Cricket remains one of the most followed sports in the world. Amid the fanfare of football, rugby, tennis, badminton, the gentlemen’s game has built its stature and reputation across the globe — with huge popularity in the subcontinent and the active cricket-playing nations.
The game is run by the International Cricket Council (ICC) whereas every cricketing playing nation’s team is managed by their respective boards. From smooth functioning, care about the domestic structure, bringing sponsorship, looking after payment and other resources for their players, adding more fans to the game, hosting big-ticket tournaments, looking after the junior-senior or men’s/women’s cricket functioning, keeping malpractices and corruption at bay, there remain a plethora of factors that keep every cricketing board on its toes.
Undoubtedly, the biggest of them all for every board is generating more revenue and managing their monetary resources. At the end of the day, the sport may be between bat and ball and all about the players involved (be it in men’s or women’s category), but the most essential factor for every cricketing body remains the total earnings which they make annually. It helps them in managing and looking into every facet, mentioned above, and holding their place in world cricket.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the sporting ecosystem worldwide, it has kept every cricket board on toes to remain relevant and prevent their total earnings to take a hit severely.
Here’s a look into the richest cricketing bodies, in the Covid-era, in terms of total earnings in 2021:
| Top cricketing boards | Total earnings in 2021 |
| BCCI | 3,730 crore |
| CA | 2,843 crore |
| ECB | 2,135 crore |
| PCB | 811 crore |
| BCB | 802 crore |
| CSA | 485 crore |
| NZC | 210 crore |
| WICB | 116 crore |
| ZCB | 113 crore |
| SLC | 100 crore |
*Figures as per various reports
BCCI, who will have a SGM today in Mumbai for IPL 2021’s resumption and reveal more details on the T20 World Cup venue, continues to spearhead the list. The Indian cricket is running smoothly, managing many factors despite a hit suffered due to Covid outbreak since 2020. The IPL, producing big-ticket players, unmatched passionate fans, major ICC titles, etc. have kept BCCI — or Indian cricket in general — in a much-secured position.
However, the board has plenty on their plate currently — with around 2-2.5k crore at stake if IPL 14’s phase two doesn’t take place this year. The likes of CA, ECB, PCB and BCB follow suit whereas some cricketing boards — in the latter part of the table — continue to blow hot and cold in terms of their existence in world cricket due to several factors.
