Now, the IPL is to spread its wings, and the Champions League will surely follow. The United States is the favoured destination for some matches next year, and it’s the next logical step given that Lalit Modi took the franchise model from American sport. The south Asian and Caribbean population in the US should ensure that it’s no outrageous gamble either.
But for every step forward, Modi and the IPL appear to take one back. His announcement of the Champions League dates for this season, September 10 to 26, has caught the England and Wales Cricket Board cold. The two counties that qualify for the event from the Twenty20 Cup will have to choose between the bounty on offer in India, and the climactic stages of their domestic season.
The ECB claim they were not consulted, while Modi says that a tweak or two in their schedule would allow the teams to participate. “We would be very reluctant to change a schedule that was agreed between the ECB, broadcasters and the counties themselves,” says the ECB. Coming just months after IPL 2, when most of the franchises in South Africa were upset by the IPL requisitioning their hospitality suites, it’s just another example of the my-way-or-the-highway mindset that has won few admirers around the world.
The biggest reason for the bad press that the IPL gets can be traced to draconian restrictions imposed on media outlets when the competition started. Cricinfo, the last word as far as cricket’s concerned on the Internet, was denied access to games during the second season of IPL and there’s little sign of the bar being lifted this time.
Leagues and competitions trying to protect their ‘property’ is nothing new. The English Premier League tried to limit online usage heavily back in 2000-01, and the media responded by saying that they would just not use images showing sponsor names. Before the rugby World Cup in 2007, the organisers imposed all kinds of restrictions. At the official launch, the media event started with all the photographers laying their cameras on the ground and refusing to take pictures. The impasse was resolved in minutes.
A new product like the IPL needs all the goodwill and publicity it can get to succeed. Alienating other boards and media houses is not the way forward, especially if there are ambitions to crack the American market. “In North America, the attitude is that doors are open to anyone,” says Martin Williamson, managing editor of digital media for ESPN in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. “Certain agencies have restrictions for sure. For example, Sky Sports in the UK can’t bulldoze into a non-Sky event.
“But Modi cherry-picks who can and cannot cover his events, which amounts to censorship. If he tries to do that in the US, there would be massive resentment against someone trying to tell people how to act on their own patch.”
Modi and his advisors have already replicated a lot of the finer aspects of American sport. Hopefully, they will soon realise that running a league based on accepted capitalist principles while trying maintain a Soviet-style grip over the media is not the way to go. The NFL, Major League Baseball, and the NBA could tell them that.
*This is my Sunday Guardian column for February 14.
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While I admire Modi for his vision and ability to get things done, I fail to understand why he can’t work with existing structures instead of against them. Friends made on the way up are so important when on the way down – he must see that, mustn’t he?
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There shouldn’t be such a thing as bad light. It’s dangerous or playable.
I usually agree with what you post here, but in this case I must say that I do not share your views.
Dileep,
For your perusal
http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/58189
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31322_3-10448231-256.html
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2007-09-06-nfl-media_N.htm
http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2008/new-major-league-baseball-restrictions-press-credentials-hamstring-online-coverage
Cheers :),
It is funny how a shrewd businessman like Modi doesn’t understand the pitfalls of bad PR. For a man who is undoubtedly smart and efficient, Modi come across as an extremely childish and arrogant person. I wish he would clean his act up before India completely alienates one and all in the cricket world.
Homer, video and audio streaming are a grey area, and I can understand rights holders wanting to protect their investment. However, Cricinfo was not even allowed match reports from the ground. Unlike the NFL or MLB, it’s hardly an established product either. It seems ludicrous to exclude the best means to promote it.
Dileep,
Since Audio/Video streaming is a gray area, let us consider the more traditional areas of information dissemination.
You mention Cricinfo in both your post and your comment. Having read the Cricinfo terms of use, I can use the very same arguments you use against Modi and the IPL.
Per the terms of use “All information, materials, functions and other content (including Submissions, as defined in Section 3, entitled “SUBMISSIONS”) (“Content”) contained on the Sites are our copyrighted property or the copyrighted property of our licensors or licensees”.
which means that if I were to reproduce/store even a score card from the site on my blog/hard disk/as a hard copy, I am liable for being prosecuted. This despite Cricinfo not doing anything to create the score card in the first place ( ie CI staffers did not bowl/bat/field, thereby contributing to creation of the said score card).
And if I were to submit a comment solicited by Cricinfo, my comment, if accepted, is automatically copyrighted by Cricinfo ( even though my comment is my intellectual property and not theirs).
I could also argue that by reproducing/retransmitting Cricinfo content, I am actually helping increase their popularity, and that measures to restrict said reproduction/retransmission is actually draconian.
Ditto Getty Images, which carries images from a game and then imposes restrictions on me as a consumer from creating a copy of the same ( storing/reproducing) without express written consent.
And if I, as an individual, am going to be bound by the copy right rules of a corporate entity over a product they dont own, I see no reason why said corporate entity is equally restricted by copy right rules of another corporate entity.
And the argument that Cricinfo is the best vehicle for spreading the popularity of the IPL is neither here nor there.
If I have a readership of 10,000 does my carrying Cricinfo content on my blog/tweet/web page exempt me from the underlying copyright rules that Cricinfo has? I mean, I bring 20,000 eyeballs to the plate, thereby contributing to CI’s popularity, therefore I should be exempt, no?
And for what its worth, the NF copyright message reads
“This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL for the private use of our audience [and] any other use of this telecast or [of] any pictures, descriptions or accounts of the game without the NFL’s consent is prohibited”
so the traditional media too is not exempt from copy right violations when carrying NFL related news/images.
Everybody protects their turf, whether it be the NFL, IPL or Cricinfo. Everyone is a Soviet 🙂
Cheers,
Let me try putting my argument in more lay terms.
Assume I am the most popular guy in my class and our knowledge of the Cricinfo website is sketchy at best. My class strength is 60 students.
Assume too that I paraphrase an article by Dileep Premachandran for my class. This can be done in one of two ways – with attribution or without attribution to the source ( the source being Cricinfo).
In either case, I am liable since I have violated the Terms of Use that Cricinfo has.
Now I can argue that since I am the most popular boy in my class and everybody knows me and likes me, Cricinfo should give me a free pass.
I can also argue that because of me 59 more people ( which is 100% of the population of my class) will know about the Cricinfo website.
I can also argue that since our knowledge of Cricinfo is vague, that Cricinfo hasnt really established itself in our collective consciousness, it is ludicrous that Cricinfo is preventing the best means of promoting it within my community.
I can also argue that since Dileep Premachandran writes for the Guardian and the Times and Sports Illustrated and other publications, and I am his biggest fan, I dont see why I should not be able to paraphrase his article.
And yet, any which way you look at it (legally or otherwise), my argument for paraphrasing Dillep Premachandran’s article on Cricinfo is flawed.
Now, in the above example, substitute me with Cricinfo, Dileep Premachandran with cricket and Cricinfo with the IPL. And the argument remains just as flawed.
Cheers,
8 teams,97 players,94 matches,1 winner!The IPL 3 Season is about to begin from 12 March 2010. Go on..Cheer your heroes,make some noise because IPL 3 promises to be Bigger,Bolder, Better than ever before!http://bit.ly/b1jFRX
Royal Challengers have launched a huge IPL campaign!! They’re inviting 4 fans to
be part of the team for six weeks!!! apply for the Fanatic Fans Challenge 2 at
http://www.royalchallengers.com/cricket-online-con tests/ffc2/adref/ffc2com
Deadline is this Tuesday.