WHEN it comes to the IPL, transparency is a vital tool for corporate governance in the future, but not in the manner in which it has transpired. However, rather than speculate, let's focus on what transparency in team ownership means for global leagues, beyond the conspiracy theories and hair-raising twists. Lets assume for the time being that the equity is clean, the…
SO, King Khan, Shahrukh Khan has finally had enough of IPL. And more importantly, he cannot make promises anymore because he has lost the moral right. Enough of Kolkata Knight Riders after three consecutive seasons of unmitigated disastrous performances. SRK feels awful for Kolkata and his sponsors. Remember that Nokia forked out the highest amount as lead sponsor of KKR, in…
SEEING the likes of Dale Steyn, AB de Villiers and David Hussey being left out of the Playing XI in this season’s IPL, makes you feel that there is something wrong with the rules.
In football, if the EPL, Spanish League etc have no upper limit to the number of foreign players that you can put on the field, I believe it’s only natural for a global league like the IPL…
THERE is a new type of caste system at work. It is being surreptiously and ingeniously used by discerning television viewers. You know the couch potatoes who are watching cricket these days. IPL cricket endlessly. So, if you thought that there was this headlong rush to watch the IPL games, think again. IPL cricket watchers are extremely discerning.
In the ratings brouhaha…
THE RA RA theme in the IPL is sometimes overplayed. With bids of $ 370 million and $ 333.33 million Sahara Adventure and Rendezvouz Sports seem to have paid too much. Why do I say that? Because it will be very difficult for them to make money in the first three years of operation. The exorbitant entry cost means that for Sahara for instance, franchise fee alone will be a stiff $…
THE BEST THING about the IPL is that you get to see so many players from across the world in action all in one tournament. You just have to sit in front of your TV and you get to see such amazing talent from all corners of India and abroad. Take, for instance, Yusuf Pathan’s incredible hundred against the Mumbai Indians at the Cricket Club of India the other day. Now, Yusuf Pathan…
YOU CAN can guarantee that the IPL will find new ways of making money, and you have to admire the money making zeal behind it, but I'm far from convinced about the big screen adverts being run in between balls from the ground. Brilliant exposure for the advertiser, no doubt, but I'm old fashioned enough to have the attention span to enjoy three minutes of uninterrupted cricket…
THE INDIAN sports industry was jolted this week with news of the joint venture between RIL and IMG, essentially planting an 800 pound gorilla amidst the untended dense grasslands that till now represented sports in India. Like many other facets of the evolutionary phase of Indian sports, this joint-venture between the two behemoths shot way ahead of the queue, quite…
WHEN the Pakistan Cricket Board cracked down on its top players - banning them, putting them on probation and levying fines - it was quite clear that something was not quite right in Panickistan. Many reckoned that these stiff penalties were actually brushing elephants and camels under the carpet. That the whole exercise was nothing but a massive cover up.
On Monday, a parliamentary panel expectedly dropped a bombshell. By making the stunning disclosure that some Pakistani cricketers…
BY CAREFULLY and effectively slicing the IPL rights pie, Lalit Modi has proved once again that he is a shrewd marketer. As he said the other day, he has managed to double the central revenue pool for the franchise owners. Though Modi and the IPL are not very forthcoming on the revenues, doubling is surely good news fro the franchise owners.
Season 2 in many ways was a…