Dissertation - Cricket, Money, Passion, Talent – The IPL, A Fantastic Success

 Dissertation - Cricket, Money, Passion, Talent – The IPL, A Fantastic Success

                                 Image Courtesy: Ricoh (2012)
Abstract
Twenty Two yards make a cricket pitch, eleven men make a team and hope, talent and expectation create a sport that is truly world class. This sport saw a radical change in the manner in which it was played in 2003 when The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) coined the idea of a Twenty20 version of the game or T20 as it was subsequently come to be known as. The format of the game had few takers and low acceptance levels internationally especially with ‘pundits’ of the game saying that it just wasn’t the real thing.
The subject of this dissertation is cricket. Twenty20 or T20 cricket is what shall be looked at purely in the Indian Premier League. It’s the IPL that shall form the subject of this dissertation. The IPL has been a revolutionary ‘product.’ It has shown us heuristics previously unmapped and unknown. It’s been a new way to play an old game or a new way to play a reinvented game. This paper strives to indicate the success factors behind the IPL and establishes the relationship of the marketing principles that have been followed to achieve the grand success of IPL.


Table of Contents

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION	4
1.1 Introduction	4
1.2 Sports: As a contemporary source of Entertainment	5
1.3 Sporting Leagues	5
1.4 Research Questions	6
1.5 Research Methodology	6
1.6 Significance of the Study	7
1.7 Scope of the Study	7
1.8 Outline of the Dissertation/Chapter Briefings	7
Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW:	8
2.1 History of Cricket	8
2.2 Different Formats in Cricket	8
2.3 Cricket – Where Will It Go: Ever-Changing Trends	9
2.4 Flash-forward – India 2008:	10
2.5 IPL – The Background	10
2.6 IPL – At Present	11
2.7 IPL – It’s Conduct and Behaviour	11
2.8 Application of the Marketing Concepts in the IPL	13
2.8.1New Product Development:	13
2.8.2 Value Creation:	16
2.8.3 Brand Creation:	18
2.8.4 Innovation	21
2.8.5 The Halo Effect:	26
Chapter 3 Research Methods	27
3.1 Research Methodology:	27
3.2 Primary Data:	28
3.3 Secondary Data:	28
3.4 The Research Questions And Design:	29
3.5 Using A Case Study Approach:	29
3.5.1 Advantages of A Case Study -	30
3.5.2 Disadvantages of A Case Study –	30
3.6 Conducting the Research:	30
3.6.1Primary Data-	30
3.6.2 Secondary Data –	31
3.7 Grounded Theory:	31
3.8 Focus Groups:	31
3.9 Cricket in India	32
Chapter 4 Data Findings and Analysis:	33
4.1 Discussions:	38
4.2 IPL – Finance	40
4.3 Focus Group on Fans:	41
4.4 Focus Group on Players:	41
4.5 IPL Auction	42
4.6 Media Findings	44
4.7 IPL – The Future	45
Chapter 5 Conclusions and Recommendations:	45
References	51
Appendices…………………………………………………………………...………53



Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
Cricket has a huge fan following across the globe. This research focuses on the success of Indian Premier League (IPL) which was inaugurated in the year 2008. The entertainment factor plays a big role in an event like IPL. Its success is also contingent upon the marketing of the tournament through various initiatives. The objective of this paper is to identify the factors that led to the immense success of the IPL as a tournament (BCCI 2007).
It is thought my many that IPL was yet another cricket tournament. However, its astounding success paved the way for a new interest especially in those who are not quite associated with following the game of Cricket essentially. This includes the groups of people like women and young children. Majority of men are always keen when it comes to following the game of cricket closely (Matzler 2003).
The success of the IPL can be intuitively measured by the fact that the tournament has already been held for 5 consecutively and has also been held in other parts of the world other than India. The scale of the popularity is also evident from the point that similar initiatives have been taken by authorities of other countries which includes examples like Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), Sri Lankan Premier League, Australian Big Bash 20-20 to name a few (BCCI 2007).
This paper identifies the critical success factors of the Indian Premier League and evaluates its success relative to the other forms of Cricket.
In recent times, more money is being ploughed into leagues and teams. In the last decade or so, the English Premier League has seen the acquisition of Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers to name a few. As sports, football and F1 have huge international attractions. They don’t only cater to the local base. You may live in India and be a staunch Newcastle United supporter while someone in Uganda might be rooting for Arsenal (Thomas 2003).
1.2 Sports: As a contemporary source of Entertainment
Times have changed and so has the pace of life. In today’s ever busy world, people have taken to sport as a diversion, a manner in which to unwind or just pass time as the case and