Indian Premier League - Money involved more than Cricket

The following is the brief article on corruption in Indian Premier League(IPL) after its second season, it’s causes, culprits and effects.

Cricket, known as the man’s game though was born in English soil is mostly practiced in India. India has 1.2 billion people, many of them crazy about cricket. The Indians are simply crazy about the game and they gather in large numbers whenever their side is playing against any team. Most players are growing wealthier and the number who can afford to buy satellite TV subscriptions and replica shirts has been growing. The revenue generated from this game all over India is 75% of the total revenue generated of the country. As so much money is involved in this game, this has motivated many investors to invest in this game as a part of the business. Lalit Modi in 2008 A.D gave the investors such platform by launching the Indian Premier League (IPL), a league based around Twenty20 cricket, where each team is limited to batting for a maximum of 20 overs.

The league comprised of Eight teams, Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils, Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab. Each invested a huge amount of money. Mumbai Indians was bought my Neeta Ambani, wife of Mukesh Ambani for $387m, Kolkata Knight Riders by Shahrukh Khan for $402m, Deccan Chargers by T.Venkatram Reddy for $423m, Royal Challengers Bangalore by Vijay Mallya, who also owns the Kingfisher Airlines and a F1 team for. Similarly Delhi Daredevils was bought by GMR group for $365m, Rajasthan Royals by Shilpa Shetty for $301m, Chennai Super Kings by India Cements for $368m, Kings XI Punjab by Priti Zinta and Ness Wadia for whooping $345m. Thus, The IPL became worth over US $4 billion before its’ first fixture kicked off.

Auction was done from where the players were selected in their respective teams. MS Dhoni, the Indian cricket team captain was the player who was bought with the highest pay fare, whooping 6 crores along with Dwayne bravo and Kevin Pieterson. It could have taken them 1 year or so to earn that sum, if they would have played the regular cricket. Thus it became a platform for everyone to earn, more than playing cricket. Thus, everybody directly or indirectly were interested to enter in the League, IPL – Indian Paisa (Money) League, as Indians term it. And more, the Cheerleaders were also appointed in the league to cheer for their favourite team and they could earn 50 thousand to 1 lakhs per match, a sum that is considered too high for a cheer leader in rest of the sport.

The first Season was a huge success and many people all over India gathered in the stadium to see their sides play. It created a huge fan base that strike across caste, class and culture. Sponsors lined up to sponsor the eight teams, and the owners were earning in millions. Wining and losing are a part of the game, but this didn’t matter the owners of the club as they were earning from every game. From ticket sales to sale of jerseys, from television rights to sponsor ads, they were benefitting from everything. This invited the foul players to join this event and make money from foul play. Illegal betting rose and many people were caught during the process. India was peak at its economy and in that same year, Lalit Modi was included in the Top – 30 of the Most Powerful Person’s list.

In 2009 A.D the date of the IPL clashed with the Indian general election and the Union Minister of Home Affairs could not commit to the security of the tournament. So, Lalit Modi engineered the Indian Premier League's move to South Africa in 2009. Entertainment tax was also imposed form the 2nd season. The tournament ran successfully and people could not wait for the next season’s arrival. The revenue generated from the tournament increased more than ever. Infact it earned Rs. 6 crore a day than that of the previous year which was 5 crore.

The tournament was gaining huge popularity and was raising money, and its creator, Lalit Modi on the other hand, was flying high in the air. He was just a member of the BCCI, who was unknown to most of the people but after the commencement of the IPL, he became a hero. He got facilitated with many awards worldwide, and many critics categorized him as the pioneer of the domestic cricket. But whenever there is big money involved, there is always a foul play. The big money attracted him to involve in wrong side of the game.

The year 2010 bleached with a great turnaround. In 2010, Modi oversaw the bidding process and creation of two new teams in the Indian Premier League. Pune and Kochi were declared the new franchises. Kochi was sold to Rendezvous Sports World Limited for $333m at auction. Modi not being happy about the purchase leaked names of Kochi shareholders along with their stakes on the social media site, Twitter on Sunday, 18th April 2010. Tharoor said that Lalit Modi had tried to persuade the owners of Kochi to drop their bid in favour of another city. The row led to the resignation of the then Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Dr. Shashi  Tharoor.

That was just the beginning of the Drama. Modi was suspended as Chairman and Commissioner of the IPL in April 2010. A suspension notice and a letter stating 22 charges of impropriety were served via email to Modi. Modi publicly protested his innocence immediately after the 2010 Indian Premier League Final had been played.

When further investigation was done, An income tax department report on Modi revealed that he holded a silent stake in three IPL teams - the Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab. Furthermore, there were questions as to whether Modi was involved in match fixing and betting in Indian Premier League games as well. He is also under fire for helping his family and friends buy stakes in Indian Premier League teams.

Over 50 Income Tax (IT) officials raided the premises of Multi Screen Media Sports, World Sport Group (WSG) and Pat Magnarella Management (PMM) in Bandra, Khar and Malad suburb of north-west Mumbai. All of which are closely connected to the cash rich IPL, led by Lalit Modi. Modi was questioned by the officials on the financial affairs at his headquarters.

When further investigation was done, it was found that he was involved in fixing television rights to a particular enterprise. IPL broadcast over the Television had the highest TRP among all TV shows from 2008 to 2010. A file was charged against him, stating that he had altered a document that contained information about TV rights, which was worth $80m (£51.8m) He was further accused of manipulating bidding for the IPL's two newest franchises, in Pune and Kochi.

Not only Lalit Modi, then BCCI President Shashank Manohar and Current BCCI president Sharad Powar were also dragged in the corruption case. Manohar and Powar, who are also the key political allies of the ruling Congress party, were accused of improperly using their office to influence bids for IPL contracts, a charge which they deny and which have not been found true yet. Another minister of a political party was accused of diverting a passenger plane from the national carrier Air India for use by IPL players.

Along with them, the team owners of the IPL teams KKR, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab Shahrukh Khan, Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta were also accused of illegal betting and tax evasion from the government. There offices were then raided by tax authorities. They were previously barred by the International Cricket Council Anti-Corruption Unit from entering the dressing room of the team when matches were in progress when they got a message that matches were being fixed in IPL.

Also in Chennai, tax officials surveyed the office of Chennai Super Kings owned by India Cements. BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan is the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of India Cements. The offices of Deccan Chargers and Punjab Kings XI and also on companies handling the broadcast rights of the £2.7 billion strong IPL were also under scrutiny.

Sporting tournament like IPL can bring in huge amount of money in the economy but at the same time can got corruption involve in it. Corruption is an economic, social and political issue and it can have many people involve in it. The controversy which started with Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor regarding the two new IPL Franchises extended its way all to the Corruption case and drew many political leaders towards it. More than $130m was corrupted in during the process.

The IPL since its inaugural year has grown into one of the world's biggest sports, worth over US$4 billion. The commercial success of the Indian Premier League and Modi's control of the league at one stage, had lead to him being compared to Don King. Though the sporting scandal around alleged tax evasion, possible betting and misuse of political influence in the multibillion pound IPL, it still is favourite amongst many people of the world. It has really helped in boosting country’s economy like EPL has helped for the United Kingdom. But still there exists huge amount of corruption, which when minimized will boost the country’s economy.