How BCCI Became the World’s Richest Cricket Board?
Cricket is not just a game in India; it’s a big part of life. We not only watch cricket but also connect with it emotionally. Many people, like kids, adults, women, and older people, also love to play and watch cricket. It brings people together no matter where they’re from. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the group that runs cricket in India, and today, it’s the richest cricket board in the world.
But how did that happen? How did BCCI grow from a small group into the most powerful name in world cricket? Let’s understand the journey.
1. Small Beginnings, Big Dreams:
The BCCI was started in 1928 to take care of cricket in India. In the early days, its job was so easy, organising local tournaments like the Ranji Trophy and overseeing the Indian cricket team’s tours to other countries. At that time, it didn’t have much money or power. Cricket boards from countries like England and Australia were stronger and more noteworthy.
But things started to shift in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1983, when India won the Cricket World Cup, the whole country went crazy for cricket. Kids started to dream of becoming big cricket players one day, and millions of people started to watch cricket and love the game like crazy. And, this was the beginning of something big for Indian cricket and the BCCI.
2. The TV Boom Changed Everything:
In the early 1990s, India’s economy started growing rapidly, and new TV channels came in, and TVs became common in everyone’s homes. But before that the cricket was shown only on Doordarshan, the government’s TV channel. But now some private channels like ESPN and Star Sports also want to show the matches.
The BCCI saw a chance to earn money. They sell the rights to show the cricket match to those channels only who paid the most. This brought a lot of money. For example, in 2006, BCCI sold TV rights for more than $600 million. And after that, they made even more in the future.
3. The IPL – A Game Changer:
The biggest change came for the BCCI in 2008 when they started the Indian Premier League (IPL). It was not an ordinary cricket tournament; it was something new and exciting for people, like a whole new experience. The match was short, only 3 hours, the teams had prominent international players, the jerseys were colourful, and there was music, cheerleaders, Bollywood stars, and a lot of fun. Everything was new.
Fans started to watch it in huge numbers, companies rushed to sponsor it, and TV channels paid big money to show the matches. It became more popular every year.
Some of the famous Bollywood stars owned their team, and there was music, dancing, and a pleasant vibe during the matches, which felt like a big festival. IPL also gave opportunities to young people from small towns who became famous through the IPL. Because of it, even more people across India started watching and loving cricket. Today, the IPL is one of the richest sports leagues in the world.
4. More Power in Global Cricket:
As the BCCI got richer, it also became more powerful in the world of cricket. The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the leading body which runs cricket around the world. Since most of the cricket fans are from India only and Indian companies pay huge amounts for the ads, the ICC started to give more pennies to India.
In 2023, the ICC announced that India will get a large share of its money, over 35%. This shows exactly that now, BCCI has become the strongest cricket board in the world.
5. The Final Word:
In today’s time, the BCCI has become the richest cricket board because of many reasons, like:
Indian people love cricket the most.
TV and the internet help people to watch cricket anytime and anywhere. It increases the viewers.
The leaders started to make smart decisions
The IPL became more popular and made huge amounts of money.
Because of all these reasons, the BCCI became famous and made a lot of money compared to other cricket boards. And, as long as people in India love cricket and watching the IPL, the BCCI will stay number one.
