IPL in WSJ

Earlier this week on NYT and now on the WSJ.....
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121029047141479239.html?mod=hps_us_in...
Cricket Gets Lively India's New League Uses More Dazzle,
Shorter Games to Win Fans
By *TARIQ ENGINEER*
May 9, 2008; Page W4


*Mumbai, India*


A new cricket league in India is attempting to take over the sport, backed
by nearly a billion dollars, loud music and cheerleaders.


The Indian Premier League, which began its first season three weeks ago, is
a massive departure for cricket. In the traditional format, team members
dressed in white play eight hours a day for five days, with breaks for lunch
and tea.
In the new format, games last about three hours total. During breaks,
spectators sing and dance along to Bollywood songs. One team flew in the
Washington Redskins cheerleaders for three weeks to train its squad of
dancers and perform at matches.


The league consists of eight teams based in different cities around India,
and they will compete in 59 games total over six weeks. It is the first ever
city-based cricket league in India and the first to allow foreign players.
Foreign players make up about 35% of the league, but each team can play no
more than four per match. (A team can have 11 players on the field at a
time.)


In February, 80 of the world's best cricketers were auctioned off to the
teams. India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni earned the highest bid of $1.5 million a
year for the next three years. If his team goes to the final, he will play
16 games this year. That works out to almost $94,000 a game -- about $14,000
more per game than the Boston Red Sox's star slugger David Ortiz will make
in the regular season this year.


Cricket, introduced by the British, is a religion of sorts here. One famous
Bollywood movie revolves around the triumph of a group of villagers over the
occupying British forces on the cricket field. Any strip of dirt long enough
to hold a game is often filled with cricketing kids.


With a population of 1.1 billion and a fast-rising number of televisions,
India dominates the global game financially: It represents about 70% of
global revenue for the sport. The Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI), the game's governing body here, had revenue of about $160 million in
its 2006-2007 fiscal year.
"We want to develop the 'My city, my team' concept," says Lalit Modi, the
BCCI executive behind the creation of the league. "And there is no better
sport to do that with than cricket."


Backing the teams are some of India's best-known names from business and
entertainment. Mukesh Ambani, head of part of the Reliance corporate empire
and one of the world's richest men, and liquor baron Vijay Mallya each paid
about $112 million for a franchise. India's biggest Bollywood star, Shah
Rukh Khan, spent $75 million along with two partners for a team in Kolkata,
formerly Calcutta.


The total paid for all eight teams was more than $700 million. Sony
Entertainment and Singapore-based sports agency World Sport Group paid $918
million for the 10-year broadcasting rights.


Games are also being shown globally. Willow TV, a California-based company
that provides live video of cricketing events on its Web site, owns the
rights to distribute the games in North and South America across television,
radio and the Internet.


The teams' cheerleaders -- some brought in from other countries -- have
caused some controversy, especially for their skimpy outfits. The government
of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, told the league it needs to get permission
before any performances by cheerleaders there, while the local police warned
team organizers they will be watching for anything "obscene" or "vulgar." At
the last home game, the dancers for Mumbai were covered in bright blue
sequined body suits. Meanwhile, the Delhi team has dispensed with its
cheerleaders altogether.


Some purists don't approve of the shorter game, called Twenty20 because it
comprises 20 sets of six pitches to each side. Played at its traditional
endless best, cricket combines a mix of defense and offense, with batters
pitting their wits against the pitcher. In the new version, the emphasis is
on smashing the ball to tally up runs quickly.


But the abbreviated version is finding wide appeal among those who don't
usually follow the sport. According to rating agency TAM Media Research, 36%
of viewers have been women.


At a match Sunday between the Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Daredevils in
Mumbai, Aaina Menon and Kritika Seth, two 16-year-old girls attending their
first Indians game, were screaming and giggling with delight. Ms. Menon said
she likes Twenty20 cricket because "it is not slow and has music and
cheerleaders."


Once the game started, more than 50,000 fans chanted the names of their
favorite players during the action and stood in the aisles and sat on the
railings to get a better view.


The game was close. Once it became clear the Mumbai Indians could upset the
Daredevils, the crowd grew even louder, blowing on whistles and banging
empty water bottles together or against the railings. When the whole Delhi
team was out and still 29 runs short of a victory, the crowd let out a huge
roar, waved their Mumbai flags and threw their empty bottles into the air.


Twenty20 cricket was invented in England in 2003 and was initially shunned
by cricket authorities in most other countries -- including India. But when
the Indian team returned from South Africa after winning the first Twenty20
World Cup last year, an estimated two million fans packed the streets to
greet them.


Now, Mr. Modi of the BCCI said he is looking at establishing a team in the
Middle East. In about five years, he'd like to see one in the U.S. His
vision is to ultimately establish a Champions League akin to the European
soccer competition, where the best city teams from across the Continent play
in their own tournament.


In India, the arrival of big money is already making an impact. Ishant
Sharma, a 19-year-old who made his international debut for India last year,
was picked up for $950,000 a year by Kolkata. "His father makes $150 a month
and lives in a one-room house," says Mr. Modi. "It is a life-changing
scenario."