IPL - a business model to make money by vile means

I wrote in 2010 about IPL- as the "Indian Preposterous League". Now,three years later IPL hits a new low with betting rackets across the nation leading to arrests of players and bookies .What is more disgusting is even franchisee's and umpires are involved in fixing matches.The new moral low is school students are involved in betting.Principals of schools in Bangalore had to issue warning to students to stay away from IPL betting.IPL betting is rampant among Bangalore school students . Children in Delhi's top school's were caught betting through bookies . A new mobile phone app called 'bet-droid-viewer' helps students with betting rates among teams . This android is available for free online . Teenagers are fancied by this app .After seeing betting tips they first get in touch with punters .Punters are cricket playing students of class 11 and 12 .They in turn connect them with the bookies. It is unfortunate IPL has become a gambling den of huge proportions . The standing committee on Finance of the GOI has gone on record that money laundering is done through IPL . The report has highlighted financial irregularities of the IPL model ,but the government did not act. Is the government silent because Rajiv Shukla the current Parliamentary affairs minister is the Chief commissioner of IPL ?

ICC's Anti corructpion and security Unit (ACSU) head warned as early as 2008 that IPL had great potential for betting led corruption.What all had happened in IPL since its inception . It has all the ingredients of an Indian Masala movie . There were startling revelations about involvement of two union ministers in the past and one of them had to resign on questions of propriety.Overseas funding through dubious deals,embezzlement by those at the helm in IPL,failed bid documents disappearing from files,match fixing,betting,threats from underworld,blasts engineered to shift venue of semi finals,circumventing rules to suit personal gains,IT & ED raids,disclosing private mails to reveal mudslinging,garnering support for council meet by opponents,awarding contracts to close relatives without bids,nonpayment of taxes,late night parties,Charges of kickback to Lalit Modi the brain behind IPL were all witnessed in the past . BCCI amended their rules and bye-laws to suit those at the helm from time to time .To get past the conflict of interest clause BCCI amended its rules for the convenience of its members who were involved in IPL.Rules were circumvented by BCCI.All these were done obviously for the high stakes involved in IPL.Proprieties were thrown to the wind deliberately.Every deal had an hidden agenda. Even with all these aberrations , I thought IPL provided a platform for a huge number of young Indian talents who could not get a chance to prove. But unfortunately ,these youngsters were also enticed in to making quick money by the IPL .

IPL is a commercial venture of the BCCI . Is it not obnoxious that BCCI is still exempted from tax on grounds of promoting cricket . WB government gave relaxation of 35 lakhs entertainment tax to KKR in IPL5.BCCI is still a registered society under the Tamilnadu societies Registration Act. Why is the government turning a blind eye to all these ?Why does BCCI resist the sports ministry's move to bring it under the ambits of RTI ?Former Sports Minister Ajay Maken  tried his best to make BCCI a National Sports Federation . If BCCI becomes an NSF, it would be bound to provide information under the RTI and would also be forced to follow the  anti-doping rules as specified by the World Anti-Doping Agency . Maken's own cabinet colleague Rajiv Shukla the present commissioner of IPL vehemently opposed the move.Why does BCCI shy away from public scrutiny and accountability ?Maken recently tweeted " Any organisation entrusted with job of selecting a National Team can not call itself a Private Body!" Powerful ministers like Sharad Pawar and Rajiv Shukla then  made Maken redraft some provisions of the Sports bill intented to bring transparency in sports bodies .

Why would celebrities and corporates vie with each other to own an IPL team ? Because the franchisees earn huge money .A franchise normally earns revenue from a portion of the Ticket sales,Sponsorships,a cut from the broadcasting rights sold by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The net worth of each IPL team would give an idea why  there is great demand for IPL team ownership . Whether a team wins or losses the IPL franchisee earns money through sponsorships and jersey branding . This money is much more than what they pay for the players cumulatively . As many as 10 to 18 brands are sponsored on jersey of IPL players. IPL management ties up with brands and also for media rights .The franchisee gets a share from this money,depending on the brand and number of sponsors . This has emerged as the single largest source of revenue for a franchisee . At the beginning of this season the estimated brand value of IPL teams were as follows . KKR-$45 million approx,MI -$ 44.62 million,CSK -$45.28 million,RCB-$37.81 million,Kings xI -$30.78 million,DD-$34.22 million, RR-$27.05 million,Sun Risers-$31.49 million, PW-$29.45 million.

Recent happenings reveal very clearly IPL is a business model to make money by vile means . The root cause for all these evils is the greed for money.One might earn fast money through betting.But in the process he or she might have lost something which money can't buy. I feel it is time for the BCCI ,IPL committee and the government to clean up the IPL mess.The SC has already pulled up BCCI and IPL for its languid approach in cleaning up the irregularities and spot fixing. More appropriately the SC said "Save the gentleman's game " .