The IPL is one of only two professional sports leagues in the world where all of its franchise teams are profitable. Twelve years since launch, the IPL is valued at $6.3billion, accounts for over 30% of global cricket revenues and over 60% of India’s sport economy.These numbers are why every rights owner and governing body seeks to learn lessons from both Twenty20 cricket and the IPL.But what are those lessons?How much of it is about sporting format, or is it specific to India, its culture and media economy, and how much credit should we give the league’s creators and the group of entrepreneurs who put their money in to building the franchises.We talk to Manoj Badale OBE, the sport and tech entrepreneur who has been the lead owner of the Rajasthan Royals franchise since the birth of the tournament. Many of the regular themes of our podcasts are here: sport as entertainment, the role of private investment in sport and the implications of globalisation.During the conversation, we reference Manoj’s book, A New Innings, co-written with journalist and former cricketer Simon Hughes. It’s aimed squarely at the Unofficial Partner sports business audience, deciphering the lessons of the IPL for the rest of us, it’s really good and you should buy it, via ANewInnings.com, not least because the money goes to Covid relief in some of the poorest areas of the world.If you enjoy our podcasts, you should sign up to the weekly Unofficial newsletter, where we go in to greater depth on the topics and themes discussed in the podcasts. Head to UnofficialPartner.com to register.
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