IPL against EPL

At first glance, it might seem strange comparing two contrasting sporting extravaganzas of such magnitude; but it’s understandable, when we take into account that they both have a fair share of things in common. As yet, the IPL seems far from the exhilarating magnitude of EPL, but the question remains – Can the IPL’s early baby strides soon turn into an EPL’s kangaroo’s leaps?

After all, the IPL is a hurriedly assembled entertainment package merely 5 years young, as compared to the EPL, which has stood testimony to a youthful 20 springs. Besides, the IPL was modelled, as many vouch, on the functioning of EPL and if the efforts of its sporting body are to be valued, the BCCI will stop at nothing to match the professional English experience that inspired it.

THE START…

For a sport of the foot, that engaged the hearts with a history dating back to 1888, the grand beginnings of the Premier League owe a gratitude to Davin Dein who remarked,

“I felt football was really a sleeping giant and had a long way to go. After seeing how the Americans operated their sport, particularly American football and baseball and basketball, I felt we were light years behind. We had so much more to give as an attraction.”

When the football Premier league was flagged off in 1992/93, an era when the world was still waking up to modern technology, 22 teams took to the field. It was designed as a 10 month long sporting extravaganza from August to May totalling 380 matches. On a day when India was celebrating its Independence, Sheffield United’s Brian Deane scored the first goal of the tournament, which finally saw a Manchester United victory. The grounds over the tournament boasted an impressive 69.6% audience, with the season’s aggregate attendance at 9.75m. The Premier League turnover registered a whopping £46m.

Over the years, the League indeed scripted a ‘premier’ tale that only grew in attention it worthily demanded. It celebrated its 20^th anniversary, registering a 92.2% attendance at the grounds with the 2010/11 season’s attendance at 13.4 million, and a turnover of £1.202bn.

Quite similar is a tale of cricket’s latest legacy (or greed as some argue!) inspired by the explosion in popularity of the game by a set of Indian underdog heroes who lifted an inaugural T20 world Cup.

In contrast, when the BCCI unfolded a cricketing parallel, the first season reflected the perfect timing of the ideologists’ move. With just eight teams at a combined worth of £451 million, the start seemed great but relatively miniscule compared to the EPL. The window occupied by this form of entertainment combined a mere 59 games over 46 days. It started off as quite a phenomenon; so much so that the India’s favorite pastime (movies) took a backseat, expressing its dominance all over.

In the second year itself, it recorded an audience of 200 million homes in India alone. Over five seasons, inclusive of a foreign trip to the safari nation, it has registered some fairy tale memories and more importantly, on the monetary front, it’s currently valued at £1.86bn.

While the buzzing sea of enthusiasts in the stadia has visibly increased a tad over the seasons, it remains to be seen if the drop in TV ratings that fell from 4.81 in 2008 to 3.27, when a count was done at 68 matches in 2012, further dips or is just a temporary setback. For if we are talking entertainment fatigue at 5 years, the 20 year scenario predicts a dismal doom.

THE EMOTIONAL BOND

Facts and figures apart, one important facet of the EPL is an evidence of the league’s script of its own story in the hearts of its flooding supporters with the stakes of the clashes raised to the level of fiercely loyalist club wars. Each club boasts of a regionally patriotic August following for the home representatives, madly in love, through victory or defeat.

Hence, it remains to be seen if this western gladiatorial trend, apparently alien to the docile Indian fan, could help re-create that theatrical atmosphere of emotions in IPL. As a matter of fact, quite surprisingly, quite a few of the clubs immediately struck bonds with the home supporters, albeit in a relatively smaller magnitude. Understandably it was indeed a sedate beginning, yet optimistically a start!

CREATING A BRAND – ALL IN A NAME?

The most awaited and widely followed news in the Premier League is the transfer updates that record the tales of hopes, cheer and tears of followers adoring iconic heroes who become a brand by themselves rising above the club they represent. So much so that they bring along a talk of record breaking sky-rocketing deals of transfer that unsurprisingly pale at the final sum offered at the auction table.

For the record, this season’s highest deal was Eden Hazard bought by Chelsea at 32m ($48m), a 21-year-old Belgian midfield/winger. His former coach at Lille even had the cheek to label him “the little Messi.” Quite surprisingly, the Indian scenario is relatively insignificant with transfers that border on inconspicuous. For the record, the highest sum dished out was a meager $2m for Ravindra Jadeja bought by CSK.

In the backdrop of such an observation, it’s evident that while players at EPL earn themselves a brand that sometimes overshadows the club itself, IPL is still about team brands that rules over individual icons.

THE GLARING DIFFERENCES

While the EPL most often produces equal score-sheet draws in its matches, a draw in the IPL is a rare phenomenon, treated as the best possible outcome of a match. Even though one returns home after a match with a nil score-sheet, the EPL enthusiasts claim an unforgettable 90+ minute experience, which I reckon isn’t always the case with the IPL audience.

Either as a distraction or a temptation to attract, the inflaming cheerleaders are a new design that belongs solely to the bragging rights of the IPL. It still remains a mystery if they are present to actually cover up the game’s boring moments, or celebrate the game’s special moments.

All in all, it still remains to be seen if with time, this toddler in its early days shall fail, grow, or overtake its western inspiration into a mega-million buck establishment. Only patience with time and the Indian fan can give us the final answer to such an unpredictable question.

Either ways, for now, at least you have a choice, volition and remote in hand to switch the channel to the game you desire to see.