Is cricket ‘really’ growing as a global sport?

Is cricket ‘really’ growing as a global sport?

Different people will have different answers to this question.

An Indian cricket administrator or a commentator or anyone associated with the IPL will answer with a resounding yes. They will then embellish their argument with a stream of stats – indicating how cricket is growing.

Ask someone in the West Indies and he won’t be so sure. However, he will bear witness to the growth of other sports – the likes of basketball- and mourn that this growth has resulted in the decline of cricket in the Caribbean.

Speak to the handful of cricketers keeping the sport alive in a country like Kenya and they will ruefully talk of missed opportunities – how the sport failed to capitalize on the wave of popularity generated by the World Cup semi-final run.

The geographical distribution of the answers is actually the best indicator of whether the sport is growing globally or not. But we will come to that later.

We will first look at the stream of stats, which indicate why Indian administrators think that cricket, is growing.

These stats are about revenues, broadcast numbers and player earnings.

Cricket must surely be growing, if the Indian cricket team has the richest shirt sponsorship deal in sport, if the number of countries seeing the World Cup live is growing exponentially and if the per hour earning of an IPL superstar is more than what his English Premier League counterpart makes. ICC’s associate membership is also growing.

Surely the game is reaching more corners of the planet than it ever reached during the heydays of the British Empire.

Cricket is growing and there was absolutely no need to add a “really” to the topic.

But before we give a conclusive verdict, lets try and answer a few more questions.

How many native fans (we are not counting the Patels and the Sardarji’s spread all over the globe and others of their ilk from the test-playing nations) whose countries are not playing in the world cup watch the cricket regularly?

How often does cricket news make it to ESPN.com or CNN.com?

How many cricketers are global sports icons and endorse products globally?

How well is China doing in the sport?

How many new nations have made the breakthrough- of becoming good enough to play with the big boys- in the last 20 years? For cricket, that would mean gaining test-playing status.

The answer to all these questions is zero or none or something close to that.

The last question is the important and most telling of cricket’s underperformance.

The test playing pool remains the same. The last deserving entrant was Sri Lanka almost 30 years back. And the Lankans had been playing the sport for at least 50 years before that. Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have also joined the club but have done little to justify the membership.

Things at the associate level also have pretty much remained the same. The likes of Holland, Hong Kong, Scotland and Bermuda have been around forever. There are no new nations making the break-through even at the associate level. And that has to be considered a more robust yardstick to measure the spread of any sport.

The China question is also important. Whatever matters in the world, is taken seriously by the Chinese, including everything considered worthwhile in sport. The dragon nation takes it up with manic fervor and becomes an important player in no time. That we haven’t heard of China and cricket, beyond the “Chinaman” is proof enough that Cricket isn’t worthy enough yet.

How do the other sports perform on the same parameters?

Lets not even waste our time with the likes of football and tennis. Lets look at a sport like basketball. The field is just getting stronger. There are new powers like Turkey. Others like Argentina, Spain and Italy have also gotten better. Russia declined but these new powers took their place. Basketball also passes the China test with flying colours thanks to Yao Ming. It has global superstars like Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal. India is a basketball minnow and no Indian plays in the NBA but an increasing number of fans watch the sport throughout the season.

Basketball clearly has what cricket doesn’t.

The geographic distribution of the original question starts to make sense now.

Cricket is prospering in some of the test-playing nations, giving them a rose-tinted view of how the sport is doing globally. India, Sri Lanka, England and Australia belong to this category.

Other members of this club have fallen on hard times. The West Indies have declined beyond unimaginable proportions. And no one has stepped in to take their place, making the sport weaker overall. This is tantamount to a de-globalization of the sport.

Others with promise have also withered away. Kenya looked good but their huge step forward in the 2003 World Cup was followed by a hundred small steps backwards.

The decline of these old powers and lack of suitable replacements conclusively proves that cricket isn’t growing globally. Because if cricket were a truly global sport, then it would have helped the existing powers (at least most of them) survive and nurtured new ones to powers of strength.

It’s very simple. Everything finally comes down to revenue. A global sport creates enough wealth for everyone involved to keep the sport developing across the globe. There is enough money for the global body to support the sport in fledgling nations. FIFA might be corrupt but it is financing football infrastructure and providing equipment and coaching in poor African countries (as well as in India). How many cricket pitches has the ICC built?

