For decades, professional cricket players have lacked commercial opportunities to cash in on their name, image and likeness. That may start to change thanks to a major move from the sport’s governing body.
The Federation of International Cricketeers Association (FICA) and the Winners Alliance, the for-profit arm of the Professional Tennis Players Association) have inked an exclusive long-term global partnership centered around a group licensing program that includes more than 500 cricket players worldwide.
Winners Alliance expects this historic agreement, which features it managing global rights for men and women players across FICA’s 13 territories and associations, will serve as a driver for collective commercial value optimization. The new group licensing program aims to capitalize on video games, trading cards and other collectible products that are commonplace with pro athletes in North America.
“The cricket market has never had this kind of an aggregation,” Winners Alliance president Eric Winston said. “These [retail] companies have had to figure out how do I get the Australian players’ rights or that English player’s rights? Who do I call? We’ve seen it in tennis. A lot of these people just don’t want to play in this market because it’s just too tough.”
Winston, who is the former president of the NFL’s players association, believes this licensing deal will not only create more clarity for interested brands but also more visibility for cricket players. He notes in fewer than five years the partnership could evolve far beyond fan products into other investment avenues.
“I think early days our primary focus is building out the initial business, but down the road is there other possibilities outside of that, like hospitality and events? Absolutely,” he added.
Winners Alliance, which says it generated $10 million in incremental value for tennis players in its first year, brings cricket into the fold after executing a bevy of sponsorship partnerships, including a 20-year deal with Fanatics Collectibles (Topps) signed last year. The Washington D.C.-based company has also secured deals with Heineken, Grey Goose and luggage company Tumi, among others.
Among the 13 FICA-affiliated entities are those in Australia, England, West Indies and Ireland. While this FICA agreement doesn’t include India, which features the popular Indian Premiere League, there’s hope that could change as Winners Alliance aims to add more countries under its portfolio.
While the growth of commercialization highlights the cricket partnership, Winners Alliance also aims for this deal with FICA to help curb unauthorized use of players’ image and likeness. A portion of the revenue generated from these new business opportunities will be allocated to FICA to support the association’s core advocacy work.
Winners Alliance, which launched last year and put together the first group licensing deal in tennis, continues to expand globally with recent office opening in Sydney, Australia.