SWOT on IPL

SWOT Analysis Indian Premier League (IPL)

Where will you find the Mumbai Indians, the Royal Challengers, the Deccan Chargers, the

Channai Super Kings, the Delhi Daredevils, the Kings XI Punjab, the Kolkata Knight Riders

and the Rajesthan Royals? In the

franchise that the World has seen in recent years, with seemingly endless marketing

opportunities (and strengths, weaknesses and threats of course!).

Indian Premier League (IPL) - the most exciting sports

Strengths

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completed in 2 ½ hours. That means that is fast-paced and exciting, and moreover it can be

played on a weekday evening or weekend afternoon. That makes it very appealing as a

mass sport, just like American Football, Basketball and Soccer. It is appealing as a spectator

sport, as well to TV audiences.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is based upon the Twenty20 cricket game which should be

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more unified the sport, the more successful it is.

The IPL has employed economists to structure its lead so that revenue is maximized. The

Weaknesses

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game that generated it.

Twenty20 has been so popular that it could replace other forms of cricket i.e. damage the

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most popular games. There may be some distance between where the fan lives and the

cricket ground.

Some fans will also have to pay for travel to the ground. There may be large queues for the

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quick to get rid of key managers and players if things don't go well quickly. Famously, Royal

Challengers Bangalore (RCB) sacked their CEO Charu Sharma for watching his team lose 6

from their first 8 games.

Stakes are very high! Some teams may not weather short-term failures and may be too

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returns (e.g. Royal Challengers), and some sponsors and are moving their investment the

more reasonably priced teams.

Some teams have overpriced their advertising/sponsorship in order to gain some short-term

Opportunities

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communications opportunity, especially for advertisers and sponsors.

Since it has a large potential mass audience, IPL is very attractive as a marketing

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marketing its team to gain as large a fan-base as possible. The long-term success of all of

the franchises lies in the generation of a solid fan-base. The fan-base will generate large TV

revenues.

The league functions under a number of franchises. Each franchisee is responsible for

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hospitality, season tickets, away tickets, TV pay-per-view and other ways to segment the

market for the IPL.

Different fans will pay different amounts to watch their sport. There will be corporate

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memorabilia. Grounds can also sell refreshments and other services during the games.

There is a huge opportunity for merchandising e.g. sales of shirts, credit cards and other fan

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long-term fan-base. Their parents and older cricket fans may prefer the longer, more

traditional game. The youth market may also impress on their parents that they want them

to buy their club's merchandise on their behalf - as a differentiator or status symbol.

Marketers believe that the teenage segments need to be targeted so that they become the

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is safe against inflation which is traditionally relatively high in India.

Franchise fees will remain fixed for the up until 2017-18, which means that the investment

Threats

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determines long-term viability of the league. If the level of competition drops, then revenue

will fall. For example, if the top names in cricket cannot be attracted to India, the appeal of

the game will fall. Often getting hold of the big names is a problem - Australian domestic

cricket runs concurrent with the IPL and if players move form Australia to India to follow the

money then their domestic game will be hit. This is known as 'Free Agency.'

The level of competition that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) can generate

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pay the salaries of the best players. However, if you invest in the best players and they do

not win the trophies, then you may not see a return on your investment. It won't be a quick

return on investment - so owners need to be in it for the long-term.

If the franchisee's fan-base does not generate income then they may not have the cash to

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bought by Mukesh Ambani for $111.9 million, whereas the lowest priced franchise -

Rajasthan Royals was picked up by Manoj Badale for a mere $67 million.

Franchises are very expensive. The most expensive franchise - Mumbai Indians - was

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come from the most highly supported teams.The most highly priced teams may not be those that have the early success. Revenues will