West Indies Team: Money vs Dedication

West Indies team in Champions Trophy 2009 has lost both the matches so far. In the second, they lost to Australia but it was not without a fight. IN fact, for most of the time in the match, I thought that they were the favorites to win but in the end, it was bad luck and lack of experience that did not let them do well. Tomorrow, they are going to take on India. It is a do or die for Indian team. They have to win and win it with a huge margin to keep their hope alive in this trophy. Tomorrow, no one is expecting that West Indies would win but let us see if they can again put a brave fight like the first two matches.

I guess that all of you know that this is not the regular West Indies cricket team. The top players have problem about salary with the board. So, the Cricket Board of West Indies has fielded a second or third category team with no star player. The thing that I liked a lot is the dedication that these ordinary players have put up in this series. In both the matches, they could offer very good competition.

I really admire their dedication. 

India vs Pakistan CT 2009: What the sponsors want?

You may get shocked with the title of the entry because normally we think of the expectation of the supporters and TV viewers. Here, I am going to talk about the sponsors. The main reason that I want to talk about the sponsors is that they have become very important in cricket in our time. First, there are the TV channels who are going to broadcast this India vs Pakistan match on 26^th September, 2009 in many countries of the world. I think that nearly one billion people will watch the match.

So, it is a very attractive think to make money. As you know the main revenue comes from Indian market from the game of cricket. Naturally, the companies that have strong presence in the Indian market are sponsoring this tournament. So, most of them would want that India wins the match and keep the hope of moving to the semi-final alive. The sponsors also want that this match does not finish too much early because then they will not be able show their advertisement.

Normally a cricket match continues for seven to eight hours and after every over there is some break of nearly one minute and the sponsors and companies show their advertisements. So, they will surely want that this match continues right to the end and there is a nail biting finish. If there is a nail biting finish then naturally people will be glued in front of their TV set and will see the advertisement more carefully. Here, I like to remind you that in 2007 ICC World Cup cricket, India had an early exit from the first round and then the whole world cup became a loss for many companies. So, the sponsors surely this time do not want this to happen.

Manchester United vs Arsenal Match Tomorrow: How Much Money at Stake?

Manchester United is the richest club in England. They are going to face Arsenal tomorrow. Well, in this entry, I am not going to say anything about the match. If you want good analysis then you should read this one: Manchester United vs Arsenal Preview, Live Score: EPL 2009-10

I want to say some few words about the money involved in the match. First of all, let me tell you that when it comes to buying players, Manchester Untied is way ahead than the Gunners. Arsenal cannot afford to buy top players with millions of dollars at this moment because their budget is extremely tight as a result of the matter that they are paying huge amount of debt that they incurred with the building of the new stadium called The Emirates. Secondly, Manchester United has a stadium with around 76000 seating capacity and on the other hand, Arsenal has 60,000 seating capacity stadium. So, naturally, United can get more money from selling tickets. Arsenal has one advantage- they are a London based club and London is the capital city in England. In fact, when it comes to revenue or being profitable, Arsenal is not far from Man U that much but as they have to put a lot of money for loan repayment, they cannot afford to spend money on buying top players.