Wednesday 10 March 2010

Indian Premier League supremo Lalit Modi has given another iron-cast pointer to where the future of cricket is headed with his claims to America’s Wall Street Journal that he plans for the IPL to become the biggest sport in the world.

"Our objective is to be the single largest sporting league in the world, and we have an opportunity to get there," Modi said in a feature length interview with the austere publication, which was reproduced on the IPL website.

According to the Journal, Modi has transformed the way cricket is played and watched around the world.

And Modi sees no let-up in cricket's commercial revolution. "There are 1.2 billion people in India who eat, drink, live and breathe cricket, so we've got that advantage - the sheer numbers in our country.

"If those numbers of people are watching, then advertisers will follow, and (the IPL) will continue to grow. It will take us a few years to get to the level of the top sports leagues in the world - they've been there a long time and have built huge fan bases - but we've got numbers on our side."

In January, the IPL announced a deal with YouTube to stream live games free in every country except the US (Willow TV holds the North America internet rights), making it the first major sporting event to be streamed across the globe.

Last week, Modi agreed to a deal with UK network-TV station ITV to air each of the six-week tournament's 60 matches, the first time live cricket has been broadcast on free-to-air TV in Britain since 2005.

Now he wants to knock soccer off its perch as the world's game.

"It's important for us to make sure that the product is available globally. Last year we were averaging 90-odd million eyeballs. But this year, we've got some great new partners, and we're hoping to hit 150 million eyeballs a day. With YouTube, it allows us to go in and make sure that anybody in the world is able to watch the game of cricket. We want to be the largest sporting event in the world."

Modi also told the Wall Street Journal that Twenty20 cricket could take over the world, including the US.

"Obviously the US market is more focussed on American sports now, but I think Twenty20, with its three-hour format, lends itself to new markets," says Modi, who expects to stage IPL matches in the country by next year.

"It's a very explosive game, there's always action all the time and the fortunes of a team change with every ball. That becomes extremely important from a viewership point of view and also from an excitement point of view."

The powerhouse franchises of US sport aren't likely to be hit by cricket just yet. Though the sport has been played in the US since the days of George Washington - himself a keen player - cricket has never managed to establish a significant foothold in the country.

But Modi is convinced the IPL can crack the American market - which includes roughly three million Asian Indians, according to the last census - and has a history of coming good on his ambitious pronouncements. Before he launched the IPL in 2008, Modi boldly claimed he could get $1 billion for 10 years' worth of TV rights for his new tournament - then did.

This aggressive brand of sports capitalism has drawn charges that Modi has sold the sport's soul. In particular, purists fear for the future of Test cricket, which has seen a marked decline in TV viewing outside of the UK and Australia.

Commenting on these criticisms, Modi is adamant the IPL's success is "growing the pie" for the sport as a whole. He remains marketing director of the BCCI, which is responsible for India's Test and One-Day teams and says both have a future, although he expects Twenty20 to become the dominant format of the sport.

"I think Test cricket will always be the pinnacle of all forms of cricket in terms of skill, and people will continue to watch that, although we must tweak it to make it more convenient to watch," he says, adding that the introduction of day-night was behind the explosion of popularity in Twenty20.

The punchline was in the finish of the interview.

India is firmly established as the most lucrative market, the world's top players - who can make up to US $200,000 for a fortnight's work in the IPL - are likely to gravitate toward the sub-continent.

With sponsors and advertisers sure to follow, administrators in England especially are haunted by the prospect of the IPL becoming cricket's equivalent of the National Basketball Association - the only club league of consequence and the inevitable destination for all the world's top stars.

To be like the NBA "is our aim and that's what we hope to achieve," Modi says.