England’s response to the IPL?

The BBC reported today that the ECB might be coming up with a response to the IPL. First off, a response to the IPL? That doesn’t even make any sense. IPL is a local league in India that draws the attention of a lot of international players because of the big bucks. Since, it is a local league, where does competing with the IPL come into the picture? Do soccer leagues compete with each other to gain popularity or to make quick bucks? I have never heard of the English Premiere League and the Spanish League battling it out with each other. So I am guessing what the ECB means is that they want a share of the profit from the format of the game that was invented by them.

Part of the reason behind organizing their own T20 league could be the fact that English players have been barred from playing in the IPL till 2010. Well if you want your players to be monetarily satisfied why not change the contract and allow them to play in the IPL from the next season? If you read the BBC article, you will notice that the impetus to this league has been given in part by a Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford. Sir Stanford has already organized two editions of a T20 tournament in the West Indies and they have been pretty successful. But at the end of the day, he is a businessman who would like to cash in on the popularity of T20. Hence, his aggressive pitch for a T20 league in England. There are three particular flaws in this proposal. Firstly, ECB might not be able to splash around as much cash as the IPL does. Secondly, I don’t see how they can create a window for this new league in the busy international schedule. Thirdly - and this could be the most important factor- almost all of the international stars are contracted with their IPL teams for three years. That means their current contract ends in 2011. So these players might not be available for the English league for the next three years.

I am not opposing the establishment of a league in England. Just don’t project it as a “response” to the IPL. In fact the ECB and the BCCI might benefit from collaborating with the each other. How? Well, the ECB could have an arrangement with the IPL teams where in players could be transferred from the IPL teams to the English league teams. Yeah, like soccer! Or work with the ICC and the BCCI to create dedicated windows for both the leagues in the international cricket calender.

Lastly, the BBC article quotes Sir Stanford as saying: “With the IPL, when the sizzle and sparkle has gone away, what’s left?” I don’t think he has judged the magnitude of the IPL correctly. With industry heavyweights investing heavily in their teams, Sir Stanford should realize that these team owners will leave no stone unturned to make huge profits. And how do they make profits? By keeping the enthusiasm alive and kicking. And in a cricket crazy nation like India, it should not be too difficult to do that.

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To read the BBC News article cited in this blog post click here.

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