IPL Economy
- The Contrarian
- Oct 28, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 29, 2020
Shubham Mohta
The Indian Premier League is one of India’s most popular sporting events. The T20 cricket tournament starts every year in summer and lasts for a period of around two months. Being one of the largest cricket leagues, the IPL attracts top cricketers from all over the world to showcase their talents at this stage. The IPL started in 2008, one year after the first--ever T-20 world-cup that was gloriously won by a young Indian team. The IPL is primarily played between 8 teams which are named after popular Indian cities as well as states in a round-robin group and knockout format. The 8 primary teams include - Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad (formerly Deccan Chargers), Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Capitals, Kings 11 Punjab, Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore. However,, newer teams have entered the league at different stages filling in for the missing teams for a short period of time.
In the debut year of the IPL, the league was won by Rajasthan Royals under the leadership of the legendary Shane Warne. The following year, Deccan Chargers took the cup home. Soon, IPL had grown to become the biggest sporting event of India and arguably of Asia. The league begins every year with an auction. All eighteight teams bid money for the players and try to sign the best players with the aim of winning the league. The IPL is primarily played across stadiums in India. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the league is being played in UAE and Dubai this year.
In India, IPL is not just about cricket and fans. There is a lot of money that goes into making it and a lot more than comes out of it. BCCI claims that in 2015 alone, IPL contributed 11.5 billion rupees to the Indian GDP. This was later testified as well! Annually, IPL earns enormous revenues of more than $418 million. Today, the brand value of IPL alone is 475 billion rupees, making it one of the most expensive and reputed Indian brands. BCCI averted a loss of more than 4000 crores by deciding to move the 2020 IPL to UAE. Moreover, the board also took a massive sum of 3300 crores from Star TV for the media and streaming rights of IPL. This means that for every match streamed, Star pays a whopping $8.5 million to BCCI. After cancelling Vivo’s contract as the title sponsor for IPL 2020, they managed to raise another 170 crores from other sponsors such as TATA Motors, Cred, PayTM, and many more. Mumbai based start-up, Dream 11 emerged as the Title Sponsor for IPL 2020. The fantasy cricket league company alone paid over 220 crores for the title sponsorship.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India uses all these funds to improve the environment of cricket in the country. All the other mini T-20 and other cricket leagues are organised by the funds raised during the IPL. This is clearly visible in BCCI’s increasing investments in cricket in India. Over 2000 domestic matches are organised each year by the BCCI. Investments inin the National cricket academy have also increased in recent years owing to a flourishing IPL. Talking about their contribution to the economy, BCCI has paid more than 3500 crores in tax to the government. All of this tax is paid with respect towith respect to the Indian Premier League alone. On average, BCCI pays over 350 crores of tax every year.
IPL also impacts other industries and sectors widely. Every year, we see a 30% increase in foreign travellers to India during the IPL season. Creating new jobs is another important benefit that the people of India derive from the IPL. International matches also do not attract as much audience as the IPL does. The league providesleague provides seasonal jobs to thousands and lakhs of people all around the country. It serves as a great medium for smaller and medium companies to increase their marketing by collaborating with the IPL teams and stadiums. According to a study by the the UN, IPL alone created an economic value of more than $3.2 billion for the Indian economy. It also sees a 20% increase in sightseeing and hotel bookings when the IPL is live.
All this data proves to us that IPL is indeed a major contributor to the economy, even though it lasts not more than two months. It is a huge job creator and talent scouter, not just in cricket but various other fields. However, while conducting IPL 2020 overseas in the middle east helped BCCI avert major losses, it was not exactly a big boost for the Indian economy. You see, IPL indirectly also contributes to the economy. Creating jobs and increasing tourism are all indirect advantages to the country's economy. After the lockdown, many people were left jobless and in this situation, when many companies had already invested into the IPL back in early January and February faced heavy losses. IPL was quite beneficial in not just promoting cricket but also uplifting the mood of many Indianss who have been inside their home for the most part of 2020.
Hence, we must conclude that though IPL plays a major role in not just enhancing the game of cricket but also boosting the Indian Economy, conducting the extravagant league overseas sees a loss of its beneficial factors cancelled out. Hopefully,we will be able to watch the IPL 2021 back in India in the stadiums without any restrictions.
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