The Indian Premier League (also known as the "DLF Indian Premier League" and often abbreviated as IPL), is a
Twenty20 cricket competition created by the
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and chaired by the Chairman & Commissioner IPL, BCCI Vice President
Lalit Modi. It is now the most watched domestic Twenty20 competition in the world[
citation needed]. The first season of the Indian Premier League commenced on
18 April 2008, and ended on
1 June 2008 with the victory of the
Rajasthan Royals against
Chennai Super Kings in the final at the
DY Patil Stadium,
Navi Mumbai.
As the
second season of the IPL coincided with multi-phase
2009 Indian general elections, the Indian Government refused to commit security by
Indian paramilitary forces. As a result, the BCCI decided to host the second season of the league outside India.
[3] All 59 matches of the
second season, abbreviated as
IPL 2, are taking place in
South Africa. BCCI blamed the attitude of the UPA-led governments at the
centre and in
Maharashtra and
Andhra Pradesh for the decision.
[4]Contents[
hide]
1 Inaugural Season2 Television rights and sponsorship2.1 Television rights3 Global following4 Rules5 Official website6 Current Season7 Franchises7.1 Existing Original Eight7.2 2010-11 Expansion7.3 2012-13 expansion8 Revenue and Profits8.1 Franchise Earnings9 Player signings10 Winners11 Controversies11.1 Conflicts with the England and Wales Cricket Board11.2 Conflicts with Cricket Australia11.3 Conflicts with the Pakistan Cricket Board11.4 Conflicts with other Boards11.5 Media restrictions11.6 Conflict with Cricket Club of India12 References13 External links//
[
edit] Inaugural Season
Main article:
2008 Indian Premier LeagueA Chennai vs Kolkata match in progress at the
M.A. Chidambaram Cricket StadiumTeams play each other two times in a
round robin system, with equal number of home and away matches. The top four ranking sides will progress to the semi-finals.
The inaugural 2008 tournament started on
18 April 2008 in
Bangalore and lasted for 46 days, with 59 matches scheduled, out of which 58 took place and 1 was washed out due to rain
[
edit] Television rights and sponsorship
The IPL is predicted to bring the BCCI income of approximately
US$1 billion, over a period of five to ten years. All of these revenues are directed to a central pool, 40% of which will go to IPL itself, 54% to franchisees and 6% as prize money. The money will be distributed in these proportions until 2017, after which the share of IPL will be 50%, franchisees 45% and prize money 5%.
[5][
edit] Television rights
On
15 January 2008 it was announced that a consortium consisting of
India's
Sony Entertainment Television network and
Singapore-based
World Sport Group secured the global broadcasting rights of the Indian Premier League.
[6] The record deal has a duration of ten years at a cost of US $1.026 billion. As part of the deal, the consortium will pay the BCCI US $918 million for the television broadcast rights and US $108 million for the promotion of the tournament.
[7] Broadcast Live on Setanta.
20% of these proceeds would go to IPL, 8% as prize money and 72% would be distributed to the franchisees. The money would be distributed in these proportions until 2012, after which the IPL would go public and list its shares.
[8]Sony-WSG then re-sold parts of the broadcasting rights geographically to other companies. Below is a summary of the broadcasting rights around the world........
Winning Bidder
Regional Broadcast Rights
Terms of Deal
Sony/
World Sport GroupGlobal Rights,
India10 years at
USD 1.026 Billion
[6]Network Ten (
ONE)
Free-to-air television in
Australia5 years at
AUD 10-15 Million.
[9]Sky Network TelevisionNew Zealand broadcast rights
Terms not released
Setanta SportsUnited Kingdom and
Ireland on a subscription basis
5 years, terms not disclosed.
[10]Arab Digital DistributionMiddle East broadcast rights on ADD's
ART Prime Sport channel. Will broadcast to
United Arab Emirates,
Bahrain,
Iran,
Iraq,
Jordan,
Kuwait,
Lebanon,
Oman,
Qatar,
Palestine,
Saudi Arabia,
Syria,
Turkey,
Algeria,
Morocco,
Tunisia,
Egypt,
Sudan,
Libya and
Nigeria.
10 Years, terms not released.
[11]Willow TVRights to distribute on
television,
radio,
broadband and
Internet, for the IPL in
North America.
5 years, terms not released.
