The World of Cricket Coming Back to Normal After the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic set in motion a steep economic downturn that shifted the global sports landscape. The impact of the fallout in the sports world wracked more sports than others, but all sports were affected.

There was increased uptake of gambling with fans abuzz with betting tips before the pandemic. But that revenue stream alongside many others summarizes a monetary construction of global cricket that will change.

And lower-positioned countries will bear the burden of it as they will have to confront a period of simple penny-pinching.

The Fallout Of The Pandemic On The Economics Of Cricket

The primary income avenue sports bodies use is broadcast rights for television and radio. The cessation of live sports events makes a huge dent in the operations of sports organizers around the world.

Furthermore, it takes away any ticket sales and gate receipts that would have been accrued. In the cricketing world, India, through the lucrative IPL, might have been able to take the hit and soldier on; however, the fate of smaller nations was considerably bleeker.

More modest nations like Sri Lanka, West Indies, and Bangladesh have confronted difficulties due to the nature of their media deals. The test series between India and South Africa was deserted because of COVID-19 with potential knock-on effects for the Twenty20 IPL.

Nonetheless, it could, in any case, help orchestrate even more significant infrastructural changes down the road. Cricket is probably going to witness the return of the revenue sharing model known as the Big 3.

Revolutionized after the recession of 2008, it will see a majority of the revenue go to India, Australia, and England. The world of cricket recovering from the economic vagaries of the pandemic will be a fight for existence for smaller countries in the sport.

Before things get back to a semblance of normalcy, they will be forced to countenance job losses, spending cuts, budgetary deficits, and other repercussions of austerity. With that being said, the ICC plans on taking steps to assist lower-ranked nations in righting their financial situations as the world gets back up to speed.

Indeed, even the most extravagant cricket balance sheets are preparing for enormous financial losses. If the test series against India fails to take off due to the virus, Cricket Australia is poised to lose $174 million in gate receipts, sponsorship, merchandise, and broadcasting revenues.

Furthermore, there is potential for a postponement or even the World T20 tournament being put off entirely. If a covid outbreak brought cricket to an initial standstill, the estimated cumulative losses made by the IPL, the BCCI, its broadcasting partners, and the franchises would sum up to $750.

Any cancellation of games will see the IPL board and its partners return money to advertisers and sponsors to the tune of $375 million. One of the beacons of a resurgence of the international cricket stage was the West Indies tour of England.

While the pandemic has raged in the UK with new variants popping up, vaccinations are on the up, and it was the first glimpse of global cricketing in over three months.

Following the successful staging of the test series in England, Cricket West Indies and the England and Wales Cricket Board have confirmed that England will be expanding their cross-format T20 and ODI test series in the Caribbean.

This will help both sides to prepare for the men's T20 World Cup in October 2020. Aside from worldwide cricket, there's the CPL and IPL. While there was speculation about whether they would be postponed until the new year, both leagues launched their latest campaigns.

The Caribbean Premier League kicked off this past August, and the Indian Premier League opened earlier in April and is now rounding into the playoffs.

 

Conclusion

The world is grinding back into gear slowly, and so is cricket. More test matches are being played, with smaller nations going on tour. In any case, the world is presently in a situation to start conversations about the anticipated comeback of worldwide cricket as vaccinations ramp up and economies reopen. This is a very positive sign of things to come.