A global sport also has a large enough audience; spread across countries – thereby generating sufficient revenue- to support a large pool of players. It can provide decent employment to promising players from anywhere in the world. This ensures that there is enough interest in the sport and talent is not lost.

Let me illustrate this point with a few examples.

The West Indies are struggling because youngsters are taking up other sports with better money making opportunities. The lack of infrastructure is also a problem. After the arrest of Mr. Sanford, the WICB has had no money. The contracts of international players are very average. Chris Gayle can ditch the national contact and make millions in the IPL but lesser known West Indian cricketers have no such opportunities. If there were ten professional leagues like the IPL even including ones, which paid one-tenth the salaries, then many more young West Indians would have been enticed into cricket.

Look at the contrast in football.

The tiny nation of Trinidad and Tobago has no national football league but it went to the World Cup with a team made up entirely of players playing in the lower leagues in England.

Look at basketball. Everyone cannot play in the NBA. But there are enough professional leagues around the world. A promising Indian player can make a good living playing in the Russian or Spanish or even the Turkish leagues.

Thanks to FIFA, a poor child in a war torn African nation will get to play with a proper ball on a respectable pitch and get coached by a decent coach. A promising cricketer in Kenya or Namibia will not get any such chance. Sierra Leone and Liberia will produce world-class footballers. But nothing of the sort will happen in cricket.

It is not enough for fans of newer countries to be able to watch the World Cup of a particular sport. A promising player from that country should get the coaching and infrastructure to hone his skills and then find gainful employment.

In spite of the positive indicators, cricket suffers because the growth is extremely skewed. It has grown at a massive rate in India, reaching many more homes and finding talent from the remotest corners but not so much elsewhere. The IPL is a great opportunity for lesser players to make a great living but only for the ones who come from India. The cricket boards of countries like England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have been financially strained. As the revenue is in India, the Indian board calls the shots on most matters and limits the ICC from “really” taking the game global.

One of the prime examples of India’s interests not being aligned with ICC’s globalization missive is how the BCCI single-handedly sabotaged cricket’s chances of being included in the Olympics. The BCCI did so by refusing to participate in the Asian Games. Other sports like Squash have the full support of all the federations and the top players in their efforts to join the Olympic movement. Cricket isn’t so lucky.

The Olympics can do wonders for the globalization of a sport. There will be a new audience, more people will take up the game and revenues will be generated. By missing the Olympic opportunity, cricket just made its task much more difficult.

In spite of all its riches – in terms of money, talent and a huge audience- India also needs the sport to go global. Even they will suffer if the strength of the game deteriorates. And that is bound to happen if existing test playing nations like the West Indies and New Zealand continue to decline and new countries aren’t able to rise up to that level.

There is no money in domestic cricket and – as the recent India – WI series showed- Indians don’t have time for sub standard international opposition. The BCCI needs to take the lead in growing the sport worldwide.

It could well learn from the USA and baseball. For the longest times, the sport has been limited to the US and a handful of central and South American countries like Venezuela and Puerto Rico. Major League Baseball has done a lot to nurture the game in these small and poor nations by providing scouting, training, infrastructure and a chance to play professionally.

The sport has always been popular in Japan but thanks to the MLB the sport also has a rabid following in Korea. The rise of Korea has strengthened the game globally and found a new paying audience for the sport. Korea has lots of players in the MLB and won the World Baseball Classic.

After being dropped once, the sport has made a strong comeback in the Olympics. Thanks to the Olympics the sport is finding fans all over the place. The newest nation to make a splash was the Netherlands.

The MLB is doing all of this in spite of having a large enough domestic market to support the game. And they are not done yet. They continue to take the sport further, even going to countries where hardly anyone understands the laws of the game.

A few years back, the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball came and scouted for pitchers in India. The number of MLB fans in India would be less than a few thousand. Undeterred, the Pirates selected two promising players and took them to the US. The two have been offered professional contracts and are currently progressing through the Pirates’ farm system. If one of them manages to play at the highest level, it could spur a new wave of interest in the sport in India.

The MLB will build on this interest by getting more teams to visit India, by building infrastructure and providing coaching to promising youngsters and increasing the number of live games shown in India.

This is how cricket needs to operate. They have found an interesting format in the form of Twenty-20 and are no longer hampered by having to teach an educated audience the merits of playing a game for five days and still ending up without a result.

