HASEngland – New Zealand. This is not the poster for the next Rugby World Cup final, which is currently taking place in France, but that of the first match, Thursday October 5 in India, of a World Cup much more important in terms of hearing, economics and politics, cricket. Confidential in France, it has been an institution in the United Kingdom for more than three centuries. And by extension that of many of its former colonies. Its approximately 2.5 billion spectators come from Australia to Pakistan, including of course India. In this country alone, 750 million viewers devour the matches on their screens.
This is the fourth time that India has hosted this event since the creation of the Cup in 1975. This edition is intended to be an affirmation of the new power of the peninsula in the world. Eighteen sponsors jostled to be part of the party and advance their pawns on one of the only major countries still showing strong growth in the world, beating out China. Many of them are Indian, digital start-ups as well as telecoms or audiovisual tycoons.
The Disney group, usual broadcaster of the event, intends to restore its image by broadcasting all the matches free of charge on mobile phones. But he will have to face the ambitions of JioCinema, the television subsidiary of the Reliance group, itself part of Mukesh Ambani’s conglomerate. Indian Netflix has already won the digital rights to Premier League matches, which are even more popular, and lucrative, than those of the World Cup.
Complicated political rules
But the match is also taking place behind the scenes of Indian politics. It is no coincidence that the opening match will take place in the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat, the state of the Indian Prime Minister. To ensure his rise to the head of the country, he worked, with his party, the BJP, to take control of the Gujarati cricket federation, then the national federation, the India Cricket Board. His boss, Jay Shah, is none other than the son of the interior minister and Modi’s right-hand man, Amit Shah. He is now head of the Asian federation.
According to the British weekly The Economist, India has appropriated nearly 40% of television rights revenues over the period 2024-2027 and the use of these funds is not crystal clear. Like cricket, Indian politics obeys rules even more complicated and obscure than those of rugby.