A few things IPL can do to make things interesting for franchises, players, and fans

Ten years ago a new cricket league was born in India, The Indian Premier League, which brought the world's best players together to play for eight different franchises. Within the last ten years, IPL brought in a lot of changes, the latest being the DRS. The addition of Fan parks in 2017 was a huge success which got the game closer to the fans. DRS is already proving to be a success as most of the teams are starting to utilize them in the first 5 games of the new season.

Let’s see what more the IPL can do to make the league more interesting for both, the players and the fans:

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#1 Eliminate the auction

2018 IPL Auction

After facing the heat of off different cricket organizations like New Zealand Cricket Association, may be it is time for the Indian Premier League to think of a better way to get new players to the teams. I think one of the alternatives is the Draft system. IPL also is contemplating the same for future implementation. "Going forward, the thinking is that we will reduce, maybe not have mega auctions, but consider having a draft system for new players to come in, which acts as a feeder system to teams," Hemang Amin, the IPL's chief operating officer said at the end of the 2018 two-day IPL auction.

National Football League practices the draft process. Every year they select better prospects from college. IPL could implement something similar by having a multiple round draft system with the team’s order decided based on the standings of the previous year. The team that finished last will pick first and so on with the champions picking last. This way, weaker teams could get stronger and the matches could be more competitive. This would not be that easy to achieve, but not impossible either. The player contract structure will be the main obstacle here since we do not have a bid price like an auction to pay the player selected. Instead, there should be a minimum base pay per draft round picked and the position of the player picked and the teams and players could negotiate the pay and salary terms based on it.

#2 In-season and off-season trades

Harbhajan and Rayudu celebrating the wicket of their former team MI in IPL 2018 opener

I think teams should be allowed to trade players in the season with a deadline of two weeks before the playoffs start. This could be an extension to the mid-season transfer window IPL that is likely to be introduced this season. The teams should be able to trade players for players or players for draft picks in future drafts. This will help teams get the players they want or the draft picks they need to build more solid teams in the future.

Teams should also be allowed to trade players during the offseason which starts a month before the draft date. This way teams can get leeway for some extra picks for the upcoming drafts. If IPL does move towards the draft system then the above is a lock.

#3 Merchandise

The thing that amazes me the most is that IPL does not have an online merchandise website. It is the 11th season and IPL does not have an online official retail store to sell its merchandise to its fans. It is really hard to get a hold of online IPL merchandise, especially if you live abroad. Merchandise sales could be a major revenue generator for the league, franchises and it's players. With growing demand for online sales in India, IPL could team up with online retail stores like Amazon India or Flipkart to help ship the merchandise to its fans around the globe. Opening retail stores in the airports and shopping malls of major cities can also help in generating revenue and also provide convenience to the customers.

IPL is not just a national league, it is a global sensation. Fans across the globe watch these games. Heck, even the stadiums in South Africa reached their capacity when IPL had to move there for its second edition. Fans like to get their hands on their favorite team's memorabilia which contributes to team spirit and also makes it more fun for them. I googled for IPL stores online to see how many exist and even though there happen to be several third-party websites (from countries like UK, US and other sellers in Amazon and eBay) there is this lingering doubt of their merchandise authenticity. The fact that these online stores are running out of UK should be enough for IPL to launch their own online official shop. Also look at Australia's Big Bash League, they have their very own consolidated website which sells a lot of stuff outside of jerseys, shirts, hats like, Bat Whaps, light stumps, Zing Balls (Don't know what these mean but I am in). I would love to own a lot of these authentic and fun merchandises and I’m sure a lot of fans do as well.

#4 Championship Rings

2017 Houston Astros World Series Ring

The players and coaches of the winning team of the IPL are given a memento for their efforts. Now mementos are so old school, how about making it more interesting? Taking a page out of American Sports, who by the way also give away rings to thousands of its employees involved as well, IPL and teams should start this tradition. The 2017 Houston Astros who won the world series distributed 1,332 rings to everyone in the organization who contributed towards their win. The rings that players and coaches received had 214 diamonds and 25 sapphires. By this, I am not implying that IPL should have as many precious stones in there but a little something more lavish than a memento could make the players feel more gratified.

I am almost positive that money is not an issue here as IPL is the richest cricket league in the world, has a huge contract from Star, a whopping 16,347 crores (approx 2.5 Billion USD), the amount for which Houston Rockets NBA franchise was recently purchased for. Now that is just media rights, the title sponsors, and other sponsors ticket sales generate wholesome revenues too which can be used in giving some sort of token of appreciation to the whole organization of the winning team.

In 2017, introducing Fan parks was a huge success for IPL and I think taking action towards Fan Shop can be even more successful. Most of the above ideas are already in play by a lot of the leagues around the world and it is nice to see IPL join them too.