[12]SuperSportSouth Africa and
Nigeria broadcast rights
Terms not released
GEO SuperPakistan broadcast rights
Terms not released
Asian Television NetworkCanadian broadcast rights. Aired on ATN's
CBN &
ATN Cricket Plus channels on a subscription basis. Aired on
XM Radio's
ATN-Asian Radio as well.
5 years, terms not released.
[13][
edit] Global following
This section may contain
original research or
unverified claims. Please
improve the article by adding
references. See the
talk page for details. (March 2009)
In India, the IPL has become one of the most popular events of the year[
citation needed]. Around the world, reception has varied. In
Pakistan the reception was described by Pakistani cricinfo editor Osman Samiuddin as 'massive', suggesting that it attracted even non-regular cricket followers and that the popularity of the
Kolkata Knight Riders was great.
[14] GEO Super telecasted the matches and also included a popular show called Inside IPL. A similar positive reaction was seen in
Sri Lanka, with interest in the
Mumbai Indians being large due to the presence of cricket hero
Sanath Jayasuriya.
Bangladesh has also positively reacted despite only one Bangladeshi player being involved. The Knight Riders were the most popular team. These subcontinental countries were also helped in that the time-slot of the matches fitted in with prime time in these nations.
South Africa has seen moderate viewership of the IPL, and by many accounts viewers have found it enjoyable. However, many were unable to relate to any of the teams, although a large number simply supported
Mumbai Indians because of the presence of
Shaun Pollock. The timing worked in South Africa but the IPL did not overcome the power of Premier League football or rugby. In
England, although
the country's governing body did not allow its players to take part, the IPL was very popular with those who had access to the cable television channel that aired the games.
In the
West Indies, the IPL became so popular that it, according to Vaneisa Baksh, threatened to overtake test cricket completely in 'certain sections of West Indian fans'. While free-to-air coverage has not been complete and it has not ignited passions, it has remained a popular watch.
The IPL was less popular in
Australia and
New Zealand, mainly due to the time zone differences. Nevertheless, the IPL consistently won its free-to-air timeslot of 8:30 P.M. and 12:30 A.M. Australian Time, and 10:30 P.M. and 2:30 A.M. New Zealand Time for subscription TV.
[
edit] Rules
This article may require
cleanup to meet Wikipedia's
quality standards. Please
improve this article if you can. (April 2009)
The official rules for the tournament are
here.
There are five ways that a franchise can acquire a player. In the annual auction, buying domestic players, signing uncapped players through trading and buying replacements.
[15][16] In the trading window the player can only be traded with his consent. The franchise will have to pay the difference between the old contract price and the new contract price. If the new contract is worth more than the older one then the difference will be shared between the player and the franchise selling the player.
[17]Some of the Team composition rules are:
Minimum squad strength of 16 players plus one physio and a coach.
No more than 8 foreign players in the squad and at most 4 in the playing XI.For the 2009 edition franchises are allowed 10 foreign players in the squad. The number allowed in the playing XI remains unchanged at 4.
A minimum of 8 local players must be included in each team.
A minimum of 2 players from the BCCI under-22 pool in each team.
The players accorded
"icon" status are: Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag . The total spending cap for a franchisee in the first player auction was US $5m. Under-22 players are to be remunerated with a minimum annual salary of US $20,000 while for others it is US $50,000. Icon players are to be paid 15% more than the highest paid player in their respective teams.
There are some rumours that the 2010 season of the IPL will include a new rule commonly used in
"Backyard Cricket"; the one-hand-one-bounce rule.
[
edit] Official website
The IPL negotiated a
contract with the
Canadian company Live Current Media Inc. to run and operate its portals and the minimum guarantee has been negotiated at US $50 million over the next 10 years.
[18] The official website of the tournament is
http://www.iplt20.com/.
[
edit] Current Season
Main article:
2009 Indian Premier LeagueThe 2009 season coincides with the upcoming general elections in India. Due to concerns regarding players' security, the venue had shifted to South Africa.
[
edit] Franchises
[
edit] Existing Original Eight
The winning
bidders for the eight
franchises were announced on
24 January 2008.
[19] While the total base price for auction was US $400 million, the auction fetched US $723.59 million.
[20] The official list of franchise owners announced and the winning bids were as follows.