In the recent NBA finals in basketball, the star performers included a German and a Puerto Rican in addition to all the resident Americans. Cricket can claim to be a truly global game when the IPL finals feature a Chinese, a Kenyan and an American.

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And we always thought baseball and basketball were the most popular sports in America

We (meaning most of the non-American sports loving population of the world) think basketball is one of the most popular sports in the USA

Because

We keep hearing about these global superstars – Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and now LeBron James

We get to see a lot of NBA on TV and can see the mad crowd support

We see all the attention the US basket ball team gets at the Olympics

We also think that baseball is one of the popular sports in the USA

Because

We keep hearing about teams like the New York Yankees and see a lot of people all over the world wearing their merchandise

We see some MLB on TV and see the support baseball teams get

We know that there is another sport called American Football which is also very popular but don’t think it’s as big as basketball or baseball

Because we don’t see a lot of it

We are so wrong

Rick Reilly of ESPN enlightens us by making a list of the most popular sports team in 18 major American cities and this is what his list has to say

NFL (Professional American football) teams rule 12 of the 18 cities with the NBA (Professional Basketball) and MLB (Professional Baseball) following far behind with 2 and 4 respectively

And we thought we knew about the Americans

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NBA Finals – Game 1 – Seeking the positives and the negatives for my beloved Lakers – the anti-Sports Guy column

Important Note – Iam a great fan of Bill Simmons’ columns on ESPN. But Bill is a Boston fan and I am a Lakers fan. So no point reading Bill’s writing during the finals and getting foolishly carried away by the Celtic Magic. This is my anti-Bill Simmons column in support of my Beloved Lakers. Go Lakers

The Boston Celtics have defeated the Lakers 98-88 in game 1. As a Lakers fan Iam a little worried because

The Boston defense was at its very best

For the third time this season the Boston defense managed to clamp done on Kobe Bryant. If KB24 cannot be a dominant scorer in this series, the Lakers will struggle for sure.

The supporting cast and the bench also wasn’t great for the Lakers. Except for Derek Fisher in the first half, nobody really came out with his reputation intact. Three-point shooting was atrocious

The big 3 fired for Boston. This is something which hasn’t happened a lot these playoffs. Have they raised their game for the biggest series of their individual lives?

Young point guard Rajon Rando played quite well against wily veteran Derek Fisher. He was unfazed by the occasion.

Boston Coach Doc Rivers won the battle of the coaches against Phil Jackson. Has he finally learned to coach I the playoffs.

The Lakers were supposed to have an edge down the stretch. But Boston controlled the game really well and there were no late runs from the Lakers.

Kevin Garnett had a monster game. The Lakers had struggled to contain a great power forward – Tim Duncan in their last series and looks like another great one is going to fill the stat sheet in this series.

Paul Pierce on one leg turned the game on its head. Iam scared to think of what he would do on both legs

That’s quite a list. Seems everything went right for Boston and nothing clicked for LA. Exactly. And that is why I am only a ‘little’ worried. Because on a day when Boston played perfectly and LA were horrible, the game was still close till late in the fourth quarter. Actually, there are other reasons as well

This game was played in Boston. These playoffs have seen an extremely high percentage of home wins. And no one exemplifies it better than the Celtics. They won two series’ by just winning their home games. So, no need to worry too much.

The home game also explains the great play of Rajon Rando and the poor play of Lakers’ supporting cast. But the Lakers have every reason to believe this will change. They lost their first away game to both the Jazz and the Spurs but rebounded to win subsequently on the opposition’s home court.

The Boston defense had initially choked LeBron as well. But James managed to overcome them and get back to his regular scoring self. I would expect Kobe to do the same and sooner. Infact Kobe’s bad game 1 was still far better than LeBron’s bad game 1. And this is a different Kobe my dear Bostonians. He will not be trying to become the man and self destruct.

Paul Pierce on 1 leg was the difference makes in game 1. But he might not be around for a few games. Boston will find it extremely difficult without their main go-to guy. Remember he scored 15 points in the decisive 3rd quarter. And Boston fans have no reason to crib about it. Remember the Lakers are also missing Andrew Bynum.

The big 3 played well together. But the big 3 might be reduced to a big 2 for a few games. And even if it that doesn’t happen, Lakers need not worry too much. These guys were playing their ‘first’ NBA finals and must have been overflowing with adrenalin. Will not have the same energy for the later games and will be back to their disjointed ways.

