yesterday i told vyom (fellow blogger of all padded up fame) that i will be writing about the commercial angle of these 'strategy breaks'...
a day before writing 'much ado about strategy breaks'...i had a lengthy conversation with friend and fellow blogger...som of doosra...and our talks somehow came to the commercial angle of these timeouts...
in this context i am quoting som from the comment he made at another friend and fellow bored member achettup's short of length...
The guy clearly loves rubbing everyone the wrong way. I just don’t understand why he keeps beating around bush, when he can deal it with a one-liner — that he did it to slot more commercials. As simple as that! IPL has promised to pay the extra expenditure incurred by the franchisees because of the shift in venue and Modi surely can’t print the notes at his home! Or can he?
so i hope...the background is set...
ipl we all know is an independent tournament...not funded by icc...and certainly not by bcci...if bcci was funding this tournament...one can safely predict the type of hue and cry would have been raised around world that instead of putting money for good cause (like putting it in domestic cricket etc) they are spending ‘our hard earned money’ on this glam show...
in fact its other way around...but that is beside the point...
ipl was shifted to south africa and within three weeks time...we all are seeing it happening...which is tribute to the organizers will and skill...but we must also not forget that how much money would have been pumped in to set the ball rolling...to put all things together...to make it happen in such a short span of time...
then came the another road block...the logistics and subsequent expenses...the franchisee’s who were already reeling under the impact of sudden venue change...global recession...and their own ‘new’ expenses in second bidding of players...banking on the fact that they will encash it with the presence of start marquee from cricket fanatic insatiable indian crowds...naturally they were apprehensive about the whole exercise (read more expenses) and that's when ipl organisers soothed their nerves by declaring that they will bear the extra expenses...
now look at ipl point of view...shifting tournament to another country...without even knowing what will be the response of ‘domestic’ tournament getting ‘international’...what will be the response of this new ‘home’ crowd...whether they will turn up or not...who will be interested to know who are karan goels...bhatias etc...when even in india most don’t know about them...sponsors reluctance and added responsibility of paying franchise of extra expenses in the name of logistics etc...there were enough hurdles on the way...that would have tested the nerve of even hardest nuts...
but they did not give up...going by their penchant of looking at adversity like an opportunity...ipl organisers came out with another brilliant idea...
time outs...
just 7.5 minutes of break per innings to slot in more advertisers...sponsors...and lo they can meet these glaring expenses head on if not overhaul it...
their only failing is, as som as succinctly put in, to name it as 'strategy breaks'...while they could have been more forthcoming in stating the obvious...which we all know anyway...
but what we the 'loyal' fans will do...?
we won’t spare even a second to make fun of ipl if it fails...we won’t spare them even if they do not succeed well enough in our eyes...not even we the fan...media all over the world just waiting, like dog waits for bone to come out of his master's hand, for making anything as an excuse for either criticising it or declaring it a failure to draw sadistic pleasure...without even sparing a thought that despite all the hurdles they faced…despite all the flak they are getting...they can’t make tournament a success by not looking at the interest of partners...in this case...franchisees... by not looking at economics part of it...can they...?
but we are willing to take none of it...acting as if we are oblivious to all this…aren’t we all acting bit prudish…?
