IPL: The World’s Fastest Growing Sports League

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Show Notes

[00:03:05] - [First question] - An overview of the Indian Premier League (IPL) today

[00:05:07] - How impressive viewership numbers are monetized in India

[00:07:41] - How cricket fits in the context of Indian culture and markets

[00:11:06] - The mechanics of T20 cricket and its history

[00:19:33] - The genesis and explosion of the IPL

[00:21:42] - How the original eight teams were sold by the league and seeded by investors

[00:24:44] - The IPL’s conception and the rockier aspects of its startup phase

[00:30:13] - The revenue structure and business model broken down into their many streams

[00:33:44] - How Indian culture influences media deals in cricket

[00:41:55] - How operators have structured the IPL to optimize for media rights 

[00:44:53] - More on league-level economics, costs, and IP monetization 

[00:47:22] - Dynamics of individual franchises within the league

[00:53:36] - The unique nature of the IPL’s auction draft 

[00:55:19] - The infrastructure model and overhead costs for individual franchises

[00:56:41] - How market share and popularity is distributed between franchises

[00:59:03] - A deep dive into the player auction and how it works

[01:07:48] - Fanbase demographics and the importance of female representation in the IPL

[01:09:45] - How fanbases are formed given the league is still nascent

[01:12:38] - How IPL creates and leverages scarcity value

[01:17:26] - The increasing international reach of the IPL draft

[01:19:32] - How the BBL in Australia stacks up against the IPL

[01:22:53] - The IPL as a catalyst for peripheral business growth in its cricket ecosystem

[01:25:18] - Risk potential and the premortem case for the IPL

[01:28:22] - Why he thinks cricket and the IPL won’t be disrupted any time soon

[01:30:24] - How his history as a cricket player lends itself to his business mindset

[01:31:59] - Lessons for operators and investors when studying the IPL story