IPL – Its Web is wider than you think

Now that the Indian Premier League 4 has been done and dusted with, putting out a blog on IPL is as risky as facing Lasith Malinga without a helmet as you don’t know how the ball will respond. Well, this blog was supposed to be out during the IPL itself but due to laziness, inertia, and the IPL itself, was not able to put it together though the thought kept swimming in the mind all through. As you all know, you can’t hold back thoughts beyond a certain time and they have a tendency of wanting to come out once they get germinated, so here-on I present to you my thoughts on the IPL.

This blog is actually not about how great this IPL tournament was or how well some of the teams played or any of those other compliments and brickbats that have already been seen and read in print and online through various tweets and status updates. This blog is actually about stepping back a bit and noticing how the IPL is a big revenue generator (for BCCI, franchises and players – yes, we already know that) for people/industries that we tend to overlook as part of getting affected through the IPL.

Let me illustrate the people/industries impacted by the IPL through a web:

Let us talk about each one of them one by one so as to understand how they get impacted by IPL:

1. Airlines: The revenue of airlines who are the travel partners for the entire IPL tournament grows manifold as on a daily basis, some sectors (sectors between which travellers are travelling) have a confirmed 25 – 30 seats booked (business + economy) per team, which includes the players, the team management, the support staff. etc. Moreover, all these bookings are done well in advance so what that means is that the airlines is getting confirmed bookings across key sectors for a decent number of seats for a period of 48 days at one shot itself, which is a huge cash amount accumulating through a single booking (could possibly be the largest block booking).

2. Hotels: The hospitality partner for the tournament also sees a surge in their revenues similar to the airlines. Every day/alternate day, one team or the other is reaching the city and staying there in the hotel with each person allotted a single room (executive or superior and not deluxe). Once again, all of these bookings are done well in advance and at one shot, so this block deal boosts the revenue of the hotels involved, in a significant manner.

3. Printers: Local printers of a city who are involved in printing all the posters, banners, the 4s and 6s placards are able to do business equal to 3 – 4 months by being involved in the IPL hype, publicity and promotion.

4. Security Agencies: As we all know, IPL involves celebrities, parties, events, etc.. and all of this calls for additional security over and above the state security. All the big security agencies of the city in which the IPL matches are being held get involved in providing security to these people and events and thereby becoming one of the key beneficiaries of the tournament and its largesse.

5. Event Management Companies: Becoming the chosen partner to host and hold the IPL parties and events is an ambition that each and every event management company of the city has but only a select few are able to really get lucky and strike the deal. The scale of these parties are seen and known to all and any company involved in organising such events is making a killing and adding a few zeroes to its balance sheet.

6. Restaurants and Pubs: The joy of watching a cricket match gets multiplied when you are watching it with a group of friends on a large screen and there is food and drinks to keep the merriment going. The duration of the IPL tournament sees pubs and restaurants running special offers, putting up giant screens, making specific IPL dishes, special discounts for a group of 10 people and above and various other innovative ideas with the sole purpose of earning much, much more than what is being spent to pull the crowds in. This is a win-win for all as guests feel pampered and the restaurants get their cash registers ringing.

7. Liquor Companies/Cola Companies: Till a few years backs, liquor and cola companies used to look forward to the summer season as the sale of beer/colas would go up tremendously. Now, the summer party begins a month or two earlier as soon as the IPL Chairman declares “I declare the IPL tournament open” as what this also implies is a huge fillip to the sales of these companies through alcohol/colas bought at the restaurants/pubs as well as that bought for home consumption.

8. Local transport: Match days are days of extra income for drivers of local transport – autos and cabs. Not only do they tend to get a large number of people heading to the stadium using their means, they are also able to charge extra later in the night once the match is over, knowing very well that the exuberant mood and the desire to get home soon will make people loosen their pockets a bit and won’t mind paying a few tenners extra.

9. Food Vendors: With the kind of security checks and drills in place these days, everyone is apprehensive that if they do not reach the stadium on time, they will not be able to enter before the match starts and they will miss out on lot of action. As a result of this, people land up at the stadiums 4 – 5 hours before the match time, get into queues and slowly make their way to their seats. What this means is that they would get hungry and thirsty much before the match starts and even during the course of the match. This is the right opportunity for the local vendors to be present outside the stadium and inside (licensed vendors) with items like water bottles, cola cans, chips, biscuits, chocolates, etc. which people want and for which they do not mind paying a rupee or two extra. Regular food vendors always keep a track of match days and stock themselves accordingly as these are the opportunities to earn more than what they earn on a regular day.

I am sure when the IPL was envisaged by Lalit Modi, he would not have thought of how it will change the fortunes of a number of other people and other sectors over and above the fortunes of the players. 

The sectors and people listed by me in the web above may not be all comprehensive as I believe that there might be a number of other sectors and people who also make a killing during and through the IPL and either I have missed them while putting this blog or I am oblivious to their existence also in this web of the IPL.

Would be great to know if you, my reader knows of any other sector/people who gain a lot due to the IPL.