It is hard to write of a $3 billion brand. So, let’s not rush with an obituary of the Indian Premier league (IPl) just as yet.
That said, one look at the three-way yardstick –cricketing excellence, corporate governance and marketing expertise - that Brand Finance in the UK uses to arrive at an aggregate valuation, and the league stands with the middle stump knocked off.
For those who tuned in late, Brand Finance, cricket’s Standard & Poor’s in a manner of speak, began releasing numbers on “Brand IPl” since 2010. This is also when the league peaked at $4.13 billion.
Thereon, at the start of Season VI this April, brand value stood eroded to $3.03 billion.
Unni Krishnan, the firm’s global strategy director, had put it more diplomatically, citing the valuation of $2.9 billion in 2011 as the base: “After having witnessed steep fall in its long-term value of over a billion dollars from its peak, IPl’s trust capital seems to hold steady at $3.03 billion (compared to 2.9 billion last year). The relative stability at these lower levels can be largely attributed to efforts being put in by the BCCI as well as the franchisees.” (His figures assume a 7.5 per cent appreciation in the dollar’s value).
While talking of IPl “holding steady,” Krishnan flagged what I described above as the middle stump: “As the league tries to claw its way back with operational improvements, the trust flows with stakeholders will eventually determine the health of IPl’s long-term cash flows. Sweeping ethical infractions under the carpet is not an option. The lacunae in transparency and accountability in the IPl ecosystem which drives trust and alignment amongst stakeholders remains to be addressed in full measure and lies beneath the waters as a significant unmitigated risk.”
How did he know!
like a swift yorker, we seem to have lost another billion, Brand Finance’s next year’s report is sure to tell us. “The latest spot fixing is another self-inflicted wound in a long list on the IPl ecosystem,” Krishnan has already said without hazarding specific numbers.
What’s interesting about IPl6 is that even before a single ball had been fixed, Brand Finance’s “rating” of Rajasthan Royals, at “B,” was the lowest among all nine teams. With all three players arrested for spot fixing coming from the RR stable, is there a message hereIJ
What nextIJ
My humble suggestion is that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should take a lighter view and copy what the Americans do with their entertainment wrestling. BCCI czars only needs to ask Rajiv Shukla, the resourceful IPl commissioner, to hive off the league and trade, like the World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (popularly, WWF) does.
A publicly traded, privately-controlled entertainment company like WWE, dealing primarily in professional cricketing, with major revenue coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales, is what Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt discovered for professional wrestling way back in 1952!
WWE’s success is no less than IPl’s. It reaches 13 million viewers in the US and shows are broadcasted to more than 145 countries.
The vital thing which every child who watches WWE will tell Shukla is that IPl too needn’t show legitimate sporting contests.
Instead, the next edition can be reintroduced paraphrasing how the wrestling folks describe themselves: “Storyline driven combat sport matches with predetermined outcomes and fighting maneuvers that are worked, all promoted as legitimate bouts.”
With this, Saviour Shukla can save “Brand IPl.”
Needless to say, before that guys like Dravid and Tendulkar should retire.
(The columnist is CEO & Co-Founder, India Stratgey Group, Hammurabi & Solomon Consulting. Tweets @therohitbansal).