Bengaluru: The dropping of the Rajasthan Royals and the Kings XI Punjab teams, owned by popular Bollywood stars, could affect the brand value of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
It’s a well known fact that the success of IPL has not been due not only to tightly fought contests, but to the presence of celebrity film stars like Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty, and getting rid of these teams could have serious repercussions on the popularity of the brand.
Bengaluru-based Vijaya Mallya, the owner of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, expressed anger at the Indian cricket board’s decision to do away with two of the IPL teams. “I wonder if the franchisees are serious stakeholders whose investments and participation are respected, or are they slaves who only come and play?” tweeted Mallya.
It’s understood that some of the owners are so upset that they’re talking about banding together and organising their own league, which would be independent of the BCCI.
Interestingly, the BCCI’s decision to give a 10-day grace period to the Kochi team, so they can settle their internal squabbles, has angered the Rajasthan Royals and the Kings XI Punjab. They feel they too should have been warned in advance.
It’s understood that the BCCI made the decision quickly, given the knowledge that income tax officials were closing in on the Rajasthan Royals and Punjab XI over the revenue they were generating from abroad.
The Kochi IPL team is understood to have escaped being scrapped mainly because of the timely intervention of Shashi Tharoor, India's former Union Minister of State for External Affairs. Though Tharoor was forced to resign following his involvement, he’s keen to ensure former IPL chairman Lalit Modi, who masterminded his outing from the government, has no say in the Indian cricket board.
Right now it seems as if Tharoor has won the battle, with Modi being expelled from BCCI and two of his favourite teams being scrapped. Though BCCI President Shashank Manohar said that getting rid of the two teams had nothing to do with Modi however.
Interestingly, N. Srinivasan, secretary of the BCCI, who is an arch rival of Modi, even kept out of the Mumbai meeting on Sunday to prove that he had no role in dropping the teams. Tharoor will be successful only if the Kochi owners settle their squabbles and get to play the IPL without Modi and his teams.
The message is loud and clear here: no one should attempt to take on the government.
