An experiment dangerous and bold

First things first, as an Indian cricket fan who would have watched the Kolkata Knight Riders play at the Eden Gardens in front of a capacity crowd of 90,000 plus, I am disappointed. Upset because the relocation of the IPL to South Africa has suddenly become a prime electoral issue. While Indian cricket has always in essence been acutely political, the number of politicians heading regional cricket bodies is a simple index, the political blame game over the IPL has finally blown the lid away from our closely guarded secret; that sports and politics do not mix. The move also means that some of India?s domestic cricketers, hoping to get real international exposure, will now have to miss out with only the big and famous travelling overseas as part of the team arsenal. Finally, and most importantly perhaps for the billion dollar league, the move out of India means its economics will have to be fundamentally reworked and chances are the balance sheets will be in the red despite all the hype surrounding the relocation.

The single biggest argument in favour of the relocation is the fact that almost 90% of the fans watched the IPL on television in April-May 2008. Accordingly, the organisers are confident that television ratings for the IPL, at the heart of its stupendous success in season I, will remain the same if not get better. And dependent on high television ratings are high advertisement rates to be charged by the host broadcaster, IPL?s single biggest cash cow. Much more than gate receipts, merchandising or ground sponsorship, television revenues earned from the telecast of matches remain at the heart of the IPL business model.

However convincing this argument may seem, delved deep into it throws up a series of unanswered questions. Firstly, there is a direct co-relation between fully packed stadiums and television audiences. While watching a 90,000 packed Eden Gardens on screen, the television viewer is bound to feel a sense of excitement about the event he is watching. The buzz at the ground, the tension and excitement almost palpable during a multi-camera telecast will be missing if the grounds are only half full, as is expected in South Africa except in Durban, which boasts of a huge South Asian diaspora. A half full stadium is sure to have a negative impact on the television viewer for the first impression empty seats convey is that the tournament has failed to take off. This in turn might have a spiralling effect ? advertisers are expected to turn weary impacting on the revenues of the host broadcaster and ultimately the IPL and its franchise owners.

Cash flows

Also, while the percentage of spectators at the ground is indeed miniscule in comparison to the size of the television audience, for the 59 matches in 2008, IPL had a bank of more than 30 lakh spectators who had queued up to watch matches at the grounds. No mean number, these fans were able to connect with their icons, be it a Shah Rukh Khan or a Sachin Tendulkar. IPL?s ability to connect directly with its fans, lovers of cricket or Bollywood, India?s twin cultural pillars, contributed much in building up a significant constituent of loyal fans who were at the heart of making the city based franchise concept a success. These fans, even if their teams did not do too well, lapped up the team merchandise on offer making a significant contribution to the IPL economy. While the Kolkata Knight Riders failed to make the semi-finals, fans in Kolkata had bought KKR merchandise worth Rs 15 crore by the end of the KKR journey in the tournament.

Reebok, the official merchandise partner for Kolkata Knight Riders, opened an exclusive store at Kolkata?s business hub in Lansdowne, a store that drew huge crowds at its opening and made brisk business in the weeks that followed. Planet M also joined as merchandise partner and both Reebok and Planet M made profits selling KKR jerseys at Rs 1,800, t-shirts at Rs 400 and sneakers at for Rs 2,000. Also, besides the legitimate market for IPL merchandise, the ambush shops, which sold merchandise at half the price, enjoyed a profitable ride in the IPL bandwagon. Such merchandising options are clearly out of bounds with the tournament moving outside of India.

In terms of costs too, relocation will result in increased spending by at least 15%. Staging associations in South Africa will have to be paid more than in India, hotels will cost more in comparison to back home and travel costs including airfare will be substantially higher. Air travel to South Africa will be a serious burden on the IPL exchequer with each team expected to travel with a substantial baggage. Cost of delivering the event because of the relocation will surely impact upon the purse of the franchise owners, a loss expected to be underwritten by the board. Lalit Modi? declaration that IPL II might not end in profit is indication that the economics of IPL has gone awry following the move from India. In an ambience of economic gloom, which has already impacted some of the franchise owners like GMR and Kingfisher, the relocation might hurt all the more.

New frontiers

However, in this atmosphere of pessimism, the move away from India has also opened up new options, not only for the tournament but also for international cricket at large.

The IPL was initially conceived as a specialist Indian tournament, modelled on the cultivation of city based fan loyalties across Indian cities in a way cricket had never seen before. At the heart of the model was the billion plus strong Indian cricket fans who gave the tournament the credibility it so badly was after by thronging to the grounds in hordes in April-May 2008. It is this brand image that IPL will now cash in on as it moves the tournament outside of India in a move to salvage it.

The IPL/South Africa partnership, dangerous and volatile as it may sound, has also thrown up new possibilities for international cricket. It is evident that both parties will bring considerable and complementary expertise and energy to the event that is now considered the single biggest cricket extravaganza in the world. Never before has world cricket seen such open and transparent working relationships between two cricket boards independent of the ICC and the willingness to share ideas and develop the event together will once again draw attention to the fundamentally transformed nature of the world game with India?s growing financial clout at its very heart. A relatively successful experiment will inevitably throw up newer income opportunities and expand the IPL brand, opportunities that can be drawn upon in the future once the tournament returns to India in March 2010.

That the collaboration between IPL and CSA is one based on mutual respect and understanding, where each party has an openness and willingness to co-operate, and where each is making a significant contribution to the event starts to shift old philosophies and ways of working.

So much so, this event now has the possibility of becoming a true global spectacle, unthinkable even a few days earlier. It is testament to the strength of the cricket as an Indian brand and also the growing strength of the South Asian diaspora. The rejigged concept, currently under discussion, assuming it is a success, will surely make provision for world cricket to move on to its next phase, one of new collaboration and partnership, giving the game a significant new lifeline in an ambience of gloom and economic downturn.

While interest in matters South Asian continues to grow across the world and as the region grows in significance, the export of the IPL to newer shores certainly has the potential to provide interested and key global audiences access to a significant Indian innovation. Without a doubt, the IPL, within a year, has become an important constituent of India?s cricket culture and staging the tournament abroad will significantly increase its reach outside of South Asia. It will provide an important and accessible focal point through which cricket enthusiasts can look to further their understanding of the region. In that respect, it is certainly an experiment worth undertaking.

The writer is a cricket historian

Spinning fortunes

Kolkata Knight Riders

Owner Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Jai Mehta

Franchise fee $75.09 million

Star player Sourav Ganguly – $1,092,500

Kings XI Punjab

Owner Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia (Bombay Dyeing), Karan Paul (Apeejay Surendra Group), Mohit Burman (Dabur)

Franchise fee $76 million

Star player Yuvraj Singh – $1,063,750

Chennai Super Kings

Owner India Cements