sohummisra said:
With all due respect, I think you are not really acknowledging the state of domestic cricket in India. Domestic cricket in India enjoys no TV viewership at all (last time I checked, although there were plans for someone to telecast them; not sure what happened with those) and not many people actually show up at the matches. I think putting some corporate money into domestic cricket will only help.
Now, why does a corporate have to step-in? Because the BCCI has their head buried far too up their ass to pull it out and cultivate a domestic cricket culture in India. I could also see less 'idiotic passion' for the Indian national team. You could always fall back on your domestic team, if you know what I mean.
And how would this ruin the game? If it is what it is touted to be, all it will do is introduce Twenty20 cricket into Indian cricket in a exciting fashion (and possibly create some excitement around domestic cricketers). Only 2 Indian internationals will play per team--which is 12 international teams. By their contracts, Indian internationals will be available for call-up whenever the BCCI wants them.
Finally, I think the most important thing in the whole deal is that Zee is trying to work alongside the BCCI. This is going to be a cooperative effort and I feel that it may even be the case that the BCCI pays Zee to organize it. I feel there is no question of conflicting commitments.
This seems like one of your usual digs against India(n cricket). Are you perhaps suggesting that we shouldn't move domestic cricket to the forefront of TV or that we shouldn't be inspired by revolutions?
In Australia our domestic crowds are poor, nine has dropped one day games and foxtel is left to pick it up. Domestic cricket will never become as big as international cricket unless we turn it into the sort of thing that soccer does now, where we combine local and international heroes in big money fests and players stop caring about representing their money, rather caring about the size of their pay cheques.
I am not digging at India at all, rather at the morons who want to ruin cricket at this TV Station. What Packer did was unheard of, and at that time many felt it was bad for the game, but the difference is that his outcome was merely to get more people into One Day Cricket. If he had not introduced so many people to the shorter game by creating Day/Night games, then it is true that Indian Stations like Zee would not make the sort of money out of the One Day game that they are now. Heck, Australia plays India in ridiculous time-wasting One Day tournaments in obscure cricketing places every year, last year it was Kuala Lumpur, this year the USA or Northern Ireland, all because of the huge amounts of money that we are offered for it.
Money is big enough a movement as it is without needing to use it to destroy the international game.
Domestic Cricket is a training ground for international cricket. If less people watch it then who cares? The reason you sign up for your local club is because you would like to one day play for your country. Now we have Shane Warne and Justin Langer making money by playing domestic cricket after they've retired from the international game, Warne for no less than another two years, and more and more players retiring from international cricket so that they can play for more overseas domestic outfits.
Let's not pretend domestic cricket isn't important, but let's not pretend that crowd sizes are. No country is going to attract large numbers of people to local heroes by themselves, and that's where movements like Zee endeavour to change the game by bringing international players to the domestic sides, to make money. They put young players in as well of course, because then it seems they have a better agenda, plus it is exposure for the players whom they one day hope will have their faces plastered all over the city on billboards for their own brand, and other sponsors as well.
We are constantly forgetting how unprofessional sports like cricket used to be, players used to have second or third jobs just to support their families. Now it is all purely a business, money is thrown left right and centre and the spirit of the game is hurt for it. We need to stop our great game from becoming a shamble, and this would do it.
In a year which has been full of ball tampering allegations, politics, tournaments only motivated by making money, poor crowds at the World Cup, and of course tragic murder, it is easy to forget behind all of this that cricket is a game. A game in which players try to score runs and take wickets, a game which has unrivalled atmosphere, a game which was started hundreds of years ago as a game English schoolchildren enjoyed playing, and a game which is dying a slow and unnatural death at the hands of greed, politics, fanatics and money.
