Modi has ambitious agenda to go bigger with the sport

Dubai:  The IPL-IV is already set to be a bigger and better event next year with the introduction of two new teams and more matches, but its fiercely ambitious chairman Lalit Modi is not content with that. He now plans to make it the "single largest sporting league" in the world along the lines of the NBA in the US.

With an eye towards it, Modi feels it's imperative that the IPL — a glitzy combination of cricket, Bollywood and big business — should have a crack at the market in the US. "Obviously the US market is more focused on American sports now, but I think Twenty20, with its three-hour format, lends itself to new markets.

"It's a very explosive game, there's always action all the time and the fortunes of a team change with every ball. That becomes extremely important from a viewership point of view and also from an excitement point of view," Modi said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Easily the most powerful administrator in the game, Modi feels there is a strong potential for the league to make inroads in the land of NBA and American football, what with it being home to roughly three million Asian Indians. If Modi had taken the first two years of the IPL to give shape and foundation to the league which is fast changing the way cricket is watched around the globe, the last few months have seen him firming up agreements with some of the global players for marketing the IPL.

In January, the IPL announced a deal with YouTube to stream live games free in every country except the US (Willow TV holds the North America internet rights), making it the first major sporting event to be streamed across the globe. He followed it up with another coup last week with a deal with the UK network-TV station ITV to air each of the six-week tournament's 60 matches, the first time live cricket will be broadcast on free-to-air TV in Britain since 2005.

Modi admits the commercial success of the IPL owes a lot to the cricket-crazy people of India. "There are 1.2 billion people in India we've got that advantage — the sheer numbers in our country.