NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani attended the NBA Finals on a standing room ticket he bought himself. Cricket's VVIP culture could learn something from that.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attended the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden on a standing room ticket he purchased himself. No luxury suite. No VIP box. No tinted glass or catered meals. Just a mayor standing shoulder to shoulder with the fans, watching the game the same way everyone else did.
It's a small act, but it carries a large point. Because across so much of sport, and cricket in particular, we've allowed a VVIP entitlement culture to take root and spread. People in positions of power show up at matches expecting hospitality, special treatment, wining and dining, as though the sport owes them something simply by virtue of their title. It doesn't.
Cricket and sport doesn't owe anyone anything. If anything, we owe the sport respect.
The debt runs the other way. Respect for the fans who pay. Respect for the athletes who perform. And respect for what a sports stadium is supposed to be: an equalizer, not a tool for reinforcing hierarchies and social divisions.
Sports stadiums are supposed to be equalizers, not hierarchical and social dividers.
When the mayor of one of the world's biggest cities chooses to pay for an ordinary ticket and shows up as a fan, he's demonstrating what that looks like in practice. No protocol, no enormous entourage, no special privileges. Just a person with a passion for the game.
That should be the standard. And it should be a direct lesson to every so-called VIP who walks into a cricket match treating it like a personal kingdom. They don't own the game. Nobody in a title does.
No protocol, no huge entourage, no privileges, just passion for the sport.
