Whatever people may think, the IPL isn't broken: Lalit Modi

In his prime, Lalit Modi was a propaganda machine the likes of which Indian sport had not seen before. In the run-up to the event (yes, it was an event), he would hold three press conferences a day, announce tie-ups with manic ease and create so much buzz that even five years after the first edition of the Indian Premier League, the tournament is still feeding off that frenzy. The question before the start of the fifth edition of the IPL was whether it can once again capture the imagination of the people and make them throng to the grounds again? And even though many people will tell you that the IPL has lost the plot, Modi – who is always tweeting about the IPL while the matches are on – believes that this tournament is here to stay. The crowds at the ground have been superb and that tells you that the IPL is a spectacle that people want to be part of. In an exclusive email interview, the IPL’s former commissioner tells us where he feels the tournament should be headed in the near future and what it needs to be wary of. Do you believe that the IPL needs to reinvent itself? The glamour factor seems considerably lower. The parties aren’t happening. At a very base level, the IPL needs that too… is it too serious now? You only need to re-invent something if it’s broken and, whatever people might be thinking, the IPL isn’t broken. But what any event needs is constant evaluation to ensure it doesn’t go stale and the IPL is no different in that regard. When we set up the IPL, one of the fundamental criteria was to be innovative on an ongoing basis and people should always be looking at new, exciting ways to package this prized asset. Show business and glamour are definitely part of the package but at the end of the day it’s about cricket and some of the finishes we’ve seen already in IPL5 prove that the IPL is alive and well! The secret for the future, is to use that strength as the cornerstone of ongoing development to maintain its long term health. The NBA had a phase around 10 years after it came into being when it struggled to set the agenda with the owners. The team owners wanted a bigger stake. Do you see something like that happening with the IPL too? 10 years is a long time in the history of a sports event and the IPL is only in year 5, so on that basis it’s still a baby. But the last thing you want at any stage is for the franchisees to be dis-enfranchised! In the IPL, the owners have made a big commitment, so it’s important to keep them ‘on side’ at every level. If you make promises to them about centrally funded commercial benefits, you must make sure you keep your side of the bargain - or be prepared with a very good excuse! Any governing body has a responsibility to its stakeholders to retain the competitive nature of its tournament and a sound financial platform for all. Owners and players will only get frustrated if something they’ve signed up to, isn’t there any more. [caption id=“attachment_286926” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi is presently in London. Reuters”] [/caption] The second big auction meant that a lot of teams had a lot of new personnel. Is this kind of churn good for a league that is trying to establish some sort of legacy? Less ‘churn’ obviously creates a sense of stability, but you have to make a distinction here between players and teams. The whole idea of city-based franchises was to tap into regional identities and engage the people of the area with a team they felt naturally connected to. So the team ‘brand’ is the constant, not necessarily the players. If you get the branding of the team right, the player movement actually creates an excitement of its own - just as it does with the football transfer market in The English Premier League. Our model was to create a loyalty to the team so the players become part of the ongoing development and innovation we talked about earlier. The icon players rule ensured that the most famous players from a particular region stayed there. Do you think that’s still needed? Yes. It’s one of the factors that eases pressure on the auction process and obviously eases the ‘churn’ factor we’ve just discussed. At a certain level, do you feel the BCCI has not been able to leverage the popularity of the IPL to help Ranji Trophy as well? Do you feel, given the fan following that IPL teams have, that they might do well to think of a Ranji system based on the league? You can have too much of a good thing! It’s important not to dilute a winning formula, but the IPL was, after all, designed to be part of an holistic approach to Indian cricket. So in that regard, it should be natural to look at ways one event might help another. Are the teams as equal as you once envisaged them to be? Or do you think teams like Mumbai and Chennai are too powerful now? Look at this year’s results so far! At the time this interview, the answer would have to be that the overall competitive element is still present across the league. Last question. Ten years from now, what do you see the IPL morph into? IPL15! The IPL must always move with the times and reflect on each completed year in order to maintain it’s commercial appeal, it’s supporter loyalty and it’s place as an integral part of the Indian cricket calendar. And if it does all that, the most innovative new tournament to hit world sport in the modern era, will strengthen its position as a global brand, loved by the players and supporters and embraced by it’s sponsors and partners.