General Cricket Discussion
- Thread starter aussie1st
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wasteyouryouth
Verified
Fenil
PC Cricket Leagues Legend
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- Jan 1, 2011
Sohail Tanvir too way back in 2007 against India.
BTW, that over seemed like how I used to bowl back in the day - absolutely toothless haha. No brainer though as he would have rarely practiced bowling spin.
Na Maloom Afraad
Man of Tomorrow
Monopoly Man
Exactly the reason why the WI are in disarray. Playing for your country should be above all, not a product of financial motivation.
crictoday.com
Demand more money from BCCI and PCB for playing against each other: Gayle to India-Pakistan cricketers
Chris Gayle acknowledged the immense revenue generated by Indo-Pak clashes, particularly in World Cups....
crictoday.com
Bevab
Staff Member
I'm continuing the discussion here because I think it's important and the annoying character limit on the VMs isn't helping. A lot of what I say is just theorycrafting though and could be proven wrong in a week or so if the Saudis announce something. @Neptune
- The football comparison doesn't hold water though. The Saudis have always loved their football, the best football club in Asia for decades has been a Saudi club. The footballers they're buying at the moment aren't random players either, Benzema, Mendy and Kante are former Champions League winners with Kante also winning the WC and Benzema being the Ballon d'Or holder, Koulibaly was the best defender in Italy a few years ago and Neves is a current Portuguese international and was a captain in his Premier League club. Do they seem unheard?
- I wouldn't believe a lot of the media reports regarding the sums they're paying to footballers as there's been a lot of clickbait involved with the most egregious example being Kante who was apparently being paid 100M pounds. Turns out that in reality it was 20M per year. That's around 80k per week more than his previous Chelsea contract, hardly an outrageous sum of money for a top level footballer. What is attractive about the Saudi contract is that since it's tax-free you take home all of it compared to in other European countries and that is why I suspect some of these footballers want to move there. For all the talk of how much money they're offering... you also have prominent players who have rejected offers to move there, it may be the same with cricket.
- The Saudis also have a clear plan with football. They've seen the success of the Qatari WC and want something similar to that with their goal aiming to be the hosts of the 2034 edition. I don't necessarily think they require more European league players to do it like they're attempting at the moment since Qatar showed that you could win the WC bid with just suitcases full of money, zero infrastructure and a lacking football history.
- The other main goal is to boost their tourism industry, divest from fossil fuels and make themselves appealing to the elite and the rich that their place is a place of happening and the place you want to be for doing business. The WC is a bid towards that and having more sports involved like Golf and F1 helps with that too. Coming back to football, it's why they've bought Newcastle, one of the few 'only big club in the city' clubs in England. They've also replaced a deeply unpopular former local owner which helps with their sportswashing. You gain a lot by sportswashing in football as Qatar and UAE have demonstrated since their own investments in football.
- I don't believe you get the same effect by splashing money in cricket. Granted they could still do that just because they have more money than imaginable and it gives them another sport under their umbrella but they've got a very poor setup for cricket as far as I know compared to other regional associates like UAE, Oman and even Qatar. The local Saudi populace doesn't care much for cricket and the only ones interested would be the subcontinental expats. Speaking of which, cricket has moved slowly towards a sphere of influence located in the subcontinent. There isn't much to gain by pandering to our folk with cricket goodies when there's far better ways to do so. The West has been their target so far and the only ones that qualify for that are England, Australia and NZ. You'd already get England via football and cricket is a niche sport in NZ. That just leaves... Australia? Again, what is the point of sportswashing via cricket?
Till Valhalla
ICC Chairman
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- Jun 5, 2011
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- Papua New Guinea
If they offer the money they can, a lot of players will turn their heads toward it, football needs them to stay in the country for maybe 9-10 months but with cricket maybe 2 months, plus India is like 5 hours away. So it can be a real good deal for the cricketers, definitely for the one's who have maybe made a few national appearance but can't break into it anymore.
Bevab
Staff Member
Ah I meant the Saudis don’t get anything significant by splashing money in cricket.
Till Valhalla
ICC Chairman
- Joined
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- Profile Flag
- Papua New Guinea
I am not sure but I heard someone saying that Saudi has already made a statement about creating league grander than IPL but I am not sure.
CerealKiller
Staff Member
It’s the players who generate all the money, not the boards.Exactly the reason why the WI are in disarray. Playing for your country should be above all, not a product of financial motivation.
Demand more money from BCCI and PCB for playing against each other: Gayle to India-Pakistan cricketers
Chris Gayle acknowledged the immense revenue generated by Indo-Pak clashes, particularly in World Cups....
If playing for your country pays peanuts compared to what T20 leagues will pay for your skills, why shouldn’t a guy prioritise taking care of his family over playing for the national team? Not everything is about patriotism.
Neptune
Panel of Selectors
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2020
Read your post @Bevab, agree with a lot but I really think its more feasible than what you wrote
They have gotten the big stars but they have also transferred run of the mill players like the winger from Leeds. And they are paying him a really significant wage, so they obviously have the means of paying top cricketers enough to lure them away
The ICC are no saints either, with a certain sum of money I'm sure they can start to host major events. And for making profit, I dont think they expect to make profits directly off these sporting investments anyway. They obviously were not going to make back the 2 billion they apparently offered Messi, its to promote other sources of revenue as you said
They have gotten the big stars but they have also transferred run of the mill players like the winger from Leeds. And they are paying him a really significant wage, so they obviously have the means of paying top cricketers enough to lure them away
The ICC are no saints either, with a certain sum of money I'm sure they can start to host major events. And for making profit, I dont think they expect to make profits directly off these sporting investments anyway. They obviously were not going to make back the 2 billion they apparently offered Messi, its to promote other sources of revenue as you said
Bevab
Staff Member
Yeah their endgame is not profits as we’ve both alluded to, it’s to gain relevance globally as the ‘place of happening’. I don’t think cricket is really going to get them that ahead of other better ventures unless they want relevance in the subcontinent which they already have.
Out of interest who is that Leeds winger? I don’t see anyone bought in on transfermarkt and don’t remember anyone being linked either. They’ve also bought random players in the past without necessarily paying them eye watering sums of money because of players being able to take home all of the money without taxes.
Neptune
Panel of Selectors
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2020
Hélder Costa
wasteyouryouth
Verified
By inserting themselves into sports they also want the first thing people think about, when Saudi Arabia comes up, is something other than oil, human rights, regressive society, 9/11, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
I could see them setting up a Saudi League but that would mean having it broadcast to meet their aims. The IPL/BCCI could, for example say to broadcasters we won't sell you any India or IPL TV deals if you show this competitor.
I could see them setting up a Saudi League but that would mean having it broadcast to meet their aims. The IPL/BCCI could, for example say to broadcasters we won't sell you any India or IPL TV deals if you show this competitor.
Bevab
Staff Member
He was only on loan there for a season, doubt that would have cost much.