Doc Rivers had a great game right. But this was game one and this was in Boston. We’ll talk coaching stratagem when the series really heats up and the LA crowd is baying for Doc’s blood. Or when Doc makes his typical mistakes and even the Boston crowd starts chanting for his blood. Then the real Doc Rivers will make an appearance.

As for KG’s great show, let him play. The Lakers won 4-1 against the Spurs with Duncan getting a 22-17. KG can win the finals MVP trophy as long as Kobe wins the NBA trophy.

There was enough proof that Lakers triangle offense will work against the Boston defense. The Lakers lead and scored consistently till the one-man on one leg show happened. So the Lakers just need to continue to do what they have been doing all play-offs long – execute their offense and pass the ball around.

I love your writing Bill, but not when my Lakers play your Celtics

This column will continue till the Lakers win the NBA title. Then Bill will be back to his objective best and will write in honour of the new champions. But till that happens Bill Simmons will do his very best to derail the Lakers with his jinxes and reverse jinxes. The anti-Sports Guy column will continue to balance the cosmic influence on the NBA Finals.

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The basketball gods have blessed me - It’s the Celtics against the Lakers once again

The Boston Celtics are through to the NBA finals with an 89-81 win over the Pistons. This has set up the 11th NBA final between the two most storied and most successful franchisees in the NBA.

Ever since the Celtics acquired KG and Ray Allen and the Lakers got Pau Gasol, this is the match-up all neutral fans have dreamt about. And finally the two teams have negotiated the obstacle course that is the conference play-offs to set up the dream match-up.

This rivalry has been blessed by intense competition and outstanding performances of the greatest names in the game. This rivalry has seen the duel between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, the face-off between Magic and Bird and it is their performances on this great stage which made these players legends.

This time we will see KG and Kobe – two men who have more then just a title at stake. The former has been regarded as the greatest player of his generation never to have won a title. Questions have been asked of his ability to perform on the biggest stage and now he has the chance to answer all his critics. Kobe will get a chance to show that he can lead the Lakers to a title without the help of Shaq and that will shut up O’Neal for good. This is also their chance to be counted in the same breadth as the guys mentioned earlier.

The two franchisees have had contrasting fortunes since they last met in a final. The Celtics lost Reggie Lewis and Len Bias to early deaths and have never contended for a title since. They were the joke of the NBA last year and even the most die-hard fans were losing faith in the team. A title could wash away all the pain suffered in the last 21 years.

The Lakers have been in multiple finals and have added three more rings to their collection since. They are on the verge of starting a new dynasty with Kobe, Gasol, Odom and possibly Bynum. A title will cap off the dream season they have had this year – a movie script which could have only been written in LA (Hollywood)

This dream match-up can only be compared to Borg – McEnroe in a Wimbledon final, or Brazil – Argentina in a World Cup Game or India- Pakistan in a cricket Cup Final. Yes, this is how big it is. This is the opportunity of a sports fan’s lifetime. Go watch the finals even if you don’t understand a thing about basketball. You will learn all about historical rivalries and fanatical support.

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I would always remain in India for the pleasure of being a cricket fan

Iam a hardcore sports fan and I follow at least a dozen sports religiously. Some of them include basketball, American football and baseball – sports which are not too popular in India but have a cult following in the US. The internet and EPSN/Star gives me my full dose of these sports- although I could consume some more. I miss talking and discussing these sports with another fan. I have pained friends, family and colleagues in the US – trying to somehow get this craving satisfied. Alas, my attempts have not met with any success.

One way of solving this problem is to move to the US. Today, it’s not too difficult to do so either. And, along with the pleasures of talking NBA, will come what most NRIs and NRI-aspirants call a better lifestyle. You can rid yourself of all the trouble that comes with living in India today.

So, far I have resisted the urge to do so. And have done so, quite comfortably, without getting into any kind of dilemma. I grew up in a large joint family and even though I stay far away in Chennai, I keep meeting family and generally stay in touch regularly. I have a decent job and live comfortably, even though I feel a little more money could make life even better. I benefit from being part of one of the most vibrant economies in the world- which creates exciting opportunities for me and as of now, is also giving me ‘job satisfaction’, what ever that is. I have actually started enjoying shouting at the helpless customer care executives ( nice way to vent out your anger) and have even figured out ways to tackle dictatorial banks and telecom companies (recently, I got Tata Indicom, SBI cards and ICICI bank to reverse charges). I absolutely enjoy the fact that only well-qualified people get hefty salaries in this country, and the rest have trouble making ends meet – allowing me to employ an army of people to do different stuff for me. I have developed enough immunity, touchwood, to handle all the dirt that the paani-puri vendor can mix. What’s more, with movie torrents, I can download and watch any movie I want to and the faster broadband ensures the process doesn’t get on my nerves.

