There’s a quote that says, ‘Reaching the top is tough, but staying there and maintaining that spot is even more challenging. IPL keeps proving this quote wrong season after season. Let’s try to find out why IPL is not only the biggest but the best T20 league in the world.
A brief history of IPL:
The beginning of IPL was inspired by two major events: its rival league, ICL, which had an exciting aspect, and the game-defining victory of the Indian team in the 2007 T20 World Cup. Just after India lifted the trophy, BCCI announced its very own franchise-based T20 cricket competition, the Indian Premier League, on September 13, 2007.
The inaugural season of IPL began in April 2008 with a total of 8 teams. The league was led by Lalit Modi, who was the Vice President of BCCI at the time. He announced all the details of the tournament, such as the format, prize money, franchise revenue system, and squad composition rules. To finalize team ownership, an auction of team franchises was held on January 24, 2008; the reverse prices of the eight franchises totaled $ 400M, although the auction raised a total of $ 723.59M.
The first player auction of IPL was held on February 20 2008, in Mumbai. A total of 77 players signed up for the auction including 48 foreign players. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the priciest player at the auction, going for $1.5 million.
What is IPL’s total revenue today?
The IPL has set a new standard and appears to be significantly ahead of its competitors in terms of revenue. It reached mind-boggling figures in 2023 and now stands at $ 11.2B ( 92,500 Crore in rupees). IPL being the financial powerhouse, Viacom 18 and Star Sports have committed around $ 6.4B (Rs 50,000 crore) to stream the IPL for the next five years, which means each IPL match is valued at $ 13.4M. In addition to that, BCCI and IPL franchises have secured sponsorships worth over Rs 900 crores.
According to the BCCI, during the 2015 IPL season, it contributed $140 million (Rs 1,150 crore) to the Indian economy’s GDP. Also in 2022, the BCCI took insurance of $ 630M ( Rs 5,000 crore) for the Indian Premier League. This insurance policy covers everyone involved, like broadcasters, service providers, and sponsors. BCCI provides funds if there are revenue losses due to things like bad weather, riots, or other unexpected events.
Why has the IPL stood apart from others for over a decade now?
It has to be the amazing infrastructure, evolving technology, new and innovative rules, and the never-ending surprises for its viewers and spectators, IPL has changed the viewers’ experience of watching a cricket match like never before.
IPL invented time-outs between the games where both sides can take one strategic time-out each during an inning. Since the 2018 IPL season, the decision review system ( DRS ) has been used in each IPL match. Teams can declare their playing 11 before or after the toss. The latest inclusion has been in the 2023 IPL season of Impact Player rule. Now, each team can choose a substitute or Impact player from a list of five potential substitute players. This innovation has made the IPL games even more interesting and dynamic for everyone.
How can we forget the Spyder cam inclusion? IPL was the 1st cricket league to introduce this during an IPL semi-final match in 2010, and this added different and innovative frames for the viewers to enjoy. Also the regular feature of the biggest international cricketers in IPL has helped in gaining more and more engagement and popularity for itself.
All these factors have certainly contributed to the Indian Premier League reaching the level it is at right now. But any sporting tournament doesn’t reach this height without quality gameplay. Management and all the players associated with the teams have proven them in every sea to bring IPL to where it is today. In 2017, ICC introduced IPL in their official FTP cycle, which was implemented from 2019 onwards, and since then, there has been no looking back for this Incredible Premier League, as they say.
