'Endorsement restrictions on cricketers extremely regressive'

With the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) putting a cap on players' match fees and disbanding the grading system, corporate bigwigs have come out strongly against the decision.

Terming the board's move as an "extremely regressive", Joint Managing Director of media house Percept Shailendra Singh said cricketers, like any other sportsperson, are professionals and have the right to make money.

"We think it is an extremely regressive move, not a progressive one. Because cricketers themselves are professionals like any other athletes in the world and they have five or seven years when they are in the prime of their careers... When they are performing well, they must try and make as much money as they can because that is their retirement booty. I mean, when they retire who will look after them? So if they are doing well they must be allowed to make money and play good cricket," said Singh.

He went on to say that performance does not come with money, but money comes with performance, and if they do not perform well, it would automatically rule them out of the endorsements.

"They have to consistently pay for the country, be popular, do a good job for the country. If they don't make runs, who would pay them anyways? The whole premise doesn't make sense. If a player is dropped by the board the player anyway doesn't get any endorsement. The punishment lies in the performance so they have to play well for the country. Imagine which athlete wouldn't want to do well for their country," he said.

The BCCI in its meeting on Saturday limited the personal endorsement deals of players after the team's disastrous exit from the World Cup last month.

The board placed a ceiling on player endorsements, imposing a limit of three sponsorship deals per person as well as restricting single sponsors to a maximum of two players.

The clampdown has led to speculation that corporate interest influenced selection procedures for the World Cup, and that the players and the board were on a course for a collision.

Advertising industry estimates said nearly 1.5 billion rupees worth of money was at stake and a television audience of 280 million would certainly plummet. (ANI)

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