That’s a lot of reasons. Enough to settle any debate about moving abroad? No, not when you are missing all the sports stuff. A move would land you in sporting Neverland. Think about it. Tough to beat that one, right? Well, not quite.

I have not had internet connection at home for the last 5 days and have been missing out on all the NBA and NFL action. But, guess what? I haven’t bothered to check ESPN.com in office. Not, even during lunch. I have been getting up early to catch the cricket action in Australia, checking the score a zillion times during the day and rushing home to catch the highlights program. I have been talking, chatting (as in gtalk) and texting cricket. Iam a hopeless cricket fan all over again. I have been praying for an annual India-Australia series. And, calling for the selectors to be whipped in public every time they even think of dropping Laxman. I have been shadow batting once again. I love my cricket and even a call from Michael Jordan is not going to move me.

Very well. But can’t you do this in America as well. They also have live cricket telecast. You can chat and text cricket as much as you like and also have the option of falling back on the NBA , once the Indians start playing Kenya and Bangladesh.

But, can you talk cricket to your Tamil-speaking dhobi (the guy who irons my clothes), even if they had dhobis in the US, as he watches Laxman caress another Mitchell Johnson delivery to the fence. HE says, “Laxman very good”. Perhaps, the only non-Tamil words he knows. And I don’t know a single word of Tamil by the way!!!

Can you start an impromptu cricket talk with the geeky developer who sits in the adjoining cubicle and hasn’t even smiled at you in the 5 months you have been in this office; forget having had a civilized conversation. India have just taken the lead and you are dying to share your joy with someone. In India you have help close at hand and You don’t have to call your cricket-loving, Indian friend 3 time zones away!!!

The broadband connection will be repaired this Saturday (else I have another chance to have a go at Tata Indicom). I miss the NBA talk but I can’t do without cricket as it is lived in India.

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Some disconcerting food for thought

A recent incident from the NBA playoffs: In game 4 of the series between the San Antonio Spurs and the Phoenix Suns, Robert Horry, a minor role player with the Spurs committed a horrible foul on Steve Nash (the best player on the Suns and the league’s best player for the last two seasons), knocking him down in a heap. Angered by the cynical foul, two Suns on the bench; the league’s best centre - Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw took a few steps towards the fracas. The league banned both of them for trying to get involved (the NBA rule stipulates an automatic one match ban for bench players moving towards an altercation on the floor).

The Suns badly missed the presence of their two stars in the crucial fifth game of the seven game series (series tied at 2-2), losing at home to surrender the advantage to the Spurs, who hardly seemed to miss Horry ( who got a two game suspension for the foul), and clinched the series by winning game 6 in San Antonio. Even the Spurs’ coach acknowledged that the Suns were undone by the suspensions. Robert Horry’s foul was the smartest play of the series.

The incident raises the disturbing prospect of lesser player like Horry, increasingly trying to take out the best players in the opposition with their malicious acts. A hard foul can result in

• The player who is fouled, retaliating and getting suspended.
• The fouled player getting hurt and missing more than one game.
• Other opposition players reacting to the foul, as in this case and getting tossed.

In each case, the fouling player’s team gets an undeserved advantage, while the player gets a multi game suspension at worst – an absence which affects his team marginally. Reminds me of the LTTE and their human bombs. The game stands to suffer a great deal if such devious antics continue unabated.

Ironically, the problem stems from the ‘correctness’ of the rules, which don’t differentiate between the ‘star power’ of the players when handling out suspensions. In chess parlance, it’s an exchange where your pawn gets you the opposition Queen itself.

With due respect to Mahatma Gandhi, the victimized players cannot be encouraged not to retaliate and stand up to be fouled again. ‘Normal’ human beings react on being provoked.

This ‘tactic’ can be successfully put to use in all team sports, more so in the ones which allow for physical contact. Do we remember why David Beckham missed part of the 2002 World Cup? Well, thanks to a horror tackle from one Mr. Aldo Duscher, in the dying moments of a game, that was long decided. Funny thing, that Mr. Duscher happened to be from Argentina.

