New Zealand Cricket's benefactor Michael Watt issued a challenge to those people who had made money from television sports rights in New Zealand to put something back into the sports they profited from.

He made the call after unveiling a ground plaque celebrating the naming of the cricket oval at NZC's Academy complex at Lincoln University today as the Bert Sutcliffe Oval.

"The economy needs a leg up from those individuals who have the talent to do something about it," he said.

Watt was born in Christchurch and has made a personal fortune specialising in international television sports and entertainment.

He travelled the world for 15 years working in many diverse occupations including working in factories, mines, building sites and oil wells before creating the international television sports company CSI.

One building site he worked on was Christchurch's Museum building overlooking the Christ's College campus he had been expelled from some weeks earlier. He recalled today the delight of his mainly British work-mates on the site in his being able to identify the various masters during school open air assemblies so they could harangue them from over the wall during the ceremonies.

He said he had been told that the official version of his exit from the school was that he had been "temporarily suspended and chose not to come back."

Referring to his challenge to sports rights earners, he said the way of the world now was for those who have made money to do something with it.

"Hopefully, they will not be satisfied with just having a whole stack of money and spending it on Fifth Avenue.

"They will feel a lot better if doing something with it.

"There are plenty of people who have done very well out of the shareholding they have out of New Zealand sport," he said.

He didn't see the television rights battles going on indefinitely.

"A day of reckoning" was nearing and sports bodies had to learn how to take control of the matters concerned because fees gained won't keep going upward.

There were some rights buyers in Europe now who were struggling over their payments to sports because the amounts they paid were too high. There was also a lot of swapping of rights going on now and also leverage into another country's companies.

The diversity of Watt's philanthropy covers sponsoring township activities and individuals in South Africa, conserving and sowing ancient wildflower meadows in England, helping hearing impaired children in Central America, a migratory bird colony in Ireland, restoring heritage properties and several international children's charities.

© CricInfo