The 87x Gap: Cricket’s Biggest Opportunity Is Still Ahead
Issue No 36
FIFA will distribute US$871 million to the 48 teams at the 2026 World Cup. The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 prize pool was US$10 million. That means football’s World Cup prize money is roughly 87 times larger than cricket’s flagship men’s ODI event. (Reuters)
That number can be read two ways.
The easy version is to say cricket is miles behind football.
The more useful version is this: cricket still has a huge amount of commercial headroom.
Football is not just bigger because more people watch it. Football is bigger because it has spent decades turning global attention into money. Broadcast money. Sponsorship money. Government money. Host city money. Ticketing money. Licensing money. Hospitality money. Club compensation money. Federation distribution money.
Cricket has popularity. In some markets, it has obsession. What it has not yet done well enough is convert that obsession into a global commercial system.
That is the gap.
And that is the opportunity.
The comparison is stark. FIFA’s 2026 champions are set to receive US$50 million. The 2023 Cricket World Cup winners received US$4 million. FIFA runners-up will receive US$33 million. Cricket’s 2023 runners-up received US$2 million. Even a team exiting the FIFA World Cup at the group stage is guaranteed more than the entire winner’s cheque at the last Men’s Cricket World Cup. (cricexec)
But this should not be a depressing cricket story.
It should be a commercial wake-up call.
Cricket is no longer a small sport. The IPL has proven that cricket can create premium media value. The T20 World Cup has shown that cricket can travel. The women’s game is growing quickly. Major League Cricket has opened a door in America. The Middle East is becoming a serious sports capital. The Olympics will give cricket a new global platform.
The sport is gaining ground in visibility.
Now it has to gain ground in value.
That means cricket has to stop thinking only in tournament terms and start thinking in asset terms.
Every major cricket event should be asking sharper commercial questions.
Who owns the audience data?
Who owns the clips?
Who controls the global feed?
How are digital rights being packaged?
How are diaspora fans being monetised?
How are host governments being brought into the value chain?
How are sponsors being given more than a logo?
How are players used as global storytellers?
How are member nations rewarded beyond prize money?
Football has built an ecosystem where the World Cup is not only a competition. It is a global commercial machine.
Cricket’s World Cup is still too often treated as a sporting event with commercial activity around it. That is not enough anymore.
The good news is that cricket does not need to become football. It should not try to.
Cricket has its own advantages.
It has India, the most valuable sports media market outside the United States. It has a global South footprint that football would love to commercialise better. It has short-form formats that suit modern viewing habits. It has a powerful diaspora. It has franchise leagues that create year-round relevance. It has national rivalry, especially India-Pakistan, that can still stop the world.
The product is not the issue.
The conversion model is.
The challenge now is to turn cricket’s popularity into dollars in a more structured, global, and inclusive way. More money at the top should not only mean richer boards and bigger leagues. It should mean better prize funds, better player pathways, stronger associate nations, better women’s cricket investment, better production, and more sustainable national systems.
Because the real prize is not catching football overnight.
That will not happen.
The real prize is closing the gap over the next decade.
If cricket can move from a US$10 million World Cup prize pool to US$50 million, then US$100 million, then beyond, that changes the sport. It changes how boards budget. It changes how players view national duty. It changes how sponsors value the game. It changes what smaller nations believe is possible.
The 87x gap is not just a reminder of football’s scale.
It is a reminder of cricket’s upside.
The money is not there yet.
But the audience is.
Now cricket has to build the commercial engine to match it.
If you enjoyed this piece, share this with someone that will love the Bat Ball Business newsletter. It’s where the real clubhouse conversations happen, early access, deeper insights and a Community Corner for your ideas.
Subscribe here: www.batballbusiness.com