Franchise
Owner(s)
Price (
USD)
Mumbai IndiansMukesh Ambani (
Reliance Industries)
$ 111.9 m
Royal Challengers BangaloreVijay Mallya (
UB Group)
$ 111.6 m
Deccan ChargersDeccan Chronicle,
Rajesh Dandu Amity Business School, Bangalore$ 107.0 m
Chennai Super KingsIndia Cements (N Srinivasan)
$ 91.90 m
Delhi DaredevilsGMR Holdings (
Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao)
$ 84.0 m
Kings XI PunjabNess Wadia (
Bombay Dyeing),
Priety Zinta, Mohit Burman (
Dabur)and Karan Paul (
Apeejay Surendera Group)
$ 76.0 m
Kolkata Knight RidersRed Chillies Entertainment (
Shah Rukh Khan,
Gauri Khan,
Juhi Chawla and
J Mehta)
$ 75.1 m
Rajasthan RoyalsEmerging Media (
Lachlan Murdoch, A.R Jha and Suresh Chellaram),
Shilpa Shetty, Raj Kundra
$ 67.0 m
[
edit] 2010-11 Expansion
After the success of the first season, it has been reported that four new franchises will join the IPL in 2010-11, increasing the total number of teams to 12. The new confirmed franchises will be based in
Ahmedabad and
Kanpur, with Anil Ambani's name associated with the ownership of the Ahmedabad franchise, and
Sahara Group is touted as the possible suitors to buy the Kanpur franchise. Other cities being linked with getting a franchisee are Patna-Ranchi joined franchisee or a team from the North-East to promote the sport in the region and possibly one team from the north-western states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarkhand.
[21]Expansions- 2010-11 Season( 4 new teams)-
IPL Ahmedabad
IPL Kanpur
Any two from the following-
A Patna joined franchisee
A team from the Assam
A team from the north-western states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarkhand
[
edit] 2012-13 expansion
The unselected team from the three postulated for the 2010-11 expansion will be considered for another set of expansions in the 2012-13 season. An expansion of two more teams is expected for 2012-13. A second Mumbai or Delhi team has also been proposed for future expansion of two teams to take place in the 2012-13 season.
[22] The Delhi team could be localized to
Gurgaon,
Faridabad,
NOIDA or
Greater NOIDA or could be more likely combined to create an alternative Delhi team. A Mumbai team could represent
Navi Mumbai or
Pune.
However, a number of issues with the expansions exist. While Indian cricket is
immensely popular and new franchises will likely obtain an owner and a moderate fan base, there is a fear that the new franchise would not be able to integrate well into the tournament as most star players in the cricket world would already be involved with their existing franchises. There is also a fear of diluting the talent in all the teams and hence making each team less appealing to the audience (although this is not likely to occur, given that most overseas players currently signed in the IPL players, do not play due to the 4-player limit on overseas players in a match squad). Regardless, the expansions are likely to make it longer before the IPL is fully integrated into the national and international psyche in the way the
English Premier League or
American franchise-based competitions are.
[
edit] Revenue and Profits
The Indian Government earned Rs 91 crore as tax revenue from the 1st season of the IPL.
[23][
edit] Franchise Earnings
The first season that concluded on 1 June 2008 was a huge success for the IPL. It should be noted that during the first season no one had expected the franchises to break even since most of them had paid huge amounts to buy the clubs, but the table below shows that some of them are already profitable from Season 1.
