Quidditch: Everywhere

      

Quidditch

The only fantasy sport that will make you sweat

This blog focuses on real sports in real countries. Despite the origin of this game being based on the best-selling "Harry Potter" series by J.K Rowling, the sport of quidditch has come to life. 

International Quidditch Association

IQA logo

The mission statement of the International Quidditch Association is as follows: 

The International Quidditch Association, Inc, is a magical nonprofit dedicated to promoting the sport of Quidditch and inspiring young people to lead physically active and socially engaged lives (IQA).

The program, which has been around since 2005, governs the magical sport across 12 countries with over 300 teams at the high school, college and recreational level. The three components the game strives to teach are creativity, community and competition. This whole concept started by a group of dedicated J.K Rowling fans at Middlebury College (IQA).


Regular season tournaments are held as teams work their way to play in the Quidditch World Cup in New York City. This year's events will be held on November 11-13 (IQA).


Umm..we are muggles
For those of you who are familiar with quidditch (which I assume everyone is because you would have to live in a black hole to have never read or watched the Harry Potter series) know that one main component is missing....magic. Clearly humans cannot fly on magical brooms and no ball has wings. Therefore, the game has undergone several modifications to make it compatible with gravity.

The most obvious rule change is flying on brooms. Players run with brooms in the Muggle-version of the game. All of the positions, goal posts and scoring remain the same as described in the book. Volleyballs and dodgeballs are used in place of the quaffle and the buldger in terms of balls. However, the elusive snitch was rather a challenge to replace. At first, flying toy helicopters were used. But now the official rules (which are available for purchase by the International Quidditch Association) deem an actual person as the snitch. The snitch, who has a flag similar to flag football in their shorts, may hide anywhere they please on campus. It is the job of the seekers to find the snitch and steal their flag to end the game (IQA).


This video clip explaining the muggle version of the game is from a CBS News broadcast.

Rankings

This link will give you a list of colleges in the United States who are active members of the International Quidditch Association.


Our very own University of Texas is ranked as the 35th team in the country with a .500 record of 3-3. Point me in the direction for that tailgate!

Quidditch in the News
It is amazing to see so many prestigious journals have sent their reporters to write about a fairy tale game. The International Quidditch Association has graced the pages of the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Boston Herald, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, The LA Times, Chicago Tribune and ESPN.com. Respected news stations such as CBS, CNN and ABC Good Morning America have captured the sport in their broadcast (IQA). 


Below is a commercial shot for MTV that exposes the sport of muggle Quidditch in a movie advertisment for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince".

How much do you love Quidditch?

References

International Quidditch Association. (http://www.internationalquidditch.org/).

India: Cricket

Cricket is very similar yet very different to the sport of baseball.

Vs.

Similarities:
Two teams of 11 players take the field in successive innings. One team is batting while the other is fielding. The batting team attempts to score runs while the fielding team is trying to end the inning.
Differences:
The pitcher (or bowler in cricket) will bounce the ball instead of deliver a straight pitch to the batter. The batter will hit the ball with a flat bat instead of a circular one and can send the ball in any direction including sideways or behind him as the pitch is in the center of the field. The outfield lines up in every direction around the pitch since the ball has free reign to travel in any direction. They must catch the ball (which is heavier than a baseball) with their bare hands. In order for the batter to score a run, they must run to the wickets to gain a point. One run equals a score and does not involve four different bases (Aron).


Rise of Cricket

Cricket has provided national pride and togetherness in a country that has not always remained stable. It has grown to become the most popular sport and cricket stars are among the most famous and wealthiest individuals in the country. 


Just to show you how wealthy we are talking, Sachin Tendulkar (one of the greatest cricket players of all times) makes $30 a minute compared to India's President who only makes three cents a minute!


The Board of Control for Cricket was established in 1928 as the Indian cricket governing body to organize all of the sport's interest. It has grown to become the world's richest cricket association at $1.5 billion (India Knowledge Wharton).

BCCI logo

This chart breaks down how that money is spent. Here are the budget figures from the 2010-11 Indian Cricket season provided by the BCCI Treasury Department. Look in particular to the amount of money spent on advertising/broadcast such as media rights, sponsorship and TV production.

Particulars	BCCI	IPL	CLT	Total
A. Gross income for the year
Media Rights	388.56	422.94	235.57	1047.07
Sponsorship	231.80	202.97	-	434.77
Franchisee		289.4	-	289.44
ICC receipts	104.80	-	-	104.80
Interest	73.68	-	-	73.68
Other income	06.20	58.03	12.40	76.63
Total (A)	805.04	973.38	247.97	2026.39
B. Expenditure
Direct Expend.	194.91	131.35	73.15	399.41
Pay Franchise		390.34		390.34
Pay teams			96.17	96.17
TV production	49.18	88.85	20.30	158.33
Other expense	56.13	41.47	10.06	107.66
Sub Total (a)	300.22	652.01	199.68	1151.91
Payments to/Provisions for Associations
TV Subsidy	237.57			237.57
Infrastructure	130.97			130.97
IPL subvention		202.61		202.61
Hosting fee	66.97	-	-	66.97
Sub Total (b)	435.51	202.61	0	638.12
Other Items
Amt recover
Mr. Dalmiya	46.64			46.64
Sub Total (c)	46.64			46.64
Total (a+b+c)	782.37	854.62	199.68	1836.67
Surplus (a-b)	22.67	118.76	48.29	189.72

(Shashank et. al)

Broadcast and Sponsorship deals

The BCCI has been busy at work making big time deals in the broadcast and sponsorship departments. Nimbus Communications paid $612 million in a four-year deal for the global media rights of all BCCI events played in India. The BCCI also sold its games at neutral venues for $220 million (India Knowledge Wharton).

In terms of sponsorship, the BCCI packaged a $45 million, five-year deal with Nike making them the official team sponsor (India Knowledge Wharton). 

Pepsi is another leading sponsor of the BCCI. Here is a humorous TV commercial using players from the Indian cricket team to sponsor the soft drink.

2011 Cricket World Cup

India was able to match their dominance on the business side of the sport with their on-field performance this past year. India defeated Australia, rival Pakistan and Sri Lanka to claim the 2011 Cricket World Cup. The over one billion people in India had something to cheer about as streets flooded with celebration in the moments after the victory. 

References

Aron. (2011, February 25). Difference Between Cricket and Baseball. Retrieved October 30, 2011 from http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-cricket-and-vs-baseball/

India Knowledge Wharton. (2007, April 5). Cricket In India: It’s Big Business but Not Businesslike. Retrieved October 30, 2011 from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4182

Shashank, M., Pandre, M.P., Ram, K. S., Srinivasan, W. (2011, August 20). Annual Report 2010-11. Retrieved October 30, 2011, from http://www.bcci.tv/bcci/bccitv/modules/includes/content/ROOT/media/releases/document/treasurer/BCCI%20Treasurer%20Report%202010-11.pdf