India Playing Cricket in Empty Stadiums
India is a nation that has about 1.1 billion people. It goes without saying that many of them are fanatical cricket fans including me. In the past few years India is also clearly the economic engine that drives the world of cricket. So why is that a test match against South Africa, which is a major cricket playing nation, played in a stadium that is almost empty?
Watching the India vs. South Africa test match in Nagpur on television was like watching a few Davis cup tennis matches involving Israel. Some of these tennis matches including Israel vs. Sweden in Malmo City last year could be seen only on television since spectators were banned because of security issues. Obviously this is not the case in Nagpur. But fans are still staying away.
This is not a new problem but an escalation of an existing problem that was limited to domestic cricket so far. Domestic leagues including the Ranji Trophy was kicked off by the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) in 1934. But since then they have done a very poor job of promoting domestic cricket. Domestic first class cricket has been played in empty stadiums for over 50 years and has failed to capture the imagination of the public.
In the Indian sub-continent competitive sports always has an international angle and there are no worthwhile leagues in any sport. This is not the case in Western Europe or the United States. The baseball league in America for example starts in April and ends in November. There are 30 teams and each team play 162 games (81 games at home and 81 games on the road).
My home town team the Philadelphia Phillies sold out close to 45 out of their 81 home games (stadium capacity is about 50,000). So if you are an American baseball fan you will get your “dosage” frequently and do not have to depend on the occasional international matches.
This also creates a tradition of supporting your local teams and builds rivalries with other cities (the rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox is one of the greatest sports rivalries in baseball). NOTE: Baseball is as popular a sport internationally as cricket. It is the most popular sport in Japan, Korea and Taiwan and is also a very popular sport in Central and South America.
It is very important for the BCCI to drop its focus on the international league and introduce a very vibrant domestic league if cricket is to remain a popular sport in India. The apathy towards cricket is beginning to impact test cricket. It will spread to the other forms of cricket very soon. Leagues like the IPL that lasts for a few weeks in a year is not the answer. There has to be a strong major league and an even stronger minor league system that feeds talent to the major leagues.
BCCI should also reconsider ticket prices and create a marketing strategy to encourage more people to watch the games live in the stadium. I think there is a tendency among certain Indian fans to watch the game on television rather than at the stadium (like sports leagues all across the world the game should not be telecast in a certain area if the stadium is not filled to a certain capacity). There is a saying that soccer united Italy. Cricket can do the same for India.
Related posts:
- What is Wrong With Indian Cricket?
- World Cup Soccer: Real American Men Watch Football
- Cricket, Liquor and Cheerleaders Can go Together
- Are These Empty Praises?
- Sir Donald Bradman is the Greatest Batsman?
Category: Sports & Entertainment
I can understand what you are trying to say here…
But, let me tell you, in India, nobody has time to spare 4-5 days from their busy schedules. Instead, if you observe, Indians are fast people. They like fast things, like the T20 format. Do watch out the audience turnout for the upcoming DLF-IPL tournament in a couple of weeks from now…
P.S. I liked your innovative perspective and I’ve also retweeted it! :)
@Parth
Welcome Parth. Thank you very much for the compliments and the retweet.
The duration for a test match is a reason but we should be able to overcome it. We should not expect an individual to show up and watch the game all five days. We should be able to market it in such a way that people can watch sections of the game and tickets should be priced accordingly. We should allow kids to watch games for free etc.
The game of Golf is extremely popular in the West (I would argue that it is a faster society than India). A Golf tournament lasts about 5 days and includes about 10 hours of play each day. But tickets are hard to find in the PGA golf tournaments in the US and I am sure that it is the same in Europe. Why? I think BCCI should study the PGA.
IPL is not the answer to the problem. IPL has a following now because there are foreign players. If IPL only has Indian players would it have a great following? Once the hype and the dust settles IPL will have issues attracting crowds.
One day international matches still have a draw in India but most domestic one day matches (Vijay Hazare Trophy) are played in front of empty stadiums. The problem is not entirely the format or the duration. There is a general apathy towards domestic cricket and it is slowly spreading to international matches. This is exactly what happened to Indian Hockey. I remember sitting on the edge of my chair and watching the India-Pakistan final match (Asian Games in 1983). Now many Indians do not even know the name of the Indian hockey captain.
Well it is not what seen on TV Hari
I think you are totally out of touch with reality here. Somewhere I read, ‘Civilizations dies which have A sporting mantlepiece in centre. India is on rise.
People in US might have hell lot of time to entertain themselves, but here sparing 4 days for a test could be a tardy affair. I agree that domestic tournaments haven’t attracted much of a crowd but look at the quality of cricket and competition it is fostering, Indian cricket would be nowhere without it, we would have RP Singh, Munaf Patel, and others if we didn’t have our domestic league, which might not be popular but is competitive.
Yet it is necessary for change always.
I may presume that you might have seen gladiator and know what sports can do to a country. A similar thing I read in “World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman.
HOWEVER SAME CANNOT BE SAFELY SAID ABOUT OTHER SPORTS
@Tarun
Tarun … this is not about India rising and the developed nations entertaining themselves. In this day and age Sports is an industry just like the auto industry, the IT industry or the tourism industry. The sports industry if run properly (like they do in the West) can employ thousands of people and can generate millions of dollars in taxes for cities that host these teams.