[24]Franchise
Revenues
Expenses
Profit/Loss (
Rupees Crores)
Mumbai Indiansa. Broadcasting Rights - 35
b. Team Sponsors - 20
c. Gate Receipts - 14
Total Revenues(a+b+c) - 69
a. Franchise Fees - 45
b. Team Expenses - 20
c. Advertising & Admin - 20
Total Expenses(a+b+c) - 85
Net Loss - -16
Royal Challengers Bangalorea. Broadcasting Rights - 35
b. Team Sponsors - 0
c. Gate Receipts - 10
Total Revenues(a+b+c) - 45
a. Franchise Fees - 48
b. Team Expenses - 22
c. Advertising/Admin - 18
Total Expenses(a+b+c) - 88
Net Loss - -43
Deccan Chargersa. Broadcasting Rights - 35
b. Team Sponsors - 17 ;
c. Gate Receipts - 12
Total Revenues(a+b+c) - 64
a. Franchise Fees - 45
b. Team Expenses - 24
c. Advertising/Admin - 13
Total Expenses(a+b+c) - 82
Net Loss - -18
Chennai Super Kingsa. Broadcasting Rights - 35
b. Team Sponsors - 25
c. Gate Receipts - 12.8
Total Revenues(a+b+c) - 72.8
a. Franchise Fees - 36
b. Team Expenses - 24
c. Advertising/Admin - 13
Total Expenses(a+b+c) - 73
Net Loss - -0.2
Delhi Daredevilsa. Broadcasting Rights - 35
b. Team Sponsors - 20
c. Gate Receipts - 15.4
Total Revenues(a+b+c) - 70.4
a. Franchise Fees - 34
b. Team Expenses - 23
c. Advertising/Admin - 20
Total Expenses(a+b+c) - 77
Net Loss - -6.6
Kings XI Punjaba. Broadcasting Rights - 35
b. Team Sponsors - 22
c. Gate Receipts - 9
Total Revenues(a+b+c) - 66
a. Franchise Fees - 30.4
b. Team Expenses - 25
c. Advertising/Admin - 13
Total Expenses(a+b+c) - 68.4
Net Loss - -2.4
Kolkata Knight Ridersa. Broadcasting Rights - 35
b. Team Sponsors - 34
c. Gate Receipts - 20
Total Revenues(a+b+c) - 89
a. Franchise Fees - 31
b. Team Expenses - 25
c. Advertising/Admin - 20
Total Expenses(a+b+c) - 76
Net Profit - +13
Rajasthan Royalsa. Broadcasting Rights - 35
b. Team Sponsors - 16
c. Gate Receipts - 8
Total Revenues(a+b+c) - 59
a. Franchise Fees - 27
b. Team Expenses - 13
c. Advertising/Admin - 13
Total Expenses(a+b+c) - 53
Net Profit - +6
All Figures are in Indian Rupees crores (1 crore = 10,000,000 Rupees = 201,176 United States Dollars = 152,444 Euro on June 1, 2008
[25])
[
edit] Player signings
Main articles:
Royal Challengers Bangalore,
Chennai Super Kings,
Delhi Daredevils,
Deccan Chargers,
Kolkata Knight Riders,
Kings XI Punjab,
Mumbai Indians, and
Rajasthan RoyalsThe first players' auctions were held on
20 February 2008. The IPL placed
icon status on a select few marquee Indian players. These players were
Rahul Dravid,
Saurav Ganguly,
Sachin Tendulkar,
Yuvraj Singh, and
Virender Sehwag.
VVS Laxman initially named an icon player, later voluntarily opted out of his icon status to give his team (Deccan Chargers) more money to bid for players.
[26] For the second season, auctions were also held, but free signings taking place in the off-season by franchises led to calls for a
draft-like system where the lowest ranked teams would be given a first opportunity to sign players.
[
edit] Winners
Year
Winner
Runner Up
2008Rajasthan RoyalsChennai Super Kings[
edit] Controversies
The BCCI had found itself in the middle of many conflicts with various cricket boards around the world as a result of the IPL. The main point of contention was that signed players should always be available to their country for international tours, even if it overlaps with the IPL season. To address this, the BCCI officially requested that the
ICC institute a time period in the International Future Tours Program solely for the IPL season. This request was not granted at a subsequent meeting held by the ICC.
[27][
edit] Conflicts with the England and Wales Cricket Board
Because the inaugural IPL season coincided with the
County Championship season as well as
New Zealand's tour of
England, the
ECB and county cricket clubs raised their concerns to the BCCI over players. The ECB made it abundantly clear that they would not sign No Objection Certificates for players—a prerequisite for playing in the IPL. Chairmen of the county clubs also made it clear that players contracted to them were required to fulfill their commitment to their county. As a result of this,
Dimitri Mascarenhas was the only English player to have signed with the IPL for the 2008 season.
[28]A result of the ECB’s concerns about players joining the IPL, was a proposed radical response of creating their own Twenty20 tournament that would be similar in structure to the IPL. The league — titled the
English Premier League — would feature 21 teams in three groups of seven and would occur towards the end of the summer season.
[29] The ECB enlisted the aid of
Texas billionaire
Allen Stanford to launch the proposed league.
[30] Stanford was the brains behind the successful
Stanford 20/20, a tournament that has run twice in the
West Indies. On February 17, 2009, when news of the fraud investigation against Stanford became public, the ECB and
WICB withdrew from talks with Stanford on sponsorship.
