Cricket India’s Financial impact on the Cricket World

The importance of India in world cricket is underscored by how presence of India helps the financial state of other countries’ cricket boards.  One line at the end of an article in Sydney Morning Herald on Cricket Australia’s operating results says more than anything else.

Cricket Australia yesterday announced a $41 million rise in its operating result, attributed to India touring for last summer’s Test and limited-overs series

We have seen how Pakistan’s board has been impacted by the India not playing against it.  The story of how the stakes in cricket have gone up in the last 10 years is evident from this article from Wharton in 2007.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is now the world’s richest cricket association. But, in 1992, it had a deficit of $150,000. In 1997, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the apex body for world cricket, wasn’t in the red, but it had just $25,000 to show for its 90-year history. Now, times have changed: The ICC is expected to make a profit of $239 million from the 2007 Cricket World Cup, currently underway in the Caribbean. The BCCI, meanwhile, has increased its profits from $1.11 million in 2004-05 to $7.64 million in 2005-06.

Since then, specially in 2011, the profits / surplus increased 200%.  With IPL going from strength to strength, this will only increase.

The BCCI has registered a surplus of Rs 1.89 billion ($39.68 million) for the year ended March 31, 2011, an increase of 200% over the previous year. The 2010 IPL was the big money spinner for the board, generating a surplus of Rs 1.19 billion ($24.90 million), a complete turnaround from the loss of Rs 419 million ($8.77 million) the league posted in 2009, and more than 10 times the BCCI’s budgeted target of Rs 115.60 million ($2.41 million), according to the board’s annual report.

In 2007, we were talking in millions, now in billions.  No wonder, a visit from India helps Cricket Australia have a surplus of $41 million now.