sum of money. The money will depend solely on audience size. Advertisers prefer to market their products during this time and base their spend on the reach and viewership of the broadcast.

Title Sponsorship

One of the biggest spots for advertisement is surely attaching the company’s name to one of the biggest cricket championship titles in the country.

 The company that sponsors the title of a cricket event, receives the most exposure, meaning more space for advertisement, a bigger logo, an enhanced time slot, the name and logo of the company over the trophy area, and a lot more. To achieve this spot, which is a golden opportunity for companies in terms of advertisement, they have to pay a huge sum of money to the board.

Team Sponsorship

official team sponsorship. Cricket Sponsorship helps in building a steady revenue stream and can be renewed or awarded to next best bidder at the time of renewal of sponsorship.

Official Kit Sponsor

The company that sponsors the official kit of the team has to pay a massive amount to the Board for their logo placement on the jersey

Bilateral home series

The ICC or the International Cricket Council is responsible for hosting various international cricket series between the cricket-playing countries. Based on viewership  a major share/portion goes to the host nation.

Franchise Cricket

T20 Format cricket has helped cricket to venture into franchise sport similar to MLB and NBA. They are the exclusive property of the board and is managed completely under the administration of the individual board.

Apart from all the mentioned source of revenue above, revenues flow from advertisement throughout the event, ticket sales, % earning from franchises.

Future of Cricket finances may go beyond the mentioned points which will make Cricket compete with Global Football revenues in time to come.

The Top 5 Cricket Boards

BCCI – Board of Cricket Control of India

• Richest Board in the world. BCCI Wealth helps in funding in many associate nations and struggling boards around the country.
• Net Worth of $2.25 billion.
• Most popular game in the most populous country
• Biggest fan following
• The Indian Premier League is the most Popular T20 Franchise Tournament. IPL Economic Impact is one of the major reasons why India is on the top of the table.

CA – Cricket Australia

• Second Richest Board in the world.
• Net Worth of $79 million helps Cricket Australia Financial Health to be in the second position.
• Big Bash is one of the most Popular T20 Franchise Tournament.

ECB- English and Wales Cricket Board

• The England and Wales Cricket Board is the third richest cricket board in the world.
• For their impressive history in the game helps ECB Revenue Streams to flourish. They have a loyal fan base and some world Class cricket stadiums.
• Net worth of $59 million.
• Their county league is the most popular domestic league and international players participate during their offseason period.
• The Hundred is not as popular but have brought in some much-needed changes in the rules to make it even more viewer friendly.

PCB – Pakistan Cricket Board

• Surprising member in the list but the game of cricket is huge in Pakistan.
• Fan base is huge
• They have been affected as the country is not safe enough to conduct International bilateral. Limited series have now started after years of Isolation.
• Net worth of $55 million.
• Pakistan Super League single handedly dominates the revenue stream for the board.
• Second-richest Asian cricket board.

BCB – Bangladesh Cricket Board

• Not amongst the stronger teams, but the national team is blessed with the most hard-core cricket fans and cricket is the most popular sport.
• Net worth of $51 million.
• Bangladesh Premier League in also a popular franchise league.