Ipl PDF
Ipl PDF
Ipl PDF
ABSTRACT
We start by taking a look at the unprecedented success of the Indian Premier League, with special emphasis on the
external factors responsible for this. We then look at the kind of impact it has on the game of cricket and its core
brand. This has been possible due to innovations and we see how this has been a great takeout amidst all the
controversy surrounding the brand. We then focus our attention on its impact on the sporting industry of India as a
whole and finally look at the future challenges and possible strategy the BCCI might be adopting to overcome those.
INTRODUCTION
The Unprecedented Growth
The rhapsody of cricket, glamour, million dollar pay cheques and billion dollar valuation; the Indian Premier League
has seen it all. Many an analyst, marketing head and agencies look up to the IPL with awe and why not, how many
businesses see a valuation swing from a billion dollar to 4.1 billion dollars in just 3 years! To an untrained eye, it
might seem that Lalit Modi has the Midas touch which has been giving compounding returns to BCCI and IPL as a
franchise but what is lost in this translation is the alma mater of IPL i.e. Twenty Twenty Cricket, popularly known as
T20 cricket.
Had it not been the primordial ingenuity of T20 cricket, IPL would probably have been still in its infancy. So what is
the story behind the rise and establishment of T20 cricket, how did IPL gain a competitive edge in Indian scenario
and what on earth happened to ICL? This write up attempts to understand, classify and analyze the facts of the case
using relevant management ideologies.
The Big Bang Theory
Long before the IPL hogged the limelight, there was a flutter in the cricketing circles to popularize the game of
cricket beyond the commonwealth and increase their revenues. While idea of the short format of sport was discussed
in the year 1998 and year 2001, but 20-20 cricket was not officially introduced till year 2003 when England and
Wales Cricket Board (ECB) launched twenty20 cricket cup in the attempt to restrain the declining attendances to the
matches of the County Cricket. It was intended to deliver fast paced, exciting cricket accessible to thousands of fans
who were put off by the longer versions of the game. Stuart Robertson, the marketing manager of the ECB,
proposed a 20 over per innings game to county chairmen in 2001 and they voted 11–7 in favor of adopting the new
format. And what followed next was a mega explosion of super charged cricket entertainment taking the world by
storm. A lot of entities like Big Bash league, Scotiabank National T20 Championship, Natwest T20 Blast, Indian
Cricket League etc. came to existence. The IPL, the single largest super successful entity was yet to become a force.
That, the T20 cricket was born is a story but how was it able to muscle its way out against the established and
generations old version of Test Match cricket and the One Day International cricket is a separate story altogether.
The Blue Ocean Strategy
The Blue Ocean Strategy compares the blue ocean to the red ocean. In a Red Ocean just like an established market,
businesses are constantly fighting each other to gain customers and increase sales. This is like an ocean full of
sharks that tear each other apart and turn the water red with blood. The smart ones can move to another ocean which
is peaceful and blue, without the vicious sharks which allow them to grow and prosper. The T20 cricket also was
able to adopt the Blue Ocean strategy very deftly.
The Blue Ocean Strategy is most effective when a market is saturated or in decline. Before T20 gained credence,
this exactly was the case. The gradual viewership of test matches was declining and the ODIs were getting saturated
There are various other parameters by which T20 was able to successfully build and grow its clamor. These also can
be related to the Blue Ocean Strategy:
1. Creating an uncontested space – T20 created a unique space between test matches and ODI matches and
none of them could match with the euphoria, craze and success of T20 matches. Neither the test matches
were able to pull the kind of crowds T20 was able, nor were the ODI able to garner the kind viewership.
2. Looks across functional or emotional appeal of buyers – No format of cricket had seen the kind of
colors, cheerleaders, music, fireworks and celebrity appeal that T20 cricket was able to dish out to its
viewers. This immediately had an impact on the fan following of T20 cricket and it was placed in an orbit
way beyond the reach of older formats.
3. The 4 Action framework – The ERRC grid.
FIG.1
Reduce – The T20 created a niche for itself by focusing on reducing factors like time duration of the play, the
uncertainty of results in the matches and the barriers in watching cricket across mediums.
Create – It created a new segment in entertainment which could be seen as an alternative to watching a movie
with family or other recreational activities. It also created a lot of demand for ancillary services associated with
cricket as there was a lot of marketing, branding and promotional activities around the event.
Raise – T20 was able to raise the expectations from a sport activity and created a lot of involvement with
general public across the globe. So much so that even countries like USA, Canada and Africa started hosting
their own tournaments. The revenue and reach associated with cricket definitely got a fillip due to T20.
Eliminate – Cricket in developed countries was looked upon as a game for commonwealth countries but the
advent of T20 eliminated that belief and it became a rage across many developed countries too. It also was
successful in breaking the age old traditional views on cricket as a game of gentlemen and that it was a slow and
most of the time sans result (test matches) by bringing in a healthy dose of entertainment and anticlimactic
finishes.
