The next phase of the Indian Premier League

[AssassinatedDevil]

I got the idea for this thread when discussing the importance of international cricket and how IPL will not be replacing international cricket anytime soon in this thread:-
http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...ore-from-IPL-nearly-95-of-the-board-s-surplus

But let's say 50 years from now, the IPL has somehow phased out international cricket completely. No one cares about the ashes or Pak-India takras. How would the IPL get to this stage? I did some thinking and came up with some ideas.


1) The obvious one. IPL should extend the duration of the tournament from a month and a half to possibly around 6 months. This would obviously be a gradual process. Over the years they would have to work on increasing the duration to 2 months, then 3 months and so on.

2) Increase total number of teams dramatically over time. More teams means bigger pool of players, which means audiences will get to witness more players play.

3) This is the big one. Experiment with the format of the IPL. Perhaps even add ODIs to the list, or even T10 or T5 type games. T20 cricket is fun, but too much of anything is a bad thing.

4)Change the fundamental rules and playing conditions of cricket. Playing IPL games when the ground is shaped like a square or triangle instead of the conventional oval boundaries could create interesting field placements and game situations. Have some segments of the game where hitting consecutive boundaries would even grant sorts of multipliers to the batting team's scorecard could be very well received by fans. Hitting the ball for a "six" in a certain part of the crowd could grant 8 runs instead of just six.

I think all of these ideas can prove to be successful if implemented properly. The way the IPL is going, with its entertainment-first approach, i dont see why these ideas won't work.

 

[MenInG]

With the amount of money being paid to players in this competition, they could ask the game to be played in a tennis court and no one will bat an eyelid!

 

[big_gamer007]

Mixture of EPL and American sport.. Internarional cricket won’t die at most they will become like international football matches where teams still play historic series and ICC tournament..

If what you said in your OP has to occur then the 4 foreigner rule needs to be scrapped and I don’t see that happening in next 10 years atleast.

 

[AMSS]

IPL will grow organically. Don't think it requires gimmicks like random tinkering with rules just for the sake of it.

 

[gani999]

Why fix it when it is not broken?

The IPL is perfectly good as it is. It needs no further development.

A longer IPL will lead to viewer boredom, resulting in lower turnover at the grounds and reduced TV viewership. As a consequence, the advertising revenues will plummet, and everyone will be worse off.

The BCCI should resist the urge to kill the goose laying the golden eggs, and reign in any ambitious manager who tries to overkill the tournament.

 

[JattMaula]

Why fix it when it is not broken?

The IPL is perfectly good as it is. It needs no further development.

A longer IPL will lead to viewer boredom, resulting in lower turnover at the grounds and reduced TV viewership. As a consequence, the advertising revenues will plummet, and everyone will be worse off.

The BCCI should resist the urge to kill the goose laying the golden eggs, and reign in any ambitious manager who tries to overkill the tournament.

IPL needs improvement.

It needs tier 2 league with promotion/demotion system and more franchises for that.

It needs more spread out schedule. Minimum 3 months.

 

[IndianFan2018]

IPL not going to change much atleast next 3 years... Reason: latest auction contract with players lasts for 3 years -FACT.

Also, following cycle of 3 years IPL will remain same mostly with players shuffling due release / transfer / injury / retirement.

Maybe after 6 years, things will change not in game basic rules / stadium size / format ....but BCCI may add 1 or 2 new teams (not fully sure).

BCCI with all their flaws are very good administrators / business minds, will make changes only if it benefits IPL / Indian Cricket at the same time Internationals / ICC intrests are also protected.

#JustMyOpinon

 

[gani999]

IPL needs improvement.

It needs tier 2 league with promotion/demotion system and more franchises for that.

It needs more spread out schedule. Minimum 3 months.

IPL does not need any improvement. At best, it can do with one or two more teams. That's it.

Minimum three months? Typical self-destructive thinking prevalent in so many so-called managers, that ends up destroying anything good that is done in India. Anything more than the current two months and people are going to run away from the IPL, and no points for guessing what that is going to do your revenues.

The empty stadiums we saw in the recent India-Sri Lanka series showed what an overdose of anything can do to an event. We don't want the IPL to go that way.

 

[JattMaula]

IPL does not need any improvement. At best, it can do with one or two more teams. That's it.

