Indian Premier League vs Indian Cricket League: The Battle for Supremacy in Indian Cricket

Indian Premier League is called the king of cricket and entertainment. You will be surprised to know. If we keep the population of all these countries America, Australia, Israel, New Zealand, Poland, & Switzerland on one side.

And the reach of viewership in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on the other side. In the end, both will be almost equal. From this, you can understand what is the popularity of IPL tournaments all over the world. People considered the Indian Premier League not as a game but as a festival in India.

According to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary. Indian Premier League which started in 2007-2008 has grown so much. That becomes the second most valuable sports league in the world.

After the American National Football League (NFL). which has surpassed the English Premier League (EPL). Major League Baseball (MLB), and the National Basketball Association league (NBA).

Everyone is interested in cricket, whether a child or an old person. India is a country where cricket is considered equal to God. Who plays this game a player is given the status of God. Cricket is played today in every street, neighborhood, house, and crossroads.

Even though it is not the national game of India. It is a game played and seen more than the national game. When it comes to cricket, rarely, Indian Premier League (IPL) does not come to mind.

In this article, you will learn about 

• What is the history of IPL, and how did it start?
• How does the Indian Premier League system work? 
• And most importantly how does IPL earn money?

Indian Premier League History

It was not long before 1995 when Lalit Modi who is a businessman & known as the founder of the Indian Premier League. Pitched his idea of a 50-over tournament to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). And even registered the tournament under the name Indian Cricket League Limited (ICL).

However, BCCI did not take this proposal seriously. When Lalit Modi came from the USA, he was determined to bring a similar league to India. After seeing the American Sports League earning more money.

Due to a lack of approval from BCCI, Lalit Modi saw only two ways to start the league. Firstly, either the BCCI post should be found. Or this work should be completed through the people who are working there.

He chose the first path. Knew this Before holding any position in BCCI it is necessary to be a member of the state board. And he got elected to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association through makeshift.

Indian Premier League vs Indian Cricket League

Lalit Modi is one of the reasons for starting IPL. But on the other hand, another reason was created to start IPL. Around the year 2000, Subash Chandra was the founder of Zee Company.

He wanted to open a new channel named ‘Zee Sports’ and for that, he needed telecasting rights from BCCI. But he was rejected by BCCI even after bidding more than normal bidding because of insufficient sports marketing experience.

When the T20 game was introduced by England in 2003, it became very popular in a very short time. But BCCI had no interest at that time.

But on this side, Subhash Chandra and Lalit Modi are very excited to see T20 cricket. After trying a lot, Subhash Chandra could not get the telecast rights.

Then he started a private tournament called the Indian Cricket League (ICL). And invited players from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh to play in this tournament. However, BCCI did not accept such a tournament and officially announced that ICL is a private tournament.

That is not run by BCCI if any Indian player joins it, will be removed from the Indian team. BCCI also informed the rest of the International Cricket Board Association. That you should also stop your players from playing in it. After all, ICL got ruined. 

Announcement of League

On the other hand, Lalit Modi had become the vice president of BCCI. And he was also monitoring the entire ICL activity. After a long time what Lalit Modi had thought was finally going to come true.

India won the Twenty 20 World Cup and the craze for T20 increased a lot. Seeing this growing craze, the foundation of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise-based T20 cricket competition was laid in 2007. And the first season was played. On 18 April 2008, a total of 8 teams participated in the first season.

How does the Indian Premier League work?

If we talk in today’s time, then there have been 10 teams in IPL. There used to be 8 teams in earlier times. And the players in these teams are bought by auction. It is not like buying and selling in the share market.

But like many people want to buy a house or some goods, but the house and the goods are limited. Then in this condition, the bid is made for that thing.

In the same way, the players who are going to play IPL are also bid for. At least one player can set the base price as 50 lakhs rupees or something else can. The player who plays well and is experienced will be bid more. And he will be bought by the team at an expensive price like 10 to 15 crores rupees. 

This entire work is done under a contract between the player and the team. That is, the player whose bid was 5 crores will play for that team every year. If a player does not perform well.

Then many times the team drops that player & can be bought by someone else. The IPL tournament lasts for about a month and at the end. The team that wins the final gets the prize money. Which we will talk about later on, how IPL earns money.

How does IPL earn money?

When an IPL team wins, 20 crore prize money is given to that team. 12.5 crores to the runner-up, and 5 crores to the third-place team. But the investors of the IPL team will not spend 100-200 crores just because they suffer a loss.

This means everyone wants profit, Investors buy team players by paying money to earn money. IPL is called the king of cricket and entertainment. This means money is made where there is the public.

1. Media Rights

IPL’s strongest income is media rights. BCCI collects money from the broadcaster and after the deduction of all expenses it distributes it to the IPL team. IPL earns 60-70% of the total income from media rights.

Media rights mean the IPL tournament you watch on TV, Hotstar, Jio Cinema, and other places. That platform has got media rights to show IPL. 

Between 2008 to 2017 wherever you were watching the IPL. The media rights were bought by Sony and Zee Entertainment for 8,200 crores for the first 10 seasons. Sony took a 53% stake and started broadcasting on TV. And as time went on, IPL started getting global attention, so its value also increased.

Media rights from 2018-2022 Star Sports won the bid for 16,347.5 crores. There is a company-to-company tug-of-war to buy the media rights. But the question must be coming to your mind which team gets the maximum amount of media rights? So the answer is simple the team that will perform well in all matches of the session.

Due to this, investors take good players. So, that their team performs well and can get a higher share of the total revenue of media rights.

2. Sponsorship

You will see the names & logos of many companies on team player shirts, pants, & the boundary of the cricket ground. They pay money to the owners of IPL teams for brand advertisement.

Because the company wants more and more people to see their brand and take sponsors in IPL. It is more beneficial for the company because crores of people see the brand & remember it in their minds.

Most of the sponsorship money comes from the title sponsor. Title sponsorship means the most significant contribution to a company in organizing and hosting an event. Like DLF 2008-2012, put 200Cr in IPL.

Pepsi 2013-2015, put in 400Cr IPL. Vivo for 5-year put 2199Cr. Dream11 in 2020 put 222Cr. Tata 2022-2023 , 670Cr. for two years. All these companies have been title sponsors. Out of the total income of IPL, 20% of income comes from sponsorship.

3. Ticket sales

Seating capacity in the stadium, the standard of living in the city, and the craze of IPL in the area. These factors depend on how much the price of tickets will be determined.

A small portion of ticket sales will be offered to the BCCI, the rest goes to the team’s owner. Approx 10% of the revenue of IPL comes from ticket sales.

4. Prize Money

BCCI offers 20 Crore prize money for the winning team. 12.5 crore to the runner-up and 5 crores to the third-place team.

5. Merchandise sales

India has a huge sports equipment and apparel market which is expected to be worth $40 billion by 2027. IPL each franchise sells Merchandise that includes T-shirts, Caps, Wrist watches, and so on. And gets a share of the money collected from consumers.

 Conclusion

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the most popular & loved cricket tournament in India. Not only in India but the viewership of IPL is in the world. The most-watched sporting events in the world.

It generates revenue from a variety of sources, including media rights, sponsorships, ticket sales, and merchandise sales. 

Indian Premier League is an economic driver for India and has helped to popularize cricket around the world. The IPL generates billions of rupees in revenue each year, which helps to boost the Indian economy. The IPL also helps to create jobs and opportunities for businesses in India.