The Stanford Impact – For better or worse!

Soon we will have the sport loving peoples of the Caribbean focused on the grand million dollar party that is the Stanford one-off ‘winner take all’ Twenty20 cricket match between a Stanford team and England. It will all be happening at the Stanford Cricket Ground in Antigua and Barbuda.
There are some who would suggest that the million dollar match will take place in Stanford City nestled in Antigua and Barbuda.
The match is being recorded as the most lucrative cricket game in the history of the sport.

Global developments
The emergence of Allen Stanford as something of a cricket magnate has come as a surprise to many who seemed to have had their heads buried in sand. Had they been paying attention to the developments taking place around the world in sport this would not have been the case. If anything the surprise must be a reflection of just how backward the Caribbean remains in so far as understanding the rapid growth of sport as an industry is concerned.
For the past several decades we have witnessed the development of the global sport industry to unbelievable proportions.
The USA has shown us just how much can be done with sport franchises through baseball, basketball, ice hockey and American football, all of which have produced successive generations of millionaires the likes of which the world never once thought possible. Some individuals have been able to sign contracts in excess of $35m USD for one year. Michael Jordan was among the first to enjoy this distinction, a seemingly just reward for his immense sporting talent and skills.
The International Olympics is the single biggest sporting spectacle in the history of sport and continues to rake in billions for host countries, to say nothing of the benefits of international exposure as have been evidenced by Moscow (1980) and Beijing (2008).