When this writer dared to pose that question to some in the investment and trading business of the CSE, they almost dove for cover.
The subject was way too sensitive for them to wrap their minds around! The politics behind this so called august body, which is the umbrella organization that controls the most popular sport in this country, was the stumbling block.
That thought is probably what prompted this story. It stems from the fact that something needs to be done; particularly from a business angle to make Sri Lankan cricket not only a star performer on the field but also a viable business - both in terms of its brand and its operations.
That it needs to have a team, which performs well in order to achieve this, is obvious. But as Michael Elias, Vice President of John Keells Holdings points out, what it also needs to have, is a more holistic approach.
He made this comment in response to what Michael De Soysa, a former member of the Board of Control for cricket had told this writer; that the way to see change in Sri Lankan cricket would be to have an administration, which had more cricketers on board.
‘’We need to have people who have a genuine love for the game, and a good grasp and involvement in cricket for several years – not guys who have played for one term. There are a lot of people who come into these committees, one or two of them have been with Clubs and been in the game for a long time but many of them have never really been in cricket administration - some of them have never even played cricket.
People who have been in Club cricket administrations like the SSC, NCC, and Tamil Union etc. would have a lot of experience in running Sri Lanka Cricket in an accountable fashion.”
Failure of Interim Committees
Michael De Soysa says that the natural system works better when there is an election, and people actually compete for posts, “hence you get people who are involved in cricket and that is what we need. This is the reason interim committees have failed, because there are cricket lovers but not guys who really know. Having said this I believe that Sri Lanka Cricket has the potential to become a viable company.”
Michael Elias on the other hand, has another opinion. He says that the game has changed a great deal from what it was 30 years ago and gone beyond the cricketers themselves. ‘’It’s simply not only the game of cricket anymore, but a number of other aspects surrounding the game. The need is not only for cricketers, administrators and financial people but even astute politicians, who are a necessity to negotiate the best deals for Sri Lanka with other countries - after all, Cricket is now a Sri Lankan lifestyle. What is important is for the administration of the game is experts in the field; we don’t need ex-cricketers. However if the cricketer is a good administrator that would be the perfect match; the administrator has to be able to clinically separate the game and bring the different aspects of it that run together, apart from the game. It’s not unlike the management of a big financial enterprise.
From the game’s point of view, today Sri Lanka Cricket has done a huge amount of good by going into the provinces, spending money, having a team of coaches who go out searching for new talent etc.
South Asian perspective
Today, Sri Lanka cricket cannot remain in isolation. We need to be talking cricket from a South Asian perspective where we can negotiate with England or Australia from a position of strength. For example India controls the game so we need to be a part of their lobby. For this we need smart politicians. Cricket is like running a government; you need the political wing, the financial wing, the cricketers who are going to run the game as well as sales people who will sell the tickets and other merchandise.
It’s a huge industry; you need to make it what it is in the world. Hence, behind the scenes you need capable people to be running it and running it well.
Just randomly selecting the ground for a match is not feasible today, you need to think of the infrastructure, the surrounding hotels in that area; look at it from a business perspective. The entire cricketing world has changed. It’s like running Manchester United - it is a big business that runs it” says Michael Elias.
So how does it play out? If Sri Lanka Cricket has to be run as a business or a quoted company on the CSE, how will this sentiment be accepted in our market? Will it be considered a form of legal gambling; for example if Sri Lanka wins matches there would there be a rise in the share price and if and when we lose, would the prices slump?
Potential
Dilith Jayaweera, Joint Managing Director of Triad who is also major investor in the CSE says that Sri Lanka Cricket has the potential, to be listed, 100%. However, he says that from an investor’s point of view it has to have a proper corporate structure. ‘’You have to work towards winning public confidence so that the public will have faith to put in their last penny. They can’t continue doing what they do now, and ask people to have faith in them.’’
He says that for Sri Lanka Cricket to function as a viable company good governance and transparency are key; and along with it a hierarchy that is empowered with no outside influence bringing pressure to bear.
For any comments, please email this writer on michael.soris@gmail.com
source - www.dailymirror.lk
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