THE GREAT INDIAN BUSINESS : IPL
[Written by Yash Tulsian]
Sport has been, for the majority of its existence, a leisure activity. A great pastime for rich people who really didn't have to work that hard in the fields all day long. It is only now that the world, in particular, the business community is seeing it as a lucrative opportunity to create wealth.
The biggest case study when it comes to analyzing the Indian context is the Indian Premier League (IPL) the biggest league in a cricket-mad country. IPL was only started in 2008 after the introduction of 20 over cricket to the world, however, the numbers are staggering, to say the least.
The question now is how did it generate success?
The secret sauce that the IPL found was a mixture of two things India is crazy for Cricket and Bollywood.
By encouraging Bollywood Tier-1 stars to buy their teams in its inception it was able to generate hype, glamour and glitz and a sense of awe.
Shahrukh Khan, net worth 400–600 million
Vijay Mallya, net worth 1.2 billion
Mukesh Ambani net worth 985 million
Preity Zinta, net worth 30 million
Shilpa Shetty, net worth 25 million were some of the team owners when the IPL actually started off
( Note: All figures are for 2008 (IPL starting year) and have been adjusted against inflation. )
The main ingredient was still “The Cricket” and it has been a quality display of cricket with extremely close finishes keeping fans hooked till the end.
The League has had its fair share of troubles, most of which were related to deliberately fixing certain parts of the game or the outcome of the game thereby keeping games close in order to generate drama and increase their own TRP.
The biggest sticky situation in all was the 2013 spot-fixing scandal when 3 cricketers were found guilty of having taken as much as Rs. 1 Crore to fix certain overs in a match.
Despite all of this the IPL is now one of India’s biggest brands and the numbers are there to reflect it.
Rs. 47500 Crore - Current brand value of the IPL placing it in the top 5 most valuable sports leagues in the world.
Rs. 16347.5 Crore - The price of Star India’s Media rights for a period of 5 years from 2017–2022.
Rs. 11200 Crore - Net worth of Chennai Super Kings, the richest team in the IPL.
Rs. 150 Crore-Value earned by Virat Kohli from the IPL, the richest in the league.
Rs. 17 Crore - Salary of KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, the current richest in the league.
Rs. 16.25 Crore - The amount Chris Morris, the highest auction bid in IPL ever, was sold for.
Rs. 4 Crore - Gate receipts earned by an IPL team in a normal year.
Rs. 20 Lakh - The estimated cost of a 1 ad during an IPL match for any sponsor.
With all these mega figures the IPL will only soar to greater heights, this is a golden opportunity for emerging businesses to cash in and expand their empire through sport.
