India: the Hottest Sports League

Since 2008, India has hosted major sports events. The Indian government plans to develop infrastructures and transportation by hosting sports events. Also, India associates with other countries to educate future athletes, so the government send athletes to abroad and invite coaches to India.

           
The most popular sport in India is cricket. It is said that every Indian boy played cricket. Therefore, cricket is called as the unofficial national sport of India. Also, India is one of the most important countries for the development of cricket. In the middle of the 19^th century, cricket was brought to India by the British. Since then, it spread throughout the country. Because of the popularity of cricket, the national cricket team won the World Cup Cricket in 1983. This year, team India won the championship again.

IPL 2010

In 2008, India established a professional cricket league called Indian Premier league (IPL). Cricket is one of the popular sports in the world. It has a long history, and it is played more than 100 countries. So, some professional leagues had existed before IPL was established. However, there was no league that was organized as a business. IPL followed the American professional sports leagues and chose twenty20 rules to finish each game in three hours. They focused on making profit through TV broadcasting. Originally, each cricket match takes days, but twenty20 rule sped up matches and let people enjoy watching matches through TV. Unexpectedly, IPL also succeeded with selling tickets. The average of the audience a match was 58,000 even though it was the first season. (This number is 80% more than a Major League Baseball game.) As the result, the worth of the franchise increased by 31% at the first season. Because of this fast growing, IPL was introduced as the world’s hottest sports league.

           
IPL can be a business model for the professional cricket leagues in other countries and other sports leagues in India. As Abhijit Kadam Football Development Centre(AKFDC) stated, India needs professionals who know the science of sports to develop the sports industry in India. The success of IPL can motivate more people to contribute to the development of the sports industry.