Gone are the white flannels and the laid back pace. Gone are the nuances replaced by aggression and accounts. Big bucks and the big bang, that’s what the new-found cricket carnival is all about. And it’s growing bigger by the year. The IPL’s tenth edition ended in May with full page advertisement by the champions Mumbai Indians the next morning thanking the fans. After all, nowhere in the world will you get thousands and thousands of fans turn up night after night to be part of this cricket extravaganza. To watch a game of cricket which lasts about four hours and gives you enough band for your buck.
IPL is no longer just about Cricket. It is a brand that people are consuming. When a sport replaces entertainment like the IPL does, it is only obvious that entertainment joins hands with it. Ironically, no other sports property has managed to create as many versions as the IPL has. HBO has created HPL – Hollywood Premier League, SONY MIX has created PPL – Pix Premier League, Hungama.com has created HPL – Hungama Premier League, ArtistAloud.com has created AAPL – Artist Aloud Premiere League just to name a few
IPL is not about the sport of cricket as much as it is about the business of sport. It is the only global Indian brand and can truly and proudly claim to be Made in India. It is one of the few businesses which are multi-crore in volume and yet fully Indian. It is truly an Indian business model which has come good and is being replicated by many others around the world.
One could argue that it is largely modelled on the EPL or European Premier League of the many other soccer leagues abroad what with its skimpy clad cheerleaders, mostly blonde and east European. Whatever it may be it is a business model that has worked and worked well for 10 years now
Many hardcore cricket lovers who swear by the languid gentlemen in whites engaging bat with the ball over five full days may have nothing but contempt for the Indian Premier League and, by extension, the Twenty20 brand of ‘instant’ cricket itself. Yet the fact is that IPL — the strange animal which burst on the scene in 2008 showcasing Twenty20 cricket played by men dressed in garishly coloured clothing with ad labels falling off their apparel, cheered along by film stars and scantily clad cheerleaders — is now a hot brand valued at $4.2 billion (by valuation and corporate finance firm Duff & Phelps). Whether the purists like it or not, the fact is that the 45 days that the event plays out in mid-summer every year is eagerly anticipated by fans and players, not to mention sponsors who faithfully backed the property every edition.
Even after Pepsi backed out of the title sponsorship after the betting scandal threatened to take the shine of the IPL, BCCI not only rode the storm but managed to tie-up the title sponsorship with Vivo at a quarter more than what Pepsi was paying. It only goes to show the popularity of the game across the country where it becomes a source of great family entertainment giving TV soaps and dramas nervous nights. Not only are the stadiums packed even TV viewership is huge. No wonder Sony Pictures Networks India which has the telecast rights for the ultimate television show is said to have earned Rs 1,200 crore from the event last year.
Similar events have mushroomed in other sports too such as football, kabaddi and badminton; only goes to show how IPL has defined sports to be good business. It also helps the country’s economy with hotels, flights, stadiums giving a fillip to the local ecosystem wherever matches are played. The business of sport is here to stay. And we will wait eagerly for 2018 to bring to us the greatest show on the greens – the IPL or Indian peoples League