Most of us believe that our ‘Fair-play abiding’ coaches and players (in the Rest of the World minus the USA) will forever refrain from causing such contrived accidents, but just for the sake of every star player in team sports, I hope they aren’t watching the NBA play-offs.

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My season of misery begins...

The 2006-07 premiership season is over and Man United have been crowned worthy champions. That also means no more football matches to watch on weekends. Iam already suffering from 'withdrawal symptoms' and although, the Champions League final and the FA Cup final will alleviate my pain momentarily, this is going to be one agonizing summer of sport.

What’s worse - the NBA season is going to be over soon and baseball is going through the monotony of the 162 game regular season. As is common with all these North American sports, the fun doesn’t begin until you get to the playoffs (that is when the top teams of the regular season get into a knock-out competition). Watching my beloved Yankees struggling to match their arch nemesis - the Red Sox, makes the viewing even more unbearable.

Traditionally summer is the season of cricket and tennis, but I’d rather watch an International ‘Ludo’ tournament, than waste my time on the meaningless and inane stuff, the two have to offer.

Just check out the cricket calendar for May-June-July. We have India- Bangladesh, West Indies- England, India- Ireland, Sri Lanka- Bangladesh and India- England. Even the fans who survived the World Cup will be on life support after the season is over. And while they recuperate in hospital, they can watch county cricket on ESPN Star. The only silver lining could come in the form of the Afro-Asian tournament.

As for tennis, they can go ahead and hand over the French Open trophy to Nadal and the Wimbledon crown to Federer. The only people remotely interested would be the perverts watching the glamorous females unleash the new summer tennis collection. I will pray for London to have the highest rainfall in the last 100 years, forcing the sports channels to show us some old Wimbledon footage (remember the Connors-McEnroe, McEnroe-Borg and Becker-Edberg matches). Sania Mirza hasn’t played for two months and I am not counting on her to light up our TV screens this summer.

I will root for Jeev Milkha Singh at the US Open and the British Open, but that apart, there’s nothing else (Iam not a motor sport or WWE fan). The BBC sports calendar has just confirmed that for once I didn’t miss anything. For those of you, who share my predicament, here’s a suggestion. Start playing ‘Ludo’ (download the game here).

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What a nose job can do

These folks aren't decked out for a fashion show on 'nose wear'. They are fans of the Phoenix Suns in the NBA, who were sporting these creative bandages to show their support for star player Steve Nash (extreme right), in game 2 of their series against San Antonio. Nash suffered a horrible cut in the dying moments of game 1, causing him to miss the last minute of the game - an absence which dearly cost his team. The fans' inimitable display helped Nash and the Suns even things in game 2. These ‘fashion conscious’ fans can surely take a bow.

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The expensive toys of Paul Allen

What do you do when you have 20 billion dollars in the bank and have already been responsible for a watershed moment in the history of mankind? Well, in the case of Paul Allen; the often forgotten co-founder of Microsoft, you buy sports teams.

The reclusive Allen already owns his hometown Seattle Seahawks in the National Football League (the american variety) and the Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association, and now his sights are firmly set on Southampton FC in the English first division.

For someone who has displayed sound business acumen in building the biggest IT company in the world, his sports teams leave a lot to be desired. He has often been called the ‘worst team owner in all sports’. He pumped in millions of dollars in the Trail Blazers, but the only title they have earned in his tenure, is the sobriquet of ‘The Jail Blazers’ (for the criminal record of the players). Their pathetic performances caused their owner to put the team up for sale. Sadly for Paul, he couldn’t find a single buyer.

The Seahawks, meanwhile, have been earning the blessings of all the unemployed (read deemed useless by all the other teams) players by offering them wealthy contracts. Their enviable losing record has ensured that the city of Seattle won’t be putting up a statue of their most famous son anytime soon.

The interest in Southampton follows a recent trend of American sports tycoons buying English football clubs. The clubs have largely benefited from the cash infusion, helping change the ‘Yankee upstart’ image of the Americans in the UK. Southampton’s proud tradition has taken a massive beating; their team has been languishing in the second tier of English football for quite some time now. Paul Allen has one last chance with Southampton. His philanthropy for the football club could do for him, what the Gates Foundation does for good friend Bill Gates - atonement for all their sins (the sporting ones in Paul's case).

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