[31][32] On February 20 the ECB announced it has severed its ties with Stanford and cancelled all contracts with him.
[33][
edit] Conflicts with Cricket Australia
The BCCI also experienced run-ins with
Cricket Australia (CA) over player availability for
Australia’s tour of the
West Indies and CA’s desire for global protection of their sponsors. CA had feared that sponsors of the IPL (and its teams) that directly competed with their sponsors would jeopardize already existing arrangements. This issue was eventually resolved
[34] and it was also agreed upon that Australian players would be fully available for the West Indies tour.
[
edit] Conflicts with the Pakistan Cricket Board
Many players from the
Pakistan Cricket Team who were not offered renewed central contracts (or decided to reject new contracts) decided to join the rival
Indian Cricket League(ICL). Two such players—
Naved-ul-Hasan and
Mushtaq Ahmed also held contracts with English Counties. The PCB decided to issue No Objection Certificates for these players to play with their county teams on the basis that since they were no longer contracted to the PCB, there was no point in not granting them their NOCs. The latter did not sit well with the BCCI, as it went against the hard line stance they had taken on players who joined the ICL.
[
edit] Conflicts with other Boards
Smaller boards like the
WICB and NZCB have raised concerns over the impact the IPL will have on their player development and already fragile financial situation. Since players from smaller cricketing nations are not compensated as much, they have more motivation to join the IPL.
[
edit] Media restrictions
Initially the IPL enforced strict guidelines to media covering Premier League matches, consistent with their desire to use the same model sports leagues in North America use in regards to media coverage. Notable guidelines imposed included the restriction to use images taken during the event unless purchased from
cricket.com, owned by Live Current Media Inc (who won the rights to such images) and the prohibition of live coverage from the cricket grounds. Media agencies also had to agree to upload all images taken at IPL matches to the official website. This was deemed unacceptable by print media around the world. Upon the threat of boycott, the IPL eased up on several of the restrictions.
[35] On
15 April 2008 a revised set of guidelines offering major concessions to the print media and agencies was issued by the IPL and accepted by the
Indian Newspaper Society.
[36]Even with the amended restrictions, specialist cricket websites such as
cricinfo and
cricket365 continued to be banned from providing live coverage from the grounds and from purchasing match images from press agencies. As a result, on 18 April several major international agencies including
Reuters and
AFP announced their decision to provide no coverage of the IPL.
[37][
edit] Conflict with Cricket Club of India
As per IPL rules, the winner of the previous competition decides the venue for the finals.
[38] In
2009, the reigning Champions,
Rajasthan Royals chose the
Brabourne Stadium in
Mumbai.
[39] However, a dispute regarding use of the pavilion meant that no IPL matches could be held there. The members of the
Cricket Club of India that owns the stadium have the sole right to the pavilion on match days, whereas the IPL required the pavilion for its sponsors.
[40] The members were offered free seats in the stands, however the club rejected the offer, stating that members could not be moved out of the pavilion.
[41][42][43]
Samir Nasri on fire.
Samir Nasri photo
Samir Nasri tackles
Samir Nasri photo.
Samir Nasri
Samir Nasri 
Rajasthan Royals is a franchise cricket team that represents the state of Rajasthan in the IPL. The team is led and coached by Shane Warne. There is no Icon Player and brand ambassador for the team and it is also the only IPL team to have a foreign player being both the Coach and Captain. The team's mascot is a lion named Moochu Singh [2]. The team anthem, 'Halla Bol' is sung by Ila Arun[2]. The promotional video that aired on national networks before and during the first edition of the IPL was directed by Indrajit Nattoji of Blink Pictures. Leicestershire spinner Jeremy Snape signed on with the Rajasthan Royals as their high-performance coach and team psychologist. They became the champions of the inaugural IPL tournament.
Chennai Super Kings is the Chennai based franchise of the Indian Premier League. The team is led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, currently the captain of the Indian cricket team, and coached by Stephen Fleming. The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium (often referred to as Chepauk) is the Super Kings' home ground.
Mumbai Indians is a cricket team in the Indian Premier League. The team is led by Sachin Tendulkar, who is also the Icon Player for the team. The team is coached by Pravin Amre and is owned by India's biggest conglomerate, Reliance Industries, through its 100% subsidiary IndiaWin Sports.
