Cricket

What kind of a sports marketer are you? The world’s third largest sporting event is currently being played and you didn’t even know it was on!

Reach and Cash

Granted, for most of the Sportsnetworker.com readers Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka are not exactly next door. However the ICC Cricket World Cup is televised in over 200 countries and reaches 2.2 billion television viewers, making it the world’s third largest event (with only the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics exceeding it). Television rights, mainly for the 2011 and 2015 World Cup were sold for over US$ 1.1 billion, and sponsorship rights were sold for a further US$500 million. Despite the fact that cricket is only really popular in about 10 countries worldwide, India alone boasts 100 million players and about 500 million fans. Did you know that the Indian Premier League (IPL), is actually the second best paid sports competition in the world, outperformed only by the NBA?

The Jordan of Cricket

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as the greatest batsman in history. It’s fair to say he’s cricket’s very own “Sultan of Swat”. It’s probably why he’s also modestly referred to as God (of Cricket) a.k.a. Tendlya, Sach, Master Blaster, The Little Master, Paaji, Slashin Sachin, The Bombay Bomber, or simply 10dulkar. Anyway, I think you get the point (he’s pretty good). On April 24^th, Tendulkar will turn 38. Let’s see if he’ll get to his 100 100’s in this Cricket World Cup. Whether he does or doesn’t, his records will surely be in the books a century from now. Bring it on.

The Title Favorites

My personal favorite to win the title this year has got to be India. Not only do they have home-field advantage (which means they know the pitches and are used to the local playing conditions), they also have the best bowlers and THE best batsman in the competition (by now you know who that is). According to the bookies, India (3/1), South Africa (4/1) and defending champions Australia (5/1) are the clear favorites to win the Cricket World Cup Trophy. If you’re not afraid of taking a long shot put your money on Zimbabwe, The Netherlands or Kenya (1000/1) or bet on Canada to win (10,000/1).

Want more Cricket?

Robin Williams said: “Cricket is basically baseball on valium”. If you’re interested in learning more (or studying the rules ), try watching one of the games. If you’re in the USA go to DIRECTV or catch the cricket action on a live stream.  Oh and while you’re at it, why not Google a Googly.

About Thomas van Schaik

Thomas studied Communications in Amsterdam and has been working in international sports for over 15 years. He started his professional career at the Amsterdam Admirals in the NFL Europe and moved to Dutch professional soccer champions PSV Eindhoven in 1997. In 2001 he moved to Southern Germany to join Adidas. He's filled a variety of roles with the sporting goods brand, including 'Head of Global PR'. In 2011 he moved into the role of Global Brand Director.

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