The 4 or 5 day duration is not the only problem. Indians in large numbers are not watching domestic cricket period irrespective of the format. This has grown to International cricket. The match between India and South Africa is telecast worldwide. Why would they do it if people are not watching? People are watching it on television and on-line but not showing up for the game. And that is the problem.
Now if you are taking sports as industry, then TV and Internet revenues are much more than gate collections…it is not about attitude always, but time, today if anyone gives me a ticket for watching cricket for 5 days Mondays thru Friday..I won’t watch it, reason, why should I waste 5 days of my earnings plus many incremental expenditure on something which I can get thru, say, Rs. 100/month worth subscription. Now if stadiums are empty on weekends then that is a problem.
And I do agree with you on other sports but on cricket I might disagree..
There were very few to watch the game on Saturday and Sunday. Also everyone is not working 9 – 5 to make a living. People like me have time flexibility and can set my own schedule. Others might be on vacation or on comp time. Fans can also watch sessions and do not have to show up for the whole day or all 5 days. Then there are the retired people and the stay at home parent. So there are a lot of people with time and the money and interest in Cricket who are not showing up for games.
If in a country as large as India the BCCI is unable to attract 5000 – 10,000 people a day to watch a game then there is something seriously wrong.
Your point of paying for the subscription is important. Any sport that is dependent on TV revenues only and not on gate revenues is in trouble. It is also very discouraging if you are the player playing inside empty stadiums (only about 500 people watched the Shewag century). I grew up watching hockey. Today our national game has become a minor sport. I worry that cricket is headed in the same direction. I am not talking about attitude but about waning interest.
Well…in a simple line…I wud say that this might be the ‘IPL effect’. The viewers are now looking for thrill that matches what they get in the 20-20 cricket.
Still my heart says that this is just a one-off thing…n ppl will be back soon!
Welcome Vishal. I agree with you that IPL and T20 cricket has had an impact and I am also hoping that it is temporary.
Hi,
Stumbled upon your blog and found it interesting. You can promote your blog at
http://www.vrevu.com/items/new
Its a small effort to bring in the best blogs from the less famous and make them more famous…
@vrevu
Thanks. I will check it out.
Well, Hari, we have to accept the harsh fact that people here in India want to be thrilled and entertained. Indians simply find Test cricket too monotonous and boring to watch…
There is definitely an evolutionary change in the mindset of people here about cricket. Firstly, the true love for cricket saw a boost after India won the ’83 World Cup series. In those days, Test cricket and ODI series were quite popular, but now T20 has become a trend.
As I have said earlier, people just want entertainment and thrill. Be it in the form of IPL or T20, or even in the form of the media delivering exaggerated gossip stories. I agree with Tarun that the US people have a lot of free time to spare, but here in India, everyone seems to be busy with some or the other thing.
I feel if you really want to know about how cricket is changing here, you must someday come down here to experience the change….
@Parth
I actually visit India quite frequently and am well aware of what is going on. People everywhere are as busy as they are in India. A paycheck at the end of the month is as important for an American as it is for an Indian.
I am sure some Indians will find it monotonous and boring but why do you think that these test matches are telecast live on TV if nobody is watching them or if it too monotonous? There is a large audience still interested. But they are not coming to the games.
well….for this i would also agree……….
BCCI need to do some big changes…..even i was shocked of the turnout on the first day……between the number 1 and 2 team in the Arena……..that too on a Saturday……even in Nagpur most of offices are closed on that day………
Then it also reminded me of the recent Duleep Trophy Finale where Yosuf Pathan played an amazing inning and scored 210 of 190 balls and took his team to chase a historic total of 536 which now is a record……I came to know that there was no tickets for that match ….i mean free entry ….even then almost 80% of the stands were empty…….and this was like inning you get to watch in decades………and it’s not like it was some miracle…..Yousuf made a 100 in first inning and was very promising on the 4th day too……..then obviously the expectation rises for the 5th day……..still…..no body….???? WTF….?????
BCCI do need to promote first class cricket……..
agree with the way they promote it in US…. yes, Basketball, Baseball, Football and Hockey are played in other countries too……….but the way States have promoted it in between the ppl……is commendable ….
here……IPL tickets are getting steep……..there is an increment on that…..upto 20%…..now we have to pay some….Rs.400 to watch the match from the worst vantage point in the stadium………not everybody can afford a Rs1200 ticket to watch a match…….that is one of the reason i try to watch it over the TV………..
We need some changes….
Thank you Hitesh. I am a great fan of cricket and it is sad to see some great knocks from both teams played in an nearly empty stadium. I did not realize that the ticket for IPL is about Rs. 400. That is very steep indeed.
First of all I don’t know where people get the idea that life in India is more busy than the west! even people who come from Mumbai complain that life is US is very hectic. In general Indians are not as much into sports or any physical activity compared to people in the west, also sports is not encouraged at the school and college level so except for cricket it is tough for any other sport to advance. Even with cricket, I agree that the issue is that once young people are used to watching 20/20, they are less interested in watching tests. I think a lot of people including myself enjoy watching competitive test matches but we form part of an older generation who are probably not the major audience for TV. How come the Ashes are still sold out when cricket is not even the no. 1 sport in Aus and Eng? give importance to the game, the rivalry, make it competitive and create an atmosphere where people can enjoy the atmosphere and crowds will come.
@Santosh,
I agree that life in the US is incredibly hectic compared to India. There are enough people who are interested in watching the game at the stadium. It is about marketing and creating an atmosphere at the stadium that the fans can enjoy.