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Stars consider quitting England or county contracts for IPL deals

Yeoman

U19 Cricketer
Keen to see how LIV Golf vs PGA plays out, probably lots of learnings to be drawn from there on how this could go
The advantage that cricket has over the PGA is that the establishment has full control over international caps - the traditional metrics of status in the game. The PGA does not have direct control over major championships or even Ryder cup selection in the same way. The really big name golfers who signed for LIV are still able to compete in majors due to their exemptions as past champions. Their other signees are either at the end of their careers or lesser names.
 

Ali TT

International Debutant
I do think we need to start appreciating that cricket in India, or rather cricket controlled by India/IPL as not all this cricket is necessary played there, can standalone of cricket anywhere else. You could have this year round model regardless of whether other countries like it or their players are involved. Much like with the Major Leagues in the US, there's no reason why competitive and viable leagues won't continue to exist elsewhere, but they may be missing the best homegrown players. Where this leaves the longer formats, I'm less clear.
 

ma1978

State Vice-Captain
I think SA Kolpak is a pretty good analogy

For now and for the foreseeable future, players need the international game to be relevant in t20 leagues. And even in India, I know of few if any fans who don’t care more for the international game by a wide margin.

But for fringe internationals or older players, the t20 league full time role will be more active.

All in all not ideal, but I don’t see it changing the international game. Now all we need is a competitive SA, Pakistan, etc.
 

GotSpin

Hall of Fame Member
The real issue, apart from the obvious damage to the test format, is that the IPL does nothing for home audiences.

I don't have exact viewing numbers on hand but I really don't know anyone who follows the IPL, or any other 20/20 domestic league for that matter, and having the best players from other countries off playing in foreign tournaments all the time will undoubtedly hurt the long term popularity of cricket in the other host nations.

So yeah, some players will get paid heaps more which might attract the odd kid to pursue a professional career but its a net loss IMO
 

social

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
The real issue, apart from the obvious damage to the test format, is that the IPL does nothing for home audiences.

I don't have exact viewing numbers on hand but I really don't know anyone who follows the IPL, or any other 20/20 domestic league for that matter, and having the best players from other countries off playing in foreign tournaments all the time will undoubtedly hurt the long term popularity of cricket in the other host nations.

So yeah, some players will get paid heaps more which might attract the odd kid to pursue a professional career but its a net loss IMO
IPL is massive

 

duffer

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
IPL is massive

Diminishing returns if they were to lengthen the season to be comparable to a major European Football League or something. I already cbf following it for 2 months, imagine how 8 months of this will feel like?

The timings aren't kind to Australia and NZ viewers but are reasonably friendly to other target countries, no?
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
What’s the cut through in Australia or other non Indian countries
Almost no cut through in NZ especially since the teams hardly play our players. Even with Fleming as the most dominant coach in IPL history, he gets more attention here for terrible heat pump ads.

Would rate behind EPL, Champions League, Super Rugby, NRL (Australian Rugby League - 13 players, not 15) and the NBA (those aren't in order).

There is far more interest in a NZ C tour of Pakistan than the IPL.
 

Yeoman

U19 Cricketer
In the U.K. Sky broadcast it and the BBC provide radio coverage so there is presumably some audience. In so far as I can judge however it has not made any impact on the popular consciousness, even among cricket fans - I have never heard it discussed at matches, other than in the context of which players are missing because they are at the IPL.
On the other hand, I recently went to a pub in the far north west of Scotland and the IPL was being shown on the TV in the most unlikely of settings.
 

Flem274*

123/5
In NZ the IPL seems to be viewed as more of a sneaky method to cash up young NZ players by fellow kiwis in management roles rather than a serious tournament. I had no idea Conway was having a good tournament until I saw someone post it on here.

Obviously we are a small market but it's impact here is almost negligible* and the same would hold true I suspect for Australia. There are simply too many more relevant sports in friendlier time slots than the IPL, which is competing with EPL, NFL and F1 for sports fans willing to stay up late or wake up early. An IPL market victory for player talent would kill cricket in Oceania overnight.

*Kiwi Indians do watch the highlights religiously, but Youtube ad revenue is not known to be great for content providers.
 

Ali TT

International Debutant
In the U.K. Sky broadcast it and the BBC provide radio coverage so there is presumably some audience. In so far as I can judge however it has not made any impact on the popular consciousness, even among cricket fans - I have never heard it discussed at matches, other than in the context of which players are missing because they are at the IPL.
On the other hand, I recently went to a pub in the far north west of Scotland and the IPL was being shown on the TV in the most unlikely of settings.
Cricket as a whole struggles to impact on the popular consciousness in England though. IPL is probably behind the NFL and NBA in terms of foreign league competition that has an impact here, even though it has, in theory, a larger potential market. Have to admit, I don't know the popularity among Brits of Indian descent.
 

Yeoman

U19 Cricketer
Viewership is such an important part of the discussion on cricket’s future that it is surprising that it is hard to find reliable data. Media companies will trumpet a big success but I found it hard to find any regular data.
This article from the Cricketer is five years old however it does provide some comparative information on the popularity of different formats in the U.K.

 

tony p

First Class Debutant
If viewing figures were particularly huge in certain markets, countries, age groups, we would certainly hear about it for sure.
There must be much data available on it, as we can have data on IPL/other T20 matches on a left handed batter hitting the fourth ball of the seventh over through the covers on April 28th 2021.
 

TheJediBrah

Request Your Custom Title Now!
If viewing figures were particularly huge in certain markets, countries, age groups, we would certainly hear about it for sure.
There must be much data available on it, as we can have data on IPL/other T20 matches on a left handed batter hitting the fourth ball of the seventh over through the covers on April 28th 2021.
Viewing ratings are quite complex though, and there are multiple methods for calculating viewership that will get different results. This goes for all television and streaming. Do you count it per minute watched? Only those who watch a whole program? Only those who watch the end? What percentage of the program watched counts as a "view"? It's not as simple as an in-game cricket stat.

But yes there will definitely be plenty of data that broadcasters will have but not want to reveal to the public, for varying but obvious reasons
 

Yeoman

U19 Cricketer

I found this data for Sky Sports Main event for the third week of April. 4 IPL matches made the top 50 programmes that week, though the viewing figures were very low - the highest being 45,000. I was surprised by how low the figures for all sports were. Other than Premiership football, nothing else makes it to 200,000 and even the Premiership comes in well under a million.
 

Molehill

International Captain

I found this data for Sky Sports Main event for the third week of April. 4 IPL matches made the top 50 programmes that week, though the viewing figures were very low - the highest being 45,000. I was surprised by how low the figures for all sports were. Other than Premiership football, nothing else makes it to 200,000 and even the Premiership comes in well under a million.
The IPL is also shown on Sky Sports Cricket which is where I always watch it (and I'd imagine where most cricket fans go). I'm guessing these numbers do not include those also watching on that channel.

The same is probably also true for Premiership games which are also shown on that dedicated channel.
 

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