Patriotism goes only so far, so the British governing bodies for cricket and rugby, in an effort to make sure all their players give their best, are creating new compensation plans for squad members.
The changes also reflect the importance of the national teams in the sports, especially as compared with the professional league teams. Attendance for rugby union league teams averages well under 10,000 a game, but national team contests are invariably sellouts at 71,000-seat Twickenham and comparable stadiums. Television viewing figures are similarly lopsided.
In cricket, the gap between the professional county league and national team cricket interest is even greater. While a county team might be lucky to draw 2,000 to a game, the national team fills 30,000-seat Lord's Cricket Ground for every game.
The English Cricket Board is considering a recommendation, considered likely to pass, that after the year 2000 players on England's national cricket Test team (Tests are multiday matches) receive at least $66,000 for a six-month summer contract covering the Test season. Players on the one-day cricket national team (many of the same people) would receive $51,000 a year, according to the guidelines suggested in a report prepared by Don Trangmar, chairman of the Sussex county cricket body, on behalf of the national board. On top of that, there would be win-bonus money of up to $80,000 a man for the Test team and $48,000 for one-day.
Alec Stewart, England's captain in the Cricket World Cup now under way, is estimated to earn $130,000 a year from playing. He would probably receive at least $160,000 in annual salary as an England player after 2000 under the new regime. In the unlikely event that England were to win all 13 Test matches and 17 one-day internationals in a year, Stewart could make an extra $128,000 playing for his country.
The Welsh Rugby Union has also decided that big bonuses are the way to spur the players to greater heights. To date, playing on the Welsh national team has earned senior players $64,000 a season. Under their new contracts, they could earn almost as much in bonus money alone. Players could get up to $8,000 a game for a victory (up to a maximum of seven games a season).
The new WRU deal will also pay players $2,400 a game in appearance money, plus a seniority bonus of $120 for every national team "cap" (appearance) the player has above five caps. That might not sound like much, but a player with 65 caps would stand to get an additional $7,200. The package means that a player with that many caps playing on a winning team could pocket $17,600 a game.
The checks could put players on a par with soccer national team members, but the similarities end there. Soccer's professional leagues provide a rich calendar for fans and rich contracts for players, even without national team competition.
Players who appear in all of England's national soccer team's games would expect to be paid $100,000 to $160,000 by the Football Association. Given that players are stars with salaries of easily $1.5 million and more from their league teams, the national team money is relatively small.
Jay Stuart is editorial director for SporTVision magazine and Sports TV Report and Sports Investor newsletters.