Minimum three months? Typical self-destructive thinking prevalent in so many so-called managers, that ends up destroying anything good that is done in India. Anything more than the current two months and people are going to run away from the IPL, and no points for guessing what that is going to do your revenues.

The empty stadiums we saw in the recent India-Sri Lanka series showed what an overdose of anything can do to an event. We don't want the IPL to go that way.

I'm talking long term planning. Obviously IPL feels long even now. But as it gets more popular and team loyalties solidify, IPL will maintain audience attention for longer periods.

 

[USofA]

@OP, I kind of agree with your first two points. But not the third one. I don't think that radical a change needs to be done as you are suggesting in #3.

I am pasting my post from a different thread on why I think the IPL will grow. Though very early days, the below can be applied to the PSL and Pakistan down the road.

I have not been to single IPL game, neither do I know how people follow the league in India. All I have is what I have read, seen on the internet and anecdotal evidence.

The league has had multiple generations that have grown up on IPL. The kid who was 8, 9 or 10 years old in 2008 and just getting into sports has had IPL all his/her life. This kid is now in college and soon will go on to a job. How will these kids spend their money? I tend to think that IPL will get a good cut of their money over internationals.

The people who were 25+ in 2008 and went to bars with co-workers, friends and bought tickets to games and bought merchandise are now 35+ and likely have children of their own. How/what are these people going to steer their children towards? I would say IPL is a very likely place (not saying they will ignore internationals).

The point is, as the years go by the league is going to become more and more integrated to the culture. Which is what the IPL wants, be part of people lives, their family “traditions” etc. This is what is going to grow the league.

I think the Indian market has the room for 3 to 4 more teams. Which of course means more games and thus longer length. Now, how international cricket will handle this is a big ???

 

[shortbread]

Have a second division and start the process of promotion and relegation.

This makes it more worthwhile for the bottom teams in the top leagues to fight it out, which otherwise would be dead rubber.

 

[AssassinatedDevil]

Why fix it when it is not broken?

The IPL is perfectly good as it is. It needs no further development.

A longer IPL will lead to viewer boredom, resulting in lower turnover at the grounds and reduced TV viewership. As a consequence, the advertising revenues will plummet, and everyone will be worse off.

The BCCI should resist the urge to kill the goose laying the golden eggs, and reign in any ambitious manager who tries to overkill the tournament.

IPL has been expanding ever since the inception of the tournament. More players are playing in the tournament. Better teams have replaced poorer ones. Number of games has gradually increased. More grounds have been approved for IPL games. If there is no growth at all in the long term then that could be a big issue. It will continue to improve organically as it is now but the organisers will be looking to tap into the Indian market even more, and then perhaps even try to expand outside of India. Obviously all these changes didn't happen overnight and expansions like the ones i listed will take years to implement, but if done well then IPL could be much bigger than it is now

 

[AssassinatedDevil]

IPL does not need any improvement. At best, it can do with one or two more teams. That's it.

Minimum three months? Typical self-destructive thinking prevalent in so many so-called managers, that ends up destroying anything good that is done in India. Anything more than the current two months and people are going to run away from the IPL, and no points for guessing what that is going to do your revenues.

The empty stadiums we saw in the recent India-Sri Lanka series showed what an overdose of anything can do to an event. We don't want the IPL to go that way.

No sports league starts off with huge calendar cycles. I'm sure the EPL didn't go as long as it does now and didn't have as many games. All of this is gradual. 10 years ago no one could've predicted IPL would be this big. Scary part is it's no where near its potential.

 

[AssassinatedDevil]

Mixture of EPL and American sport.. Internarional cricket won’t die at most they will become like international football matches where teams still play historic series and ICC tournament..

If what you said in your OP has to occur then the 4 foreigner rule needs to be scrapped and I don’t see that happening in next 10 years atleast.

I don't see them scrapping the 4 foreigner rule anytime soon either but not impossible to imagine them getting rid of any such rules 15,20 or 30 years from now.

 

[IndianFan2018]

I don't see them scrapping the 4 foreigner rule anytime soon either but not impossible to imagine them getting rid of any such rules 15,20 or 30 years from now.

One of the main purpose of IPL from the beginning was to allow Indian young players to play with established foreign players and learn. After 10 years, IPL has achieved its goal, all new players coming from India are more matured and fearless. So, BCCI will not going to change 4 foreign players cap and jeopardize Ind players opurtunity.

