The Story of the mind blowing politics, Intrigue, tactics and strategies that lead to the creation of the Indian premiere league - a tournament that went on to revolutionize cricket
In September 2007, Lalit Modi was tasked with creating a brand-new domestic cricket tournament from scratch by then BCCI president Sharad Pawar. He had to ensure it would be a T20 tournament that could attract Indian and foreign superstars and outshine a rival tournament. Despite minimal funding and just six months to launch, Lalit Modi took on the monumental challenge.
Modi, with a clear mandate, unveiled the IPL within seven days of the brief along with Sharad Pawar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly by his side with South African, Australian and ICC board heads. Despite scepticism from even within the BCCI and extreme challenges like low interest in T20 cricket in India, and low interest in domestic cricket in general.
Lalit Modi forged ahead.
Especially after the Yuvraj Singh 6 sixes special in the 2007 t20 world cup at Durban, his hope seemed to have skyrocketed.
But this hope came crashing down as investors - . A list of 1200 companies, corporations, associations, business and individuals
Simply refused to invest
Everybody shirking at the thought of not having anything concrete to buy
So Lalit decided to switch gears and target broadcasters.
Hoping that Promising 80% of broadcasting revenue to team owners
He may be able to attract them
Using the idea of the recent Indian economic boom in India
He made the public see his Ipl as the beacon of this new idea
Where Indians were now moving out of their country
Ready to take on the world
Hence increasing public interest enough so that broadcasters would want to invest in them
But the problem was ESPN had used its entire budget for ICC events from 2007-2015, Nimbus had bought rights for Indian matches, Zee was the competitor was partnered up with Ten sports and star had a partnership with ESPN and then there was Sony.
Lalit rejected the conditional bids from Star and ESPN. So, Sony was the only company left.
Sony won the broadcasting rights for $1.026 billion, thanks to a strategy that focused on tapping into rural markets and pitching IPL as an entertainment program rather than a cricketing one.
After which Modi then focused on securing team owners, targeting billionaires who were willing to take risks.
Tailoring plans for each and every billionaire he had targeted. Benefitting him and them.
Lalit would also start promoting the idea of Cricketainment. A marriage of cricket and Bollywood.
Hoping to use the Bollywood shine to bring in attention to his burgeoning tournament
But when in spite of pushing his luck and contacts to the max
He would still fail to scrounge up enough buyers
Lalit would find himself pushed into a corner.
Hence deciding to skirt the boundaries of ethics and law
No matter the consequences
Deciding to pull his own family into the mix
Finally succeeding in pulling n sufficient bids\which finally when fueled by a constant rumor and media barrage were fooled into bidding for the highest amount that they could have bid
Netting a glorious 723 million dollars in team auction
And using the publicity gained by the amount generated here
He would pull in most of the superstars of the cricketing world for the player auction
Using an ingenious strategy of minimum bidding amount
Making sure that teams would continue bidding high amounts for the players\
So with Dhoni going for 1.5 million dollars
To Symonds for 1.35
From Jaysurya to Brett lee
From Harbhajan singh to Uthappa
The who’s who of cricket and who’s who of Indian elite would come together for a grand spectacle
Ultimately causing a 3.5-hour long entertainment program was to be held, with Bollywood celebrities and exotic shows. As a nervous Lalit would watch on in nervousness and trepidation
Anxiety that would soon be dispelled as
IPL drew second largest crowd of any tournament around the world. A total of 100 million people would watch from home. Generating immense interest and establishing the IPL as a major cricketing event, higher than the T20 world cup finals. Sony earned a 650 million dollars in ad revenue.
Modi's unconventional, controversial and sometimes scandalous methods had paid off,
Making IPL a huge global success, drawing large crowds and high TV ratings. The tournament's success transformed the landscape of cricket, becoming a symbol of modern India's economic growth and global aspirations.
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