Can IPL become the worlds highest paid league in future?

I would totally support the fact that the IPL would be a major money churner even in the coming years.Withvall the money being put into the tournament and advertisers pumping in cash on seconds basis,It may be one of the highest grossers in few years to come.With the coming of two more new Teams next year,who knows,the clouds may rain money!!!!

May be Possible.

K Rajagopalan.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has become an emblem of India’s aspiration to be a recognised world power in most, if not, all spheres.

lalit modiIn a country of 1.2 billion people, most of whom are bonkers about cricket, the IPL is a symbol of everything they want India to become – a true global power.

There is something about IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi that suggests a reservoir of pressurised energy waiting to bypass Indian cricket’s myopic administrators, the nepotism, corruption, vested interests, personal fiefdoms and incompetence.

America and China also beckon. All that is needed is the right salesman (him), the right product (the IPL) and a belief in the power of the market.

Modi’s mission is to make cricket enticing and accessible, and hence more lucrative.

In 2008 he introduced cheerleaders to the game, causing a storm among conservatives. This year, he forged a deal with Google and YouTube to broadcast live IPL matches online.

“I see the IPL becoming bigger than the NFL, the NBA, the English Premier League,” he tells The Times with typical grandiloquence.

The idea for the IPL had been gestating ever since Modi was a student in the US, but the real impetus came when he had a cup of tea with a leading sports agent at Wimbledon in July 2007, by which time he was the vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the national governing body.

What followed is testimony to his powers of organisation. By the time the first ball was bowled nine months later, the tournament had generated two billion dollars from the sale of television rights, team franchises and other licences.

In 2004, before Mr Modi battled his way on to the Indian cricket board, which owns the IPL, its annual income was probably less than 15 million dollars.

of course . thats for sure

Yes , provided lalit Modi keeps coming out with new ideas all the time and making sure that no of matches should not go up as audience will lose interest

Thanks for the referral Mr.Namrata Pathak. While supporting your argument, we have to consider other factors also. Let us hope for the best. Now it is premature to infer.Mr. B.V. krishnamoorthy has also thrown certain valid points.

Yes. We can only guess.

K Rajagopalan.

Yes IPL can become the world's highest paid league highest  in future.

With millions obsessed with the sport, it is quite possible for IPL to overtake all other sports in monetary terms. A few words of caution may be in order:

With two more teams entering the fray, and the number of matches increasing to 90+ for the next version, we may do well to consider the person-hours lost - the thousands who throng the stadium every day for two or three months, and the millions who watch on TV. The timings that invariably result in the match starting at 2000 hours being completed only close to midnight, what happens to productivity in the workplace the next day? Please add the commute time both ways and the figure you get is staggering.

There is a need to invest part of the obviously huge sums of money on other sports if only to have some variety in a vast nation. This will pay rich dividends in the long-term. After all, everyone cannot become a cricketer.

Finally, at some point, with the IPL, the world cup, the champions trophy, T20 in other countries and perhaps a few more innovations, the law of diminishing interest and diminishing returns is bound to creep in. Who cares? The approach right now seems to be to make hay while the sun shines.