#6: 100-Ball-an-Innings Cricket Tournament
With T-20 cricket at its peak right now, the ECB brings 100-ball cricket. Motive seems to be to draw young (Gen-Z) kids to the game. This can grow the game of Cricket in England. More on this here.
The much-awaited franchise-based cricket tournament - The Hundred kicked off on July 21st. And, so far, it has been good. It is fresh, exciting and captivating (If you think otherwise, just watch this match, where Jemimah Rodrigues scored 92* off 43). Obviously, too early to compare it with the other commercial domestic cricket leagues around the world. It has been doing good for itself and, not to mention, the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board). But, what does The Hundred seek to accomplish when they already had T20 Blast (England’s closest IPL equivalent), what does ECB expects from it?
SOME BASIC BACKGROUND:
In 2016, ECB floated the idea of a T20 league just like the IPL. While they still had their own competition T20 Blast (or Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons), they wanted one like IPL. The difference is that T20 Blast is entirely a government undertaking. It is organised by the ECB, and the teams are counties recognised by the ECB (also governmental). It is more like their version of BBCI’s Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Cup. On the other hand, IPL is organised partly by BCCI (government organisation), with franchises (or team organisations) belonging to private/ corporate players.
England Counties are the cricket clubs that develop young talent, play competitions among themselves and act as feeder competition to England’s national cricket team.
Sanjay Patel, the Managing Director of the ECB, then proposed the league instead be a 100-balls-an-innings game instead of a 20-Overs-per-innings. The idea was to make the game simpler for the new audience to understand. The concept was innovative and it got the nod. The tournament was set to begin in 2020 before the pandemic forced ECB to delay it till 2021. Fast-forward to today, The Hundred has been going good. The viewership for the inaugural game peaked at 2.5 million viewers across both BBC and Sky Sports (the official broadcast partners). This was the highest for any cricket match this year in England.
SOME FINANCIALS :
The ECB suffered ~£15 million in losses for the year ended 31st January 2021. ECB was worth ~£17 million in 2020. With an increase in liabilities, that figure is only £2.2 million for the year ended 31st January 2021. The revenue also declined by £21 million. Yes, The Hundred was a contributor to all of this. It took ~£15 million as initial set-up costs. Another £24.7 million had to be paid to each of the 18 counties and the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club). The counties had their interests endangered with the new competition coming. And the board needed (and needs for every major decision) at least 2/3rd of the counties to give a nod before going ahead with the competition.
But, The Hundred will definitely bring the cash inflow too. According to Tom Harrison, an ECB executive, The Hundred will cost £40 million during its run. It is expected to make £51 million in revenues:
Broadcast rights: £36.5 million
Ticket sales: ~£6.5 million
Some of it also comes from branding and merchandising, and international broadcast rights. But, the £40 million are just the operational costs for the duration of the tournament like logistics, marketing, etc. If those £24.7 million county payments and £15 million initial set-up costs are counted, the total outflow becomes ~£79 million. With that, The Hundred actually becomes a loss-making operation to the tune of ~£18 million. But, one can not expect any better for any sports league in its 1st season. The aim has always been for it to someday stand at the IPL level.
WHERE DO ECB AND THE HUNDRED STAND COMPARED TO BCCI AND IPL:
BCCI is the richest cricket board with £500 million+ in revenues. ECB is right up there only behind Cricket Australia (CA) and BCCI itself. ECB made ~£207 million in 2020. Of course, BCCI and CA have the capacity to make their leagues better, spend better, and foster cricket better. ECB has the capacity, but may take some time for them to be able to do the same.
The average player salary in IPL stands at ~$500,000 and the Median player salary is $287,500. The highest-paid player in The Hundred receives $125,000.
While the IPL salaries are comparatively huge, there is scope for more. Player salaries are enough to say how much development cricket needs on a professional (money making) stand-point. Virat Kohli was the only cricketer who made the Forbes Top-100 Highest Earning Athletes in 2020. He was #66. Best batsman or not, is debatable. But Kohli is definitely the biggest star in cricket. He is the most recognised active cricketer. But this game needs more of such. With ~2 billion cricket fans all over the world, it is only a matter of tapping into the potential.
The teams in IPL are privately held. Hence, all costs (marketing, operations etc.) are borne by the respective private owners. For The Hundred, these same costs will be borne by the ECB.
The point of comparison is not to dis-credit The Hundred or the ECB, but to give a context as to where the league stands and where it aims to be in the future. And, in my opinion, the future is certainly bright for The Hundred. The only way to get the all-important Gen-Z audience hooked is by making the game short, crisp, and exciting which suits their attention span. Not to mention, casual and passive fans too. That is what they have done here. Live sports is essentially content more than anything else. Hence, its revenue depends on the size of the audience. More the number of spectators, more the brands' exposure (which can make for an absurd amount of revenue payday).
THE MOTIVE:
But, money is not the only thing The Hundred is after. As a matter of fact, ECB might not be after money at all from a profit standpoint (ECB would still like to cover the costs at least). The motive is more holistic than monetary for ECB. This is why whatever The Hundred loses in cost, it aims to more than makeup for that in value.
ECB’s motives are primarily to grow the popularity of cricket first and foremost in a holistic way. Meaning — growing the popularity among kids who would be willing to take up cricket as a career, among adults who would be willing to watch it live or attend a game on-site, among the writers, journalists for more media coverage, among businesses for more ad deals and sponsorships etc. Basically, the whole ecosystem around cricket needs a boost in terms of popularity in England. The only way to do it: make it so fun so that non-fans could watch and get drawn to the game. Hence, The Hundred. And, yes, that begs the question - Is there even a need to do so in a country where Cricket is so popular? Answer: Yes, there is. Because cricket’s popularity in England has been declining consistently. This should not come as a surprise for a country that happens to religiously follow some other sport - Football.
In England, 3,64,000 adults played cricket at least twice a month in 2016. That number dropped to 2,92,000 adults in 2020. This is worrying as this number has either dropped or stagnated at best. As of 2018, only ~12% of kids (aged 11-15) played cricket every month. That number in 2013 was ~22%. For the kids aged 5-10 years, the same percentages are 5.3% for 2018, and 6.6% for 2013. 44% of 11-15 age group children played football at least twice a month. (Source)
The age of an average cricket fan is 34 years. The aim is to bring that number down and down. Any sport would want to have as many young fans as possible.
Now, I am not saying to shove cricket down childrens’ throats. My point is, the children should at least be exposed to cricket in addition to the footballs and the rugbys and others to know what options they have and which sport suits their body and mind perfectly. The Hundred looks to solve these cricket problems in England. Interestingly, the July-August window for holding the tournament. ECB has covered all the bases. Now, it just needs to do the right things as and when the time demands.
For now, I am going to enjoy watching The Hundred. It has been very entertaining thus far. That’s all from me for today. Until next time!!
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