IPL – A superb business proposition!

Since the time Indian Premier League (IPL) started there have been many opinions, for and against – majority against! “India cannot afford IPL”, “Cricket is commoditised”, “Men are sold like sheep”, “It is a big joke”, “Test cricket will die” so on and so forth.

I fail to understand why these people are trying to be holier than the Pope! Guys who have bid for all IPL teams are basically in the business of making money and there is nothing wrong about it. Vijay Mallya, Nita Ambani, Shahrukh Khan, Shilpa Shetty and Subroto Roy to name a few. There was a fantastic business proposition available for these guys to invest in and they did. Period!

"There are approaches from not only Indian companies, but within 24 hours we got proposals from some very big clubs of the UK. They want to join hands with us. There are many kind of opportunities," Subroto Ray said after acquiring Pune team. If IPL is not a business would these offers come to Subroto Roy? Think!

“Can we spend so much of money in IPL’ – this is a very common question that is asked frequently these days! These guys who ask this question need to understand the difference between ‘expense’ and ‘investment’. All owners of IPL team did not ‘spend’ money. They have only ‘invested.’

Now what is an investment? – Investment is an amount of money spent in order to gain profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value. Every team owner has achieved this objective or will be shortly be achieving this.

IPL is business - A business can be defined as an organization that provides goods and services to others who want or need them. IPL did not force anyone to go to the grounds and watch the match or watch the match in television. Everyone who does one of the two things is doing so out of his/her own volition!

IPL has to be looked into as a pure business proposition superbly conceived by Modi. Look at the value he has created for IPL in particular and Indian cricket in general. The valuation of every team of IPL has increased considerably since IPL was started three years ago. As of today the highest value – Chennai Super Kings: $48.4 million, lowest – Hyderabad Deccan Chargers: $34.4 million. In just three years after its inception the brand value of IPL stands at $4.13 billion! Now India leads the world in the realm of cricket! A Fantastic achievement! When we evaluate this, from a business angle Modi scores 100 upon 100! I guess there is no other way of measuring this, as value creation is the primary financial performance indicator for measuring and evaluating the financial performance of any business.

Let us be honest to ourselves! How can you indulge in charity without earning a huge sum of money? I know for sure all these owners are doing excellent service to the poor of India. I am not going to write anything on the services each one is doing, because, this blog post of mine is not to sell the owners of IPL teams. Suffice it to say that they are doing lot of charitable work. Not charity, but love of profit, is their raison d'être to be in IPL!

It has now been proved beyond any doubt that this has become a super success. We need to understand that IPL is an entertainment business. Millions of people are entertained directly and through the television. I know how happy my wife and daughter are, when they are watching the cricket match.

Another positive fall out of IPL is that it has brought out many new players to the limelight. Not only that, it has also given an international platform for the young cricketers to perform.

This is an excellent opportunity all these new cricketers getting today. We should thank IPL for this. Sourab Tiwari, Ambati Royadu, and Theron, who knew these players before? At least I did not know these guys before!

For cricketers who have retired from the international scene – IPL offers the second chance. There are many of these guys who are doing extremely well in IPL even after their retirement. What keeps them going? The huge pay packet! If IPL had not been there, probably these players would have become history or expert commentators by now. IPL has definitely given them a second lease of life!

IPL has proved a big success not only in India but even outside India too. IPL-2 at South Africa was a huge success!

Sometime back there was a news item that the Maharastra government was thinking of making IPL tax free. I do not know what the status of this contemplation is. This again is height of stupidity arising out of not understanding what IPL is all about. If all of us are clear that IPL is also like any other business, such stupidities will not arise, and NDTV will also not have an opportunity to have a meaningless program on ‘Can India afford IPL’. It is a successful business and everyone involved in this should definitely be taxed.

Please for God sake treat it like any other business enterprise. Incidentally they are in the business of entertainment. Money making is undoubtedly ‘THE’ objective of IPL. Let us understand this and appreciate the business acumen of Lalit Modi.

Another important issue regarding IPL – The cheerleaders! "The scantily clad foreign girls' dances are certainly obscene and do not gel with Indian sensibilities, culture and ethos," said Mhetre. Indian sensibilities, culture and ethos! Give me a break! Honestly do our politicians know what these three words mean? I like Alyque Padamsee’s (Add guru) view on this: “Dancing cheerleaders are not the high point of culture but then Twenty20 is not classic cricket. Twenty20 is entertainment. It is like WWF, which is not wrestling. Cheerleaders add cheer to the game and yes they wear skimpy costumes but I think there is nothing wrong in that. Item girls in Bollywood films wear much less, so what is the hullabaloo about?"

Finally, Mandira Bedi and IPL. What’s Mandira Bedi’s role in IPL? Nothing! And that is what I feel sad about!