Is the IPL like illegitimate porn?

[Cricket_Hacker]

Every IPL auction throws up its share of surprises. This one too has done that. While Mumbai, RCB and Chennai, by virtue of their retentions and picks, look the strongest, Hyderabad Sunrisers and KXIP too have not done too badly. Chennai's fate, however, hangs in the balance and we will only know what is finally happening with the team when the Supreme Court sits in judgement on March 7. I must say I am acutely disappointed with Kolkata. As to why the Kolkata management did not go for a single Bengal player is baffling. No Shami Ahmed, Ashok Dinda, Wriddhiman Saha, Laxmi Shukla or Manoj Tiwari and Eden Gardens is your home venue- now something is seriously wrong isnt it? Perhaps the KKR management knew that IPL 7 is moving to South Africa, which will somewhat help nullify the damage. But what about 2015 or 2016? Too many questions with too few answers as far as Kolkata is concerned. As I was following the auction the questions I kept asking of myself are: Will the viewers watch the IPL with the same interest as before? Has the brand been sullied or does it not matter at all? Is there any relationship between credibility and viewership? Will people suspect wrongdoing in almost every close game? That's when I came across Harish Bijoor's study on the IPL. It is a fascinating study, which has thrown up some amazing findings. Bijoor tells us that 100 percent people will continue to watch the IPL. He says 92 percent people are prepared to pay the same ticket price to go to venues and watch the games. He also tells us the 90 percent people believe that the brand is still robust. If each of these findings are surprising against the backdrop of the Mudgal report, what does not come as a surprise is the credibility quotient of the IPL. Bijoors study says the credibility is at an all time low and currently stands at 2.1 in comparison to Test crickets 9.2 out of 10. So here's my question- whats the relationship between credibility and viewership? Why will 100 percent people want to watch something that is not credible? Rather, will they watch it knowing it is not serious cricket as Bijoor wants us to believe? I have always felt that the single biggest strength of the IPL has been its cricket. The best players of the world playing some real serious cricket, thats been the tournaments USP. I cant imagine a Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Mike Hussey et al playing a tournament lacking in credibility. And thats what is being eroded at the moment. And that's where my concern lies. Is the IPL somewhat like illegitimate porn? It is no surprise that there is a huge market for porn globally. Watching porn might not be legitimate but it is certainly popular. There is little doubt that porn has a huge market and porn sells. Does it have respectability? Perhaps not. Is the IPL fast becoming like porn? It certainly has a huge market and is a brand alright but is it one that has little or no credibility? Frankly, this is unacceptable as far as India's only global sports brand is concerned and that's what draws attention to the BCCI being in a mode of denial. It is time to state once and for all that the media isn't against the IPL. The media too is interested in keeping the brand alive and is concerned with what's happening. The only difference is that the media is asking for correctives while the Board continues to tell us nothing is wrong so correctives aren't a crying need. For a brand that has led the Supreme Court to appoint a committee of inquiry and one which has given a rather damning report, it does not take rocket science to understand that reforms are a crying need. Against the backdrop of the huge spends in the auction it is also evident that there is still time. Question is can the BCCI see the signs? Fans today are still keen to watch the tournament despite it lacking in credibility. Will they do the same tomorrow or will the BCCI be happy to be running a tournament that is equated with a charade? As I said at the start with reference to Kolkata, there are too many questions with too few answers.

http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/61759/is-the-ipl-like-illegitimate-porn

[Pagalpanti]

Fair point. BCCI needs a good PR, they just don't care about their image atm. Look at ECB & CA who are as much involved in the big 3 but all the focus was on BCCI as the sole destroyer of cricket.