Kanika Datta: Bowled over by money

SWOT

First, a reality check. By cricketing standards, the stars appearing in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament starting April 18 through June 1 will receive humungous salaries. By the standards of the European soccer leagues, the model that the IPL has followed, they'll be earning a pittance.

Let's compare the auction price "" which is effectively the players' annual salary "" of just one star with a peer on the major European soccer leagues. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who will captain the Chennai team, bagged the highest price of $1.5 million (Rs 6 crore) at what one foreign newspaper described as a "testosterone-filled auction" in Mumbai in February. If you generously assume that endorsement contracts bring in another $1.5 million, Dhoni's annual gross earnings will be $3 million (Rs 12 crore).

Soccer players (like most sportsmen) tend to peak at the ages of 27 to 28 years, when physical fitness and mental maturity are at an optimum, so it is the highest-paid age bracket in the sport. This applies to cricketers too, though the pace of the game suggests a slower burn-out. In this age bracket, decent European soccer players are able to command salaries of $2.2 million (almost Rs 9 crore). Add in endorsements and the figure could double.

Dhoni, born July 7, 1981, is touching that age bracket. Assuming he is a late bloomer, India's Twenty20 captain won't be earning a great deal more than the average soccer peer.

The point to note, however, is that Dhoni is one of the hottest emerging stars on the cricket firmament (at least in the popular shorter versions of the game). Given that, he's leagues and leagues behind comparable stars in soccer in the payments stakes. Let's leave out David Beckham, whose earnings, including endorsements, at $29.1 million (Rs 116.40 crore) are far out of proportion with his current soccer skills (in fact, this figure is slightly less than the $33 million he earned in 2006, signalling his waning star status). Let's consider instead Ronaldinho, the engaging Brazilian who plies his trade in the Spanish club Barcelona. Although currently out of form, he is, along with Manchester United's Ronaldo and A C Milan's Kaka, generally regarded as one of the finest soccer players in the world today. His annual earnings: $29.5 million (Rs 118 crore).

The bigger gainers in the IPL appear to be the "middling stars" like Makhaya Ntini, Anil Kumble or Mathew Hayden, who will earn between $200,000 (Rs 80 lakh) and $500,000 (Rs 2 crore), significantly higher than the current average annual salary of an English Premier League (EPL) player at roughly $177,967 (about Rs 71.1 lakh).

Now, it may be considered unfair to compare an Indian cricket tournament with a European equivalent without accounting for purchasing power parity. But the IPL has positioned itself as a global tournament and it has drawn global participation, so PPP comparisons are unnecessary.

It may also be unfair to compare a long-established sport "" some European clubs are over 100 years old "" with a fledgling one. But the English Premier League, with which IPL commissioner Lalit Modi hopes to tie up, is just 16 years old and is already one of the richest sports leagues in the world. Given BCCI's entrepreneurial spirit, it is entirely possible that the IPL may overtake the EPL in terms of revenues and profits soon and make its stars the kind of moguls that are portrayed with such fascinating exaggeration in the BBC series Footballers' Wives.

Certainly the Australians have spotted the opportunities in the IPL and Subhas Chandra's less publicised Indian Cricket League, whose idea it was in the first place. Despite admonitions from their national cricketing board to make themselves available for a tour with the West Indies, which overlaps with the first edition of the IPL, many Australian cricketers have indicated that given a choice between playing for country and club, they'll opt for the latter. This toss-up is not unusual. Soccer players often retire from the international game at age 30 or so the better to focus on club careers that can be lucrative till the age of 36.

Meanwhile, it is worth wondering whether Raj Thackeray and his MNS colleagues will watch the IPL tournaments. Going by their political credo, this multi-racial tournament should have no place in India. The Mumbai team, in fact, has few Maharashtrians apart from Sachin Tendulkar.

Although the tournament hopes to draw on local loyalties by linking teams to cities it is its multi-racial nature, which puts a premium on talent rather than nationality, that has analysts predicting a bright future for it. Soccer tournaments draw on similar local loyalties. But no die-hard Chelsea fan, for instance, has a problem cheering its Ivoirian striker Didier Drogba nor a Manchester United fanatic grudge its star Portguese midfielder Ronaldo his fame.

If it works the IPL could well, like the European soccer tournaments, demonstrate how relatively free labour mobility can enhance business performance and, who knows, Thackeray may jettison his local chauvinisms.