As can be understood above, T20 created a new market segment with humongous success for itself in the established
world and genre of cricket. However, its most successful variant in the form of the Indian Premier League went on
to achieve what no other new form of a sport has been able to in the last few decades.
Field Restrictions
The 30 yard circle rule stated that only two feilders could be placed outside the circle during the first 15 overs. Now
under the Power Play rule, the field restriction has increased to 20 overs.
Experts’ Opinion
Industry experts have mixed opinion on the extensive commercialization of the sport with the advent of this new
format of the game. Some find it as a medium of making the game more popular other see it as annihilating the
essence of cricket. Some of the opinions of the industry experts are described below:
Harsha Bhogle: “I have always wondered why it has to be one or the other. Dravid or Tendulkar? Rap or classical?
Pizza or dosa? Brazil or Argentina? I'm sorry but I like both Test cricket and 20-overs cricket. And the one-day
international.”
Ravi Shastri: “You need that injection by way of T20 cricket. Now how you distribute the formats, how you
balance it up, is there any need for bilateral T20? I don't think so. I don't think there is any need for bilateral T20
cricket and these one-off matches. You want one-day cricket play it but even that can be reduced. You don't have to
play 5 one-day matches series. Keep the emphasis on world cups both in the T20 and in the 50 over format and then
let your domestic competitions thrive,”
Kapil Dev: “If promotion means allowing a singer to perform during breaks in Test match or bringing in
cheerleaders, be it. Test cricket is the ultimate test of a cricketer and the game of cricket. The cricket board should
find a way to promote the Test cricket, If marketing is only done for the T20 cricket and TV channels only show
T20 games, more and more players will choose an easy option of playing it.”
Mitchell Johnson: “I think I've got to be a lot smarter now. Twenty20, I will quite happily say, is not my favorite
format - I would rather play Test cricket”
Net Impact
If T20 is restricted to just a month in a year, the effect would be very limited. But if it's overdone, it will definitely
impact the standards of Test cricket, which are already declining. Money is important in cricket, but unless there is a
balance, the game is going to be affected and it already has been affected by One-day cricket. Basically, it's not
much of a test of a player's skill and temperament. It's basically about talent with a big element of chance in it.
While it's a spectacle, people enjoy it, it's not a great test of cricketing abilities. Put it this way - if a team wins a T20
competition, necessarily it cannot be considered as a quality team, because any team can win such a short
competition. Test cricket remains the true test of a cricketer.Unless a balance is struck, and if Test cricket gets
affected, then standards of the sport all over are going to get affected.
Corporate Corruption
There are times when your biggest asset can become your biggest liability. This is primarily the case with IPL where
the amounts of money involved are so huge that you end up having a number of points where corruption could come
into place. The whole Lalit Modi case (1.2) was just one example how these points could be leveraged to fill the
corporate coffers. Collusion and corruption could be easily seen in his mail to the then BCCI chief regarding under-
hand player transfers and deals. The mail, as reported by PTI, went “What a nightmare to convince them not to
terminate Tanvir and not to take Flintoff. Warne went off the handle. But have managed by using stick and carrot
therapy. Thus they have $1.8 million”
So, we identify the complete process of inflow and outflow of money into and from the system. This gives us
primarily seven key nodes where we need to check for corruption. We can tackle all these by the using the
‘Corporate Integrity ‘model. Going by this model, a business must :
1. Strengthen, adequately fund and assess compliance and reporting efforts by reporting on all elements of
corporate citizenship and providing information on compliance systems, public policy engagement, and
company revenues and taxes. If needed, we may have observatory sub-bodies just for the purpose of
monitoring the cash-flow and the end-points of this cash.
2. Monitor compliance with a company’s internal policies by setting up and supporting mechanisms for the
independent monitoring and verification of compliance with company codes and commitments.
3. Organize broader stakeholder action and collaboration by:
a. Supporting employee training and orientation programs that emphasise ethical growth and an
individual employee’s integral role in corporate integrity.
b. Adopting, supporting and actively engaging in the development of related standards for
transparency, accountability and integrity.
c. Collaborating with other companies in environments where corruption is endemic to develop
common approaches to address corrupt practices.
4. Ensure due diligence by:
a. Developing strong processes for selecting reliable partners with particular emphasis on
establishing company-led anti-corruption safeguards, where local institutions might be weak or
lax.
b. Implementing effective business codes to ensure compliance. Codes must be comprehensive,
morally justifiable, tailored to a company’s particularities and embedded in its operations.
Anonymous hotlines to report abuses, whistleblower procedures and ethics committees are tools
that provide the impetus for applying codes in practice. The actions taken should be of a nature
such that strict punishment as well as high anonymous appraisal is offered.