 

[AssassinatedDevil]

One of the main purpose of IPL from the beginning was to allow Indian young players to play with established foreign players and learn. After 10 years, IPL has achieved its goal, all new players coming from India are more matured and fearless. So, BCCI will not going to change 4 foreign players cap and jeopardize Ind players opurtunity.

That's a good point but they won't have to jeopardize opportunities given to Indian players too much if the number of teams increase as well. If 5 years from now, they add a new team and increase the max foreign players limit by 1 as well, then they can easily accomodate overall more indian players in the tournament as well as keep healthy amount of foreign players in the teams.

What would be most interesting is if foreign players start to apply for indian citizenship so they aren't counted as being part of the foreign quota

 

[AMSS]

One of the main purpose of IPL from the beginning was to allow Indian young players to play with established foreign players and learn. After 10 years, IPL has achieved its goal, all new players coming from India are more matured and fearless. So, BCCI will not going to change 4 foreign players cap and jeopardize Ind players opurtunity.

The main purpose was to make money and stave off threats like ICL. Everything else is incidental. I mean you want to make people believe Lalit Modi, the mastermind, was actually thinking of young Indian players not getting enough exposure when he grandfathered IPL? LOL.

 

[IndianFan2018]

The main purpose was to make money and stave off threats like ICL. Everything else is incidental. I mean you want to make people believe Lalit Modi, the mastermind, was actually thinking of young Indian players not getting enough exposure when he grandfathered IPL? LOL.

Killing ICL, making good money were also goals of BCCI ..Which they achieved in first few years. But inspite of all this, BCCI kept the focus on giving exposure to young Indians, with so much of pressure from all corners not increased 4 foreign players cap. Recent auction they allowed uncapped/U19 players, which made few youngsters millionaire's. Whoever is willing to work hard inspite of riches like King Kohli 2 will excel in future too.

 

[someone21]

It's about merchandise now. They want to build loyalty and fan support for these club teams. Like seeing people wearing Mumbai Indians shirts around the world, just like many other big football clubs. This part is under explored.

 

[big_gamer007]

One of the main purpose of IPL from the beginning was to allow Indian young players to play with established foreign players and learn. After 10 years, IPL has achieved its goal, all new players coming from India are more matured and fearless. So, BCCI will not going to change 4 foreign players cap and jeopardize Ind players opurtunity.

That's a good point but they won't have to jeopardize opportunities given to Indian players too much if the number of teams increase as well. If 5 years from now, they add a new team and increase the max foreign players limit by 1 as well, then they can easily accomodate overall more indian players in the tournament as well as keep healthy amount of foreign players in the teams.

What would be most interesting is if foreign players start to apply for indian citizenship so they aren't counted as being part of the foreign quota

They have to scrap 4 foreigner rule if they have to become like American sports..

1. If they increase teams to 20-25 the quality might get diluted if players are limited on basis of nationality.. Unless in 15-20 years India starts producing so much talent that it overshadows other country by huge margin.
2. If players from other countries are limited then those countries will never scrap international matches as they have their own players to feed.. Unfortunately I don’t see cricket popular enough to maintain 5-7 high quality domestic leagues running for 6-9 months a year.. So other countries can’t have their own leagues as the quality overall for these leagues would suck with around 150+ teams there just won’t be enough players to maintain quality.. Unless cricket becomes popular in Other markets as well this would be nigh impossible..

So all in all the foreign quota rule needs to go if IPL has to become EPL/NBA.

 

[big_gamer007]

It's about merchandise now. They want to build loyalty and fan support for these club teams. Like seeing people wearing Mumbai Indians shirts around the world, just like many other big football clubs. This part is under explored.

I agree but it’s difficult in indian market to fulfil this potential as most of the merchandise people buy is duplicate.. Piracy needs to stop and then they can make big from merchandise sales.

 

[Hitman]

The main purpose was to make money and stave off threats like ICL. Everything else is incidental. I mean you want to make people believe Lalit Modi, the mastermind, was actually thinking of young Indian players not getting enough exposure when he grandfathered IPL? LOL.

The concept of IPL was conceived by the BCCI much before the ICL. It's just that the ICL was inaugurated a year before.

 

[IndianFan2018]

The concept of IPL was conceived by the BCCI much before the ICL. It's just that the ICL was inaugurated a year before.

