The Indian Profit League …..

It’s big reward for those investors who backed  Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi’s bold venture. The first edition itself was a big draw. The conduct of the matches in different locations in India in the evenings and ensuring extensive live TV coverage attracted viewers in the millions.  It was big money for all, from the BCCI to its constituent  state/local cricket associations; from travel agents and airlines to hotels; from cheer leaders of varying descriptions and styles, to ad agencies, ad visualisers, journalists, et al . 

Franchisees, who had invested large sums of money on a scale not heard of earlier and offering humungous fees to retain star cricketers, seem to have reaped a good harvest: a rough estimate puts the income on the IPL first edition from its share of central broadcasting revenue pool alone at around Rs.200 crore, with each franchisee getting Rs 25 crore; for the current year for the second edition Times of India reports that this  had shot up to Rs.540 crore or Rs 67.50 per franchisee. TOI also reports that the profits earned by the BCCI in the two editions totalled a whopping  Rs. 827 crore. An  interesting feature is the win-win windfall for all franchisees irrespective of performance: imagine Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders, with a dismal performance that pushed it to the bottom of the contest, making more money than even the two at the top!

Deccan Chargers, Hyderabad the champions in the second edition,  earned a prize money of Rs.4.80 crore for its players and  runner up, Royal Challengers, Bangalore, Rs.2.40 crore.
           
It was wind fall for South Africa which grasped an unexpected opportunity: Lalit Modi acted with electrifying speed in shifting the venue to South Africa; that country and the South African Cricket Control Board met the exacting requirements  in such quick time! The infrastructure, communications, accommodation and handling crowds in such large numbers were all managed efficiently. The conduct was smooth and the President of the Republic, the administration, security, artistes all participated with such involvement! This shorter 20:20 version, spread over some 200 minutes and the composition of the teams with a rich mix of different nationalities, of youth and experience, of celebrities and green horns, has gained global acceptance.

One can expect keener competition to host  future IPL matches from different parts of the world. P Chidambaram as home minister must be ruing the opportunity lost.  
           
In the first IPL edition,  Deccan Chargers were  at the bottom of the eight contestants  and Royal Challengers, the seventh; but these played their way up to contest the finals. And the winner of the first IPL,  Rajasthan Royals, was eliminated in the first round! Delhi Dare Devils and Chennai Super Kings, considered favourites,  did not make it to the final. It’s all in cricket!
           
Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden, R P Singh, Anil Kumble, Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, M S Dhoni, Shane Warne  and M Pandey are some of the players who made  great impressions on these five weeks of daily entertainment.

Enter the zoozoos…

The IPL II will also be remembered for Vodofone’s  extremely impressive series of ads. Bangalore based Nirvana Films’ Prakash Verma and creative director Rajiv Rao immortalised  the Zoozoos. The ads made such an intelligent connection to Vodofone’s simple and direct promotions through riveting visuals.

Rich mix of sports and entertainment

Sports events,  whether there are Olympics or World Cup Football, are also major opportunities for presenting national highs in art, entertainment and technology. Remember the 2008 Beijing Olympics that showcased China’s prowess in technology, art and entertainment? South Africa used the great opportunity to present her best in these areas. The fire dance, the drummers and her international singers did make a deep impression. Bollywood also made its presence through Kathrina Kaif who received an adorable kiss from Lalit Modi.

IPL is after all cricketainment. In a seamless manner cricket has brought together powerful politicians of different hues, business magnates, top film artistes…and it is such a profitable business that seems to declare such high dividends right from the start!
           
The typical Chennai businessman is not much known for committing large financial resources for art, literature, education  or sports. (There are a few exceptions in SPIC’s A C Muthaiah and Shriram’s R Thyagarajan). A couple of decades ago the Madras Management Association  constituted a high power committee of leading businessmen of Chennai to explore the possibility of setting up a top class business school in the metro. Evem after a couple of years the project did not take off due to the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the members to commit handsome resources. Suresh Krishna of the TVS family once told me of the lukewarm response of the city’s business leaders to the initiative of the ICICI’s N Vaghul to strengthen the Academy of Management Excellence (after a few years of colourless existence this was merged with ICICI’s Institute of Financial Management and Research).
           
The one exception was cricket. From M A Chidambaram and AC Muthiah to N Srinivasan, there has been great interest in involving with the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, even allocating handsome resources from their respective corporates. Thanks to the continuous  boom enjoyed by the cement industry, India Cements’ Srinivasan could boldly bid for the Chennai Super King franchise paying hefty fees to some of the star players. There were great expectations on CSK  performing well in IPL II. The opener Mathew Hayden played consistently well and scored the maximum runs. CSK helped take an eight hundred strong contingent of spectators from Chennai along with the renowned percussionist Sivamani. CSK also sponsored models to contest in the Bollywood South Africa beauty pagent and fielded several cheer leaders.
           
The huge investments seem to be giving good returns!

A culture shock …

I was somewhat disappointed by some of the senior constituents of the UPA leaving Delhi on the morning of the swearing in of the prime minister and his cabinet on 22 May. Farooq Abdullah, tipped to be part of the cabinet, left for South Africa to witness the IPL finals. M Karunanidhi  and his large contingent of MPs, which included T R Baalu and Dayanidhi Maran who were members of the previous UPA government and who camped in Delhi in the previous two days,  returned to Chennai on the morning flight reportedly upset over not getting their demands met.
           
Leaders of the Dravidian parties are not known for such courtesies.  Through the last three decades one did not witness either a leader of the DMK or the AIADMK, after losing an  election graciously conceding defeat or congratulating the leader of the party that won. It also doesn’t appear part of their  culture/custom for the loser to be present at a swearing in ceremony.
Despite participating in the Union cabinets for three decades, such a practice, so common in Delhi, has not impacted on these culture vultures who are renowned artistes thrown up by the film world. V P Singh worked hard to defeat Rajiv Gandhi in the 1989 elections; yet Rajiv Gandhi was present at the Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and was among the first to greet V P Singh. Vajpayee greeted Manmohan Singh in 2004. L K Advani, Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh and other political leaders were present at the ceremony on 22 May. M K the writer, who is never tired of boasting of the culture and traditions of the Tamils from the Sangam era, should  imbibibe some of these values from the north. After all the DMK has been participating in the Union cabinets right from 1989.