Along with these measures, we recognize the fact that the brand’s image has been tainted by the conduct of earlier
CEOs and other top officials. Hence, the CEO has to put in extra effort to reclaim the lost mutual respect. For this,
we recommend the top brass to use some internationally acclaimed practices as suggested by the Ernst & Young
Match Fixing
Perhaps the biggest stigma to cricket itself has been match-fixing. Right from the days of Hansie Cronje, the bookies
have had a gala time with whenever cricket has given them the slightest sniff. Hence, the corruption laden IPL was a
virtual feast where they had all the right ingredients: huge amounts of money, nail-biting matches and young
inexperienced Indian players too weak to resist money. And when finally the drama unfolded, the whole world was
left shocked at what had been happening behind closed doors. (1.3)
Spot fixing can happen in several scenarios and it is very important to understand them in order to counter them.
This can happen through the direct approach or with an indirect approach (trust the captain?), by opportunists as
well as people who offer a quick fix to troubled sports stars. So, we use a 5-pronged “Sports Integrity-Package”
strategy to counter this problem.
1. Sports Regulations: Having an awareness of betting-related risks when sports regulations are
being drawn up provides for prevention, intelligence and investigation to be built in from the start. A zero
tolerance policy has to be made mandatory in order to not only punish the defectees but also to act as a
strong deterrent. Possible alliance with the Indian Government on this would ensure a stricter legal action,
and a greater deterrence.
2. Betting Regulations: This has to be done by the Government of India through BCCI. But IPL has to be
active in pursuing it rigorously. However, we also suggest a right balance here since too strong regulations
might result in betters dropping out of the system completely and indulging in under-hand illegal betting
which would be a bigger problem. hence, we need a balance where enough breathing space is left for the
betters as well as the company as a stronghold on the betting as such.(1.4)
3. Organisation: The company has to have close ties with the local authorities and a centralised approach
would have to be diluted down to a more local and street-level approach. We could also create our own
intelligence department solely dedicated to this issue. This would allow them to react faster and sustain a
stronger relationship with the police.
4. Prevention and Education: We need to understand that the player is a key component of our system. And
the player might not be as educated, smart or aware as we would want him to be. Hence, education and
awareness have to be part of the initial training process. Since a number of times bookies leverage the
ignorance of players, no player should be allowed to take part in the tournament unless he has a sound
understanding of match-fixing, its multiple ways and consequences.
5. Betting Market Monitoring and Alerts: Obviously, it would be much more convenient if we the company
could judge when the bets are likely to be made and where the bookies would be targeting their resources.
Such pinpointing could bring down the complexity of the problem to a great extent. Hence, we strongly
recommend to set-up a team which would monitor the betting trends and patterns, if the company hasn’t
already done that.
Finally, in India, we often tend to ignore standard procedures going on elsewhere in the world. These globally
applicable tools when tailored to the Indian setting could go a great way in stopping the match-fixing and ultimately
the controversies arising out of it.
Player Conduct
What happens when hot exotic glamour meets cold hard-working brutes? You get controversies! Initially the whole
idea was to leverage all this glamour to get people’s attention and higher TRPs. But the company did not know when
to stop and what followed took this popularity into the troubled water of controversy.
EXHIBITS
1.1 External Environment And IPL’s Competitive Advantage In India
REFERENCES
1. DONNA KENNEDY-GLANS & ROBERT SCHULZ, “CORPORATE INTEGRITY: A TOOLKIT FOR MANAGING
BEYOND COMPLIANCE”, MARCH 2005, WILEY
2. “Policy Position”, #4/2009, Transparency International
3. Sabine Vollmer, “Six best Practises for combating Fraud and Corruption”, May 20,2013,
http://www.cgma.org/Magazine/News/pages/20137962.aspx?TestCookiesEnabled=redirect
4. “Safeguarding the Beautiful Game”, Sept 2014, Edwards Wildman and Transparency International
5. “Integrity in Sport”, November 2011, SportAccord
6. “Integrity Package”, SportAccord, http://www.sportaccord.com/en/what-we-do/integrity-package/
7. “Modi asked Tharoor to deny visa to SA model”, April 14, 2010, Headlines Today
8. “I don't mind partying, but too much glamour can spoil a cricketer's image: Rohit Sharma”, October 1,
2013, Times of India
9. Nishad Pai Vidya, “IPL-2013 Spot-Fixing Controversy Timeline”, August 24, 2014, The Cricket Country,
http://www.cricketcountry.com/articles/ipl-2013-spot-fixing-controversy-timeline-117449
10. Mustafa Neemuchwala, “The IPL Scandal: Corruption Within Cricket”, April 12, 2014, Indians 4 Social
Change, http://indians4socialchange.com/ipl-scandal-corruption-within-cricket/