It occurred to me as I stumbled across the highlights of the 20/20 game between Hampshire and Glamorgan when channel surfing, that generally, we often make a pretty poor attempt at marketing our top level sports.
You can’t help but compare our short over competition with the IPL in India and the Big Bash in Australia. They really know how to promote the event globally. I readily concede that the world’s stars were tempted by the big salaries to play in those competitions. The TV revenues far exceed the sums Sky are paying for our competition. But maybe there lies the problem. We need to get some momentum behind the T20 blast. A real desire to invest in the tournament and to back our ability to compete with the rival competitions.
Watching the game today resembled a village pub contest in comparison. The music which accompanied the wickets was almost apologetic; I guess we don’t want to upset the traditional, elderly cricket fan. The dancing girls seemed bored and disinterested (a contrast to Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders that I turned my head a little at Wembley a while back) and the game was played before a largely passive, docile crowd. The spectators had little to feed upon and generally, the viewer experience was a little underwhelming. On the back of England’s brilliant and thrilling play against New Zealand, it was dispiriting to watch.
So could have the cricketing authorities have done more? I’m sure the beleaguered marketing departments would claim their hard work has led to increase in crowds. But there’s still a need to create a greater sense of occasion. To generate excitement amongst a crowd, young and old. Make the game just part of the day’s entertainment. The horse racing authorities have done tremendously well in increasing the sense of occasion at their meetings. Pop stars have been brought in to entertain the racegoers after the racing and a younger crowd are now regular attendees. Maybe not are all there for the racing, but a buzz now surrounds many of the horse race meetings, even the minor ones at courses such as Windsor or Sandown.
Even football, the great cash cow, could be better marketed in this country too. The FA are clearly relying on the tradition of their flagship cup tournament to sustain it’s place in the sporting calendar. In so many ways they have undermined such a prestigious sporting tournament and the manner in which it’s promoted is nothing short of a disgrace. Moving the timing of the fixture around to suit the global TV audience, staging the semi finals at Wembley to help pay for the overfunding of the stadium, scrapping replays and playing the earlier rounds spanning 5 days to suit the demands of BT Sport and formerly Sky Sports. The FA seemingly have accepted the superiority of the PL and the Champions League. Walking around London in the week leading up to the FA Cup final, you would have no idea the competition was reaching a climax.