When the Indian Premier League (IPL) first began in 2008, nobody predicted that the competition would become one of cricket's biggest success stories.
But, 15 years later, it has grown to become the world's second most valuable sports league, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) reaffirmed its reputation as a cricketing giant on Tuesday (June 14), earning Rs 48,390 crore from the IPL media rights for a five-year term beginning in 2023.
In the midst of such a windfall, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly stated that the Board will guarantee that the spectator experience in the stadiums improves and that preparations are in the works to stage the tournament with greater pomp and circumstance.
“We will work on it for sure and develop overall infrastructure for a better fan experience. A lot of new stadiums have come up, and the infrastructure of cricket in this country is huge. We will redo a few stadiums a bit and bring back IPL with completely different extravaganza and fandom next year,” Ganguly told Sportstar.
“The last two years have been affected by COVID and the biggest thing is that despite COVID, we managed to host the tournament and this time, we finished it with great hype in Kolkata and Ahmedabad…”
The BCCI hosted the whole IPL group stage in Mumbai and Pune this year while the knockouts were staged in Kolkata and Ahmedabad. While the Board is considering a separate window for the Women's IPL, another important goal is to spread the competition throughout all ten locations.
“It’s a great tournament and it will continue to thrive. But most importantly, the IPL has to go back to a home-and-away format from next year,” the BCCI president said.
The television ratings for this year's IPL dropped dramatically, making several members of the Board wary of the new e-auction. Ganguly, on the other hand, believes that the Board's top executives were always certain that the media rights would be a big success.
“There was no apprehension. We unbundled it to make sure that everybody remains in the game. We were expecting this (windfall),” he stated.
The broadcast rights for the Indian subcontinent have been given to Star India for Rs. 23,575 crores, while the digital rights for the Indian subcontinent have been handed to the Viacom 18-led consortium for Rs. 23,758 crores. Viacom 18 and Times Internet Ltd. were given the rest of the international rights for a total of Rs. 1,057 crores.
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The fact that the digital rights were sold at a higher price did not surprise the former India captain.
“That’s the way the world is going. We all expected that the digital rights will be big, and we are not at all surprised. This sport is very healthy and there is no doubt about it,” he added.
Ganguly, 49, was one of the star players and led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) when the IPL began 15 years back. He, too, had no idea it would be such a great success at the time. But now that he's in charge of the Board, he's proud of how far the competition has progressed.
“You don’t think so far. You take it one year at a time and it’s about the format. Most importantly, it’s about the fans in this country who made the league so successful…”
While he believes the Board will ensure that the league achieves greater success within a two-and-a-half-month window starting next year, the 49-year-old also acknowledged his Board colleagues for making the process a success.
“I congratulate the BCCI team and all my colleagues - Jay (Shah), Rajiv Shukla, Arun (Dhumal), Brijesh (Patel), Jayesh George, and Mamon Majumdar for spending hours to get the auction process right,” he stated.
(SPORTSTAR INPUTS)
