The inaugural IPL has been.
From the initial auction all the way down to the prize distribution ceremony, the scale and magnitude of the IPL was staggering.
And to think that, except for a few complaints on late player payments and the less than exemplary handling of some of the players by their franchises ( Priety Zinta, Shahrukh Khan), there have been nothing but good things said about the IPL is testament to the meticulousness of the planning and the execution and the behind the scenes work put in by the tournament organizers.
The more I think about the logistics involved, starting from ticket distribution to player transport, from ground and stadium preparation to hauling TV crews across 8 cities in a geography as large as India, from ensuring blanket news coverage of the event to the actual staging of it, from a spectacular opening ceremony to an equally spectacular closing, I am staggered!
And what is more staggering is that from conceptualizing the event to its actual execution, the total time was less than 6 months.
Think about it!
And the BCCI should too, because they have proven beyond any doubt that if they set their minds to it, they are as good as, if not better, than any other organization. Their marketing skills were never in doubt, their organizational skills have shone through the IPL. Can they now take this opportunity to make institutional changes to the structure of the BCCI, by institutionalizing all that has been ad hoc thus far?
Monday, June 02, 2008
A triumph of logistics,
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5 comments:
BCCI is a beauocratic monolith. ECB is another, tied to state associations and complicated voting rights. Don't expect too many changes, too soon! Yet, both have some sharp, driven brains in them: T20 and IPL are their ideas; marketing and money is their theme.
Logistics, organisation, handling disputes, financial planning, etc are too good to believe. BCCI deserves the profits and it does well to fund some Indian sports and charitable deeds. IPL is an all-round success. Globalisation- eg. when US and Chinese come into the fold- can be had as well according to Sachin! Ha, Ha!!
Here is me suggesting IPL still has tricky decisions to take: How does IPL provide for player swaps, fund new acquisitions, reward top performers or rationise its players' list. A well-supported IPL franchisee is expected to fund a better team and retain its top performers. To do that, part of the revenue from these fans ought to be allowed towards fundng these activies. Hopefully, that shouldn't be a free-for-all. My thoughts. Issacn
I'd like to see some of the money earned by the BCCI through the IPL go into making cricket stadiums more comfortable for the spectators. Please, someone, do something for these folks.
Samir,
I think it'll happen automatically, and sooner rather than later, now that cricket is no longer under a complete BCCI monopoly. If not the state associations, the franchises have an interest in keeping the spectators comfy.
anonymous,
Thanks for your comments..
Even in the case of a free for all, it will be because all of the franchise owners allowed it.
But, given that the people of the respective cities have bought into the concept, it will be very difficult for the franchise owners to behave in an ad hoc manner.
What the IPL has done is that it has moved the power base from a monolith like the BCCI to the real stake holders - the people who watch the cricket.. For Franchise owners, since the eyeballs matter and because they want solid penetration of their franchise in their catchment areas ( think merchandising etc), they will have to behave in a manner more in tune with their supporters demands...
We see a lot of this in American sport - so a template is already there for us instead of having to reinvent the wheel.
Cheers,
Samir,
The Kotla has been refurbished... The Wankhede is next.. Dunno about Chennai and Bangalore.. SRK had plans for Eden but dunno how that will go and where it stands now..Hyderabad has a new stadium.
But yeah, watching a game in stadia in India is more pain than pleasure .. Hope this new infusion of cash changes that
Cheers
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