IPL concept was evolving ...Two trigger points have helped IPL to get kick start. Killing of rebel league ICL and India winning inaugural World T20 Cup !

 

[AssassinatedDevil]

It's about merchandise now. They want to build loyalty and fan support for these club teams. Like seeing people wearing Mumbai Indians shirts around the world, just like many other big football clubs. This part is under explored.

Yeah thats definitely true. The vision should be to build IPL teams as brands that are recognisable all over the world. Many people haven't watched soccer for decades, but can spot a manchester united jersey from a mile away.

 

[jagatk]

It's about merchandise now. They want to build loyalty and fan support for these club teams. Like seeing people wearing Mumbai Indians shirts around the world, just like many other big football clubs. This part is under explored.

Merchandise money does not go to the teams but to the kit manufacturers which if you are big enough and popular enough is normally nike or adidas or as second tier likes of puma or new balance.

 

[jagatk]

I agree but it’s difficult in indian market to fulfil this potential as most of the merchandise people buy is duplicate.. Piracy needs to stop and then they can make big from merchandise sales.

People will start buying originals when they stop costing stupid money, i get it when adidas sells utd jerseys for 3000 it is a lot of money to shell but the clientele has the money to buy such stuff to lot of extent, Cricket is not that sort of a sport and you need to price the stuff at a much lower level to make good sales.

 

[gani999]

No sports league starts off with huge calendar cycles. I'm sure the EPL didn't go as long as it does now and didn't have as many games. All of this is gradual. 10 years ago no one could've predicted IPL would be this big. Scary part is it's no where near its potential.

I sincerely hope the IPL organizers aren't looking at the EPL as a role model.
First, there is a big difference between football and cricket. There is no major international calendar involving bilateral tours for football, the only big events being the FIFA ones which happen once every three years or so. So there is plenty of time for club events and for the most part, club and league football is the only form of the game that people get to watch.
It is not like that in cricket, where the national teams are constantly touring and playing all year round. People are already being treated to good quality, international cricket all through the year. The two month IPL is just about right from the viewership and revenue viewpoint, even though it is eating into the ICC FTP. A longer event will definitely cause problems. After all, how much of cricket can one watch ?
A longer IPL will kill both, the IPL itself and the bilateral series governed by the FTP.

 

[AssassinatedDevil]

I sincerely hope the IPL organizers aren't looking at the EPL as a role model.
First, there is a big difference between football and cricket. There is no major international calendar involving bilateral tours for football, the only big events being the FIFA ones which happen once every three years or so. So there is plenty of time for club events and for the most part, club and league football is the only form of the game that people get to watch.
It is not like that in cricket, where the national teams are constantly touring and playing all year round. People are already being treated to good quality, international cricket all through the year. The two month IPL is just about right from the viewership and revenue viewpoint, even though it is eating into the ICC FTP. A longer event will definitely cause problems. After all, how much of cricket can one watch ?
A longer IPL will kill both, the IPL itself and the bilateral series governed by the FTP.

I'm with you in that i don't want cricket to go the same way of football leagues such as the EPL. But in the current cricketing climate, it's not impossible to think of that possibility. Players are getting more money to do less work. Bowling 4 overs instead of 40 overs (T20s vs tests) means IPL is way more enticing to many young bowlers who want to prolong their careers. No one can so for sure where cricket is headed, but i feel its important to speculate about the possibilities.

 

[AssassinatedDevil]

Merchandise money does not go to the teams but to the kit manufacturers which if you are big enough and popular enough is normally nike or adidas or as second tier likes of puma or new balance.

I don't know much about marketing and the flow of money when it comes to merchandising, but i doubt that money doesn't go to the teams as well. The merchandise advertises a brand, so i assume they would get some returns on it as well. I might be completely wrong though.

 

[jagatk]

I don't know much about marketing and the flow of money when it comes to merchandising, but i doubt that money doesn't go to the teams as well. The merchandise advertises a brand, so i assume they would get some returns on it as well. I might be completely wrong though.

With any major sports manufacturer be it Nike or Adidas or Puma etc. they would pay the Team a fixed sum for the rights to have their logo on the jersey and to be the official sellers of it. Unless the jersey seller is an inhouse brand like MI has the Teams don't for the most part see even a penny of shirt sales and stuff.