Why IPL is Just another Business idea?

The Indian Premier League or IPL is the media buzz of the year so far. All those men behind it have left no stone unturned to make it the way it is today. We all definitely love the Game and especially the Indians and this part of the sub continent. We definitely have to appreciate the BCCI for being a part in the evolution of the IPL. I am really amazed by the amount of money that has been involved behind to get this to us. Reports say the IPL is targeted to generate revenues around 2 billion USD. Well that’s huge ransom that’s behind the game. I wonder whether it is behind the game or actually behind my money and time? Cricket was a Game earlier and now on the verge of becoming a successful business. Thanks to those few intelligent minds who actually are making their fortune out of the interest and passion of the common man. I am definetly sure that these gentlemen got carried away on the fortune they could make out of it and did not realize the amount of impact it would have on the common man in India.

Let’s do some calculations to have a rough idea on the impact of IPL: The league lasts for a whopping 45 days. Lets say a person watches one IPL match a day and each day, so on an average he would have spent 180 hrs(45days*4hrs per match) of his valuable time on the TV. Does he really stop with it, never does this happen; let’s add another hr a day which he spends discussing about the match with his friends etc… So he would have spent about 225hrs on the whole for the IPL alone (this is just an assumption). What does he get to enjoy for the 225 hrs of time that he is invested, he has opportunity to watch his favorite stars play amidst all the ads that they act to make their own life better. To be precise the match that I see on 32 inch TV is only of the size of 25 inches if I neglect the 6 inch ads that are constantly visible as a border to the Match(Is it ads between the match or match between the ads), and a very little of satisfaction that he has seen his stars. 225 hrs might not seem a huge number, but we also need to look at the kind of people who actually are very keen and passionate about the cricket. A majority of the people who watch the league would be coming from the middleclass, with the age group ranging from 12-40 approximately. About 20 million people helped Sony max get a max TRP rating of 8.1 and move to the no.1 spot from the 4 position. 220 hrs and 20 million people, that’s an enormous amount of time. Its definitely understood that the common man is robbed of his time and money, and the players just get a meager share (max 1.5million USD for 45days, ok lets add another million for the new ads u come up due to starring in the IPL) of the whole business in spite of spoiling their own reputation at times like Bhajji, Sreesanth or Sohaib.

IPL definitely is one among the best business ideas that has already started generating revenues of the order of billions at the cost of 20 million people willing to spend 220 hrs of their valuable time, to ensure the BCCI, Sony and all other partner’s are rich. I always feel businesses should give back something in return to the society to survive in the long run. I don’t see any value add from IPL for a common man like me; It really would be very great if there was at least one match (IPL finale would be preferred) to be played for charity.

I would be delighted to hear your thoughts too, feel free to leave your comments.