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ATTRACTING & RETAINING STAR PLAYERS – Africa’s Tournament

In order to continue its position as the world’s leading 20-20 tournament the IPL must remain to attract & retain those players at the peak of the game whose skill & personality capture the thoughts of the cricketing community. Failure to do so will downgrade the IPL to the ranks of other local Twenty20 competitions.

The safety concerns that resulted in South Africa becoming the host tournament is a potentially damaging issue, not to comment the 75% drop in gate receipts. Many players were seeking promises prior to agreeing to take part in IPL 3 following threats from the Al-Qaeda’s active arm in Pakistan. The mishap of the Sri Lanka’s team in Lahore last year, the killing of the Angola’s footballers in African Cup of Nations & the recent bomb blast in Pune highlight a very tangible threat to their safety. Another alike incident in India will make players think long & hard about their contribution such that no amount of ‘danger money’ would reward them for the apparent risk involved for a number of years.

The more and more crowded cricketing calendar limits the accessibility of the few real star players, even the greatest mercenary talents who want to maximize their earnings during their moderately short careers cannot be in 2 places at once & need a break to avoid burnout, recover from injuries & spend time with family. Australia’s Ricky Ponting & England’s Stuart Broad both indicated to miss out on the substantial revenue they could earn in the IPL in order to focus on their national commitments. The competition to bond the finite number of star players is fierce, the $1.49 million contracts for England’s Pietersen & Flintoff who are only open for a 3 week window due to international commitments obviously demonstrates the dynamics of the supply demand arc.

PLAYER VS FRANCHISE VALUE

MS Dhoni is the world’s highest earning cricketer according to Forbes with an earnings of $20 million of which $16 million is produced from endorsements from 20 corporate sponsors including Pepsi, General Electric and, Reebok. Even if we limit ‘brand Dhoni’s’ income to his endorsement income, he generates incomes equivalent to Chennai Super Kings brand value in perpetuity $76.1 million in a little over 7 years. Still only 33, he has plenty of cricket left in him and has scope to continue generating earnings from his name long after he retires such that the Dhoni brand may be worth 3 to 4 times the current brand value of the franchise he represents.

Certainly no player should be superior to the team, and this is correct on the field of play as Chennai have a brilliant squad but commercially it is inevitable as the IPL franchise brands are still new even in contrast to the established cricket stars of today. It takes numerous years to build brand equity, ultimately the franchises with develop sufficient legacy littered with great names such that the franchise brand will have the central role. Dhoni’s ‘endorsement’ of Chennai Super Kings promptly creates an association with the team & Dhoni’s success & flamboyance. It is only a problematic if Dhoni commits a subjective PR disaster on a scale of Tiger Woods that if fared badly by Chennai Super Kings could hinder the development of its brand in the short-term.

While several supporters may associate Chennai with Dhoni, most supporters link Dhoni with India. It is debatable whether the player vs franchise brand dynamic will ever alterat given that all the top players’ reputations stem from playing for their national team who they exemplify far more often than any other team. Developing capacity internally rather than just buying it in will go some way to readdressing the balance but it is unlikely that the brand vigorous could ever be reversed totally. Locally settled talent not only tends to be extra committed to the team but also offers supporters a focal point & role models with whom they can relate & aspire to emulate.