The Hindu Business Line : `BCCI must develop cricket, not control it'

Is it within the powers of the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) to regulate cricketers' endorsements? Says Raghavendra Patnaik, Legal Adviser, Globosport India Pvt Ltd: "While the ability of the BCCI to regulate this space in the first place is the primary enquiry, what follows suit is the rationale behind such regulation and whether it has any tangible nexus with the performance of the players." Globosport is a sport and entertainment management company founded by Mahesh Bhupathi, which manages celebrities who include Sania Mirza, Saif Ali Khan, Sushmita Sen, Lara Dutta, Dinesh Karthik and Zaheer Khan . "The legality of this directive, if it is indeed implemented, will come under scrutiny by sports lawyers and agents at a subsequent stage."

Patnaik shares with BrandLine his thoughts.

Is there an undervaluation of our sportspersons, considering what players make elsewhere?

There is indeed an undervaluation of our sportspersons, even cricketers. The Indian milieu has still not accepted sport as a serious profession, and more importantly, we still think making money from sport is unacceptable. This strange moral posture, which is hardly grounded in any commercial or scientific logic, has resulted in us benchmarking the worth of our sportspersons at a much lower threshold than they deserve. This is where professional guidance to sportspersons is critical to ensure they get their due.

On the the need for sportsmen to engage lawyers

The term `sportspersons' used to be a euphemism for cricketers. However, over the last five years, the dynamics of India's sporting economy have rapidly changed. For instance, by diversifying the pool of sportspersons used for endorsements, taking it beyond cricketers to icons such as Sania Mirza (tennis), Narain Karthikeyan (Formula 1) and Lt. Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore (Double trap shooting), Globosport has ensured that the professional sport space in India has grown manifold. As sports agents proliferate in the country, it is only those who can provide 360-degree turnkey and cutting edge solutions to the athletes who will find favour with the athletes in the long run.

On sports law

In countries such as Australia, the UK and the US, sports law is an evolved practice area for lawyers and legal professionals. Universities in these countries conduct prestigious sports law programmes to ensure that athletes are well advised by ably trained professionals.

In India, sports law is still at a pre-natal stage. In fact, even in India's premier law university - the National Law School, Bangalore - there exists no structured course on sports law.

There are only a handful of truly professional sports lawyers in India. It is critical that budding lawyers sense the opportunities that await them in this emerging realm of law.

As a sports lawyer, one's primary responsibility is to ensure that the contractual obligations of the athlete and his rights and liabilities are tailored to best suit the athlete. The key is to ensure that all legal ends are well secured and the athlete faces no encumbrance in doing what he does best - perform on the field.

On endorsements and match-fixing

Singapore, one of the most effectively administered countries in the world, is enhancing the pay packages of its ministers. The Prime Minister will now draw a salary upwards of $1 million. The logic: better salaries, lesser corruption.

It is no secret that betting through organised syndicates sees billions of rupees changing hands in a single cricket match. The key to ensuring that players do not become accomplices of these match fixers is making the players `incorruptible'.

While there may always be dubious exceptions, by and large, well-paid players - players who have access to other avenues of legitimate income such as those from endorsements - are far less likely to indulge in match-fixing.

The converse is a truly worrisome proposition. The BCCI needs to factor in these concerns before finalising its restricted endorsement policy.

Why cricket endorsements seem like a big deal

Unlike any other sporting form in the world, one-day international cricket stays live on television for up to 10 consecutive hours in a day. Additionally, there is an advertising spot available at the end of every five minutes (end of the over), something not available in any other sport. Most of the advertisements feature one or the other cricketer from the Indian team. Hence, even when Sachin gets out on the first ball, for the rest of the 10 hours of the day, he continues to market biscuits, digital cameras, shoes, beverages and the like; the dejection and despondence of the fan at Sachin's dismissal finds a vent and a scapegoat in the endorsements that he is doing, which suddenly are the culprits for taking up too much of his time and distracting him from the game, hence affecting his performance. While such conversation is not uncommon in the living room of any cricket loving Indian household, it is indeed befuddling to see this disjointed logic find its way to the boardroom of the BCCI, only to finally manifest itself as a directive that places a cap on the number of endorsements by players!

On what the Board should do

Perhaps the Board for Control of Cricket in India needs to take its nomenclature a little less seriously, investing its energies in developing the sport of cricket rather than just `controlling' it.

At the moment it seems the BCCI has reacted in a populist manner, looking more at positioning itself in line with the public sentiment of anger and ire rather than being a pro-active and rational administrative body. From the manner in which the BCCI has handled the `endorsement cap', post India's World Cup exit, it seems the BCCI approach of relieving someone of a headache is to behead him.

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