The Cricket League by ZEE- Dawn of a new era????

There was a big news on the cricketing front last week. I am not talking about the World Cup review meeting held by the BCCI. I am talking about a move which will be very good for cricket in the long run - The formation of a new cricket league by ZEE. I am surprised by the lukewarm response in the media to this announcement.

This league if successful would be very good for India and Indian cricket for a number of reasons. There is a lot of money that could be earned by this league. This league will also not let BCCI be the lone player in the cricket field and can reduce some of its monopolistic policies for Indian cricket as well as cricket in general. BCCI cannot be monopolistic if part of its viewership base and TV ratings is stolen by this rival cricket league. Another important outcome of this league would be that it would something for the Indian fans to follow closely other than the Indian cricket team. Hopefully, there would lesser number of effigies being burnt and houses being attacked by the so-called "passionate" fans. Lastly, this league would also benefit the domestic and international discards to get a chance to shine and be in the spotlight. This would be a good chance for players like Andy Flower, Steve Tikolo. Imagine people of Chennai and Mumbai cheering for Andy flower, Steve Tikolo (similar to Dirk Nowitzki being cheered for the Dallas mavericks).

For the league to be successful, media has a very important role to play. The media is responsible for a majority of things happening now in Indian cricket. It plays up all the stories, hypes up all the tournaments and players and stirs the passion of the cricket fans. Everyone knows media can highlight the issues which it wants to highlight.This is why I think the media has a very important role to play in the development of this cricket league. Subash Chandra has played his cards right so far. He has got the timing abosolutely perfect. His announcement comes at a time when the Indian fan is looking for something to cheer other than Indian cricket. The average fan is definitely not going to dump cricket and start watching Tennis, Hockey or for that matter even Kabaddi (Again, the media is at fault here...All the hype is given to Cricket..very little coverage to other Sports). He has also decided not to take the BCCI head on initially and by suggesting that it will run in "parallel" with the international cricket league, he has taken a passive but aggressive stand. He knows BCCI is too strong to challenge it initally. By putting his proposal to the BCCI, he has proposed BCCI to either support it offstage or reject it. Either way, he can chip away slowly at BCCI's revenues. The cricket league will have initial setbacks but if persisted will be a huge money spinner in the long run. It will be interesting to see how things unfold from here.