I was absolutely blown away when I read this recently. The Indian cricket team has struck a sponsorship deal with Nike for "the non-leading arm of the shirt." The deal is worth a staggering £10 Million per year for a 4-year term.
Let me put that in perspective for you. Manchester United receives £9 Million a year from Vodafone, for the entire shirt. Real Madrid receive £9.5 Million from Siemens, Chelsea will get £10 Million a year from Samsung, and only Juventus, with £15 Million a year from Tamoil, can top the Indian number.
But remember, the footballers are being paid for the entire shirt! Sachin Tendulkar will merely be wearing the Nike logo on his right sleeve. That's right - that's the sleeve that you DO NOT SEE on TV when he is batting. Nike simply reached the table a bit late in the game - the other sleeve was already taken, as was the front left position on the shirt.
Just think about those numbers again. It defies belief. We complain that football clubs are commercialized operations that make too much money. Turns out the BCCI makes even more. And yet, which cricketer is paid a Rio Ferdinand-esque £120,000 per week? Where is all that cash going?
I wonder how much the Mumbai and Karnataka shirts will go for once televised domestic cricket in India takes hold next season.
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Cricketers don't get paid as much as the footballers, because there is no free market for them. Tendulkar can't play for any other team, he has to play for BCCI. It is because of this stupid passport-based system that cricket follows. Start a club league where players will have the option of changing teams and even they will start getting paid big bucks.
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