Kerry Packer, the Australian media tycoon, wanted broadcasting rights for Australia’s home series for 3 years and offered $1.5 million to the Australian Cricket Board (ACB).
But ACB gave the rights (at $210,000) to government-run Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), stating ABC’s loyalty (ABC had been airing cricket for 20 years).
For WSC, he secretly signed up the best players across Australia, West Indies, England, Pakistan, New Zealand & South Africa at salaries higher than most would have made in their careers.
Secret signings & their media leaks, crazy money & court cases brought unprecedented worldwide attention to cricket.
On top of it, WSC’s heavy promotion – centered around lethal pace bowling & giving it a theme of a ‘gladiatorial’ war – changed the way cricket was looked at.
Also evident in India was the absence of any Indian player in WSC signings.
And, all this was happening against the backdrop of Television’s growth in India.
TV came to India in 1959; from 1975, services started reaching major cities, but it was in 1982 that Doordarshan (DD) became a national broadcaster.
India had such low odds (66/1) of winning the 1983 World Cup that even DD didn’t bother telecasting it; it was only when India got into the semi-finals that DD made arrangements for live transmission.
An underdog winning a ‘gladiatorial’ war against the mighty West Indies and being watched by millions back home got emotions attached to the game.
Soon media attention & money poured in; the structure of the game – a 1-minute break between overs – also gave cricket an advantage to attract money.
This media attention & money grew multi-fold when India opened its economy to foreign investment in 1991; this also let the Indian cricket board (BCCI), who used to pay DD for telecasting cricket, sell rights to international TV networks.
With the backing of a billion as an audience, BCCI became a force on the global stage (a first for any Indian sport); power, money, and fame made cricket a great career choice for young aspirants and ensured the craze never died.
