Star India CEO says IPL rights a bargain compared to Indian team games

Sport360 staff 17:25 17/09/2017
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  • The Star India chief believes bidding for the IPL was a no-brainer.

    Star India CEO Uday Shankar has made some frank revelations in a recent interview to the Indian Express.

    Star had only just recently created headlines with its whopping bid for the consolidated rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

    Shankar was very forthcoming and blunt in his views about Test cricket and the value of the IPL rights over the BCCI national team rights.

    With the BCCI rights for the Indian national team up for bidding next year, Shankar was asked about the possibility of Star India bidding for the same.

    The CEO said, “It’s too soon for us to figure out whether we want to bid for BCCI or not. If we didn’t win the IPL rights then we had no choice. Now that we have it, the desperation is not so strong. Between the ICC and IPL, we still have a strong portfolio, especially because most of the ICC tournaments come before or after the IPL.”

    Shankar said despite the mammoth size of the IPL bid, a whopping US $2.55 billion, it was not expensive compared to international benchmarks.

    The rights for the Indian team broadcast are up for bidding next year.

    The rights for the Indian team broadcast are up for bidding next year.

    “Contrary to what everybody thinks and says, for us the IPL rights were not very expensive. For our internal benchmark, we compare it with the price we were paying for the BCCI rights, which is 43 crore. You are paying 43 crores for a Test and that too not for select Tests against Australia and England. And you have to pay 10 crores more and get an IPL right. It’s a no-brainer,” Shankar was quoted as saying.

    The comments of the CEO in this regard were pretty interesting as he made it pretty obvious how lucrative the IPL rights were compared to that of the national team.

    The Star India chief minced no words either while talking about the popularity of Test cricket.

    When asked whether it made more sense for broadcasters to pursue franchise cricket ahead of Tests, the CEO said, “The whole question about Test cricket is answered by looking at any one stadium where a Test is being played. Except for the summer Tests in England and a few in Australia, have you seen a full stadium?

    “In today’s world, who do you expect to be available on TV or in the stadium to watch a match that goes on for five days?”

    Shankar alluded that Test cricket was facing a two-fold problem with regards to its popularity.

    “The economics do not drive the game. The popularity of the game drives the economics. If magically all the stadiums were to be full and everybody who loves cricket was watching Test cricket, we would kill each other to go and bid for the Test rights.

    “But Test cricket has a two-fold problem and that needs to be recognized. One, most of the Tests people find meaningless. Even today when India and Pakistan play or England and Australia play, people get excited about it because there’s a context. Most of Test cricket there’s no context.”

    Shankar believes Test cricket remains popular only in certain contexts.

    Shankar believes Test cricket remains popular only in certain contexts.

    The second problem Shankar was referring to was the amount of hours of Test cricket watched by an average viewer in India. Contrary to popular opinion, the CEO believes that there has been an excess of Test cricket played by India in the past year.

    “Second problem with Test cricket is that there’s too much of it. Last year in this country, India played 13 Tests at home. So 65 days of Test cricket in India, where data shows a person sees one out of 30 hours played during a Test,” Shankhar said.

    From the comments of the Star India honcho, it is pretty evident that broadcasters see the IPL as a more lucrative vessel compared to the BCCI national team rights at the moment. Whether that picture changes next year when the BCCI rights are up for bidding remains to be seen.

    For now though, franchise cricket is surely ruling the roost for Star India.

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