Mitchell Johnson: Cricket and golf dealing with similar issues as private money shakes up sporting tradition

Money, money, money. It sure is a rich man’s world if you’re an athlete in 2022. It feels like we hear more about the dollars than cover drives, birdies or goals when it comes to sport these days. The position of international cricket as the pinnacle of the game looks under threat. Golfers are being offered crazy money to defect to the rebel LIV Golf tour. Some Eagles and Dockers games might disappear from free-to-air TV screens in WA so that the AFL can wring every last dollar from its new broadcast rights deal. I’m not going to complain about any athlete wanting to maximise their earning potential. But given the business model for professional sport essentially trades on fans buying tickets or tuning in based on feeling some sort of emotional connection, it will be interesting to see how that all marries up as sport becomes bigger business than ever. Cricket’s central contract system, now under pressure from the Twenty20 freelance model, was initially designed to help provide stability for the players. Before it existed, a simple thing like getting a home loan could become impossible for cricketers because they didn’t have a secure, consistent income. But it’s hard to see it surviving now, at least in its present form. Fast bowler Trent Boult’s decision to effectively become a part-time New Zealand cricketer when it suits him is just the latest in a long line of warning signs. It’s also hard to see how the Big Bash League won’t have to take on private money in some form at some point in an effort to keep pace with the global player market. That is now being driven by private Indian owners branching out to buy franchises in leagues across the world. After David Warner flirted with joining the new UAE competition in January, it looks like Cricket Australia have managed to cut a special deal with him to play for Sydney Thunder this summer as the highest paid player in the BBL. Warner will be a huge drawcard and it will be great to have him involved for the first time since 2013/14. But this was a panic move from CA to hold onto him and all they have really done is kick the can down the road for another year. And who knows what they could be dealing with by this time next year. Chris Lynn has been announced as a marquee player for the UAE tournament, where he can earn far more than he could under the BBL salary cap system, and if he goes that could open the floodgates for other Aussies wanting to follow. It would be interesting to know how some of the other big name Australian players feel about Warner being designated as special. Why would Glenn Maxwell, for example, stay loyal to the BBL when he could earn far more in South Africa or the UAE? Now is a time for CA to be pragmatic. Let Lynn go where he wants to. After all, he no longer holds any Australian State or BBL contract. But let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water either. If Lynn is willing to play for part of the BBL before heading abroad, surely some Lynnsanity is better than none. The highest run scorer in BBL history, Lynn and his pyrotechnics have pretty much been the face and the marketing tool of the tournament over its first decade. I’m not sure he owes Australian cricket or the BBL much. It comes at a time golf is wrestling with similar issues. I’ve got no issue with Australia’s British Open winner Cameron Smith taking $140m to defect to the Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Golf tour. If golfers want to jump to where they see the grass as being greener, then go for it. But they’ll also need to wear any future consequences, some of which may be hard to predict now. Who knows whether current PGA suspensions will be lifted and what it will all mean for their careers going forward. Perhaps some of them want to have their cake and eat it too. Philosophically, I’ve got no problem with LIV Golf challenging the PGA Tour in the United States. Why does America own golf? The money might eventually trickle down and help more players make a living from the sport as well. The major criticism of the golfers who have crossed to LIV , including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau, is the moral question of taking Saudi money. It’s unfair to hold the golfers answerable for that. You could pick apart every professional sport on the planet and find moral holes. How much are NBA stars’ shoe deals worth and where do those shoes get made and how much are those workers paid? We live in an imperfect world. And money makes it go around.