The much controversial game series, where
‘entertainment meets business’ is back yet again. Indian Premiere League 2015 is
back exactly an year later with bigger and better promises. This time IPL will
solely be played in India, starting from 8th April-May 24th.
Both the opening and closing ceremony’s venue has been chosen to be as Kolkata.
The auction of IPL 2015 was recently held in Bangalore on 16th
February.
It was presided over by the
eminent owners of all the 8 teams.This
year teams have seen a lot of changes and players were hand picked by their
bosses. Of the 349 players who features in this year’s IPL, 67 were sold. This
comprises of 43 Indians and 24 players from overseas. The most expensive buy
with a whooping 16 crore has been made from the side of Delhi Daredevils.
Yuvraj Singh is the man chosen for this buy. Other top buys have been bowler
Dinesh Kartick, all rounder Angelo Mathews, bowler Zaheer Khan, Trent Boult,
Amit Mishra and others.
The total money spent behind buying the players amounts
to INR 87,60,00,000. All the players seems to be very happy and content with
their teams as been chosen in the auction, as per evident from their Twitter
tweets.
A
special aspect of this year would be the viewing of IPL by its US fans. The
Media rights of the IPL for the US region was awarded to M/S ESPN INC at a
total fee of USD 12.4 million for a 3-year period. 3 bids were recieved by
closing time from M/S Willow, Times Internet and ESPN, out of which ESPN won
the bid.
‘We are delighted to have entered into a strategic partnership with
one of the leading platforms of global sport, M/S ESPN, which will deliver the
widest possible reach ever for the IPL in the United States’, said Hony
Secretary,BCCI, Sanjay Patel. Another special feature of this year’s game would
be to see the iconic Australian leader as an Indian mentor. Ricky Ponting will
wear a new hat this time. The hat will have the words ‘Head Coach’ embossed on
it, figuratively not firmly. He would be mentoring Mumbai Indians.
IPL, where ‘Cricket goes Corporate’, as judged from the business standpoint is indeed a cricket tournament developed primarily as a valuable commercial property. This year’s game is, like always awaited with each team and its respective region folks eyeing on the cup. We, all as mere audiences are eager to take part in the ‘entertainment’ part of it, while letting the rest make business.
Sohini Majumder
Msc.Media || PG:1
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