Circa 2020 has changed the world lives and does business! Social distancing and work-from-home may be the new mantra for life and sports can hardly remain unaffected.
Even as football and golf have set the ball rolling, both literally and figuratively, playing before empty galleries, other sports must too look for strategies to rebound from the enforced closures due to the worldwide Covid19 pandemic. It's not an isolated phenomenon but something that has brought the global community to a grinding halt, locking people indoors when the season was to soak in the sun and enjoy the outdoors!
The new mores that have sprung up globally controls just about everything. Businesses need to re-invent themselves to remain viable and sports cannot afford to ignore the writing on the wall. If professional sport must continue to thrive and entertain, rules of engagement will change.
The Indian Premier League, faced with the prospect of a total washout in 2020, finds itself struggling to slot itself into the cricket calendar as soon as it can find a big enough opening, subject, of course, to health and infection issues being taken care of. IPL is a business that carries with it a fairly large amount of sub-sets through its journey.
Board of Control for Cricket in India has indicated that it was not at all averse to holding the IPL in 2020 behind closed doors, giving out a clear signal to the stakeholders to get themselves ready for resuming business at short notice. And it is never going to be business as usual since the parameters have undergone a sea change!
First things first, number of venues hosting the games may need to be severely curtailed. Given the current scenario, the big four metros are all but ruled out. So the search will be for smaller cities with enough facilities to host more than one team at any given time with plenty of safe places for stay and practice. That, fortunately for the franchisees, is BCCI's lookout and not theirs.
Franchisees need to re-orient their business strategy as there might not be home games at all. Without spectators, there can hardly be any home advantage even if playing in home centre since other teams may also be using the same city and stadium as their base. It will cut down on travel costs but kill the hospitality earnings!
Lots of sponsors cut deals that, in large parts, involve in-stadia engagements. That may not be possible at all but still keeping them involved may be a challenge that franchisees need to start working on. Given the ban on public congregations, fan parks and the like may yet not be feasible options.
Even a truncated tournament with fewer matches is more than acceptable to both franchisees and broadcasters but BCCI and the IPL governing council are making their best effort to go the whole hog as far as fixtures are concerned.
Its all up in the air but one thing is certain ... It cannot be business as usual in these trying times and only fresh ideas will win the day. Its a challenge for all involved and whoever wins the day stays afloat!
Even as football and golf have set the ball rolling, both literally and figuratively, playing before empty galleries, other sports must too look for strategies to rebound from the enforced closures due to the worldwide Covid19 pandemic. It's not an isolated phenomenon but something that has brought the global community to a grinding halt, locking people indoors when the season was to soak in the sun and enjoy the outdoors!
The new mores that have sprung up globally controls just about everything. Businesses need to re-invent themselves to remain viable and sports cannot afford to ignore the writing on the wall. If professional sport must continue to thrive and entertain, rules of engagement will change.
The Indian Premier League, faced with the prospect of a total washout in 2020, finds itself struggling to slot itself into the cricket calendar as soon as it can find a big enough opening, subject, of course, to health and infection issues being taken care of. IPL is a business that carries with it a fairly large amount of sub-sets through its journey.
Board of Control for Cricket in India has indicated that it was not at all averse to holding the IPL in 2020 behind closed doors, giving out a clear signal to the stakeholders to get themselves ready for resuming business at short notice. And it is never going to be business as usual since the parameters have undergone a sea change!
First things first, number of venues hosting the games may need to be severely curtailed. Given the current scenario, the big four metros are all but ruled out. So the search will be for smaller cities with enough facilities to host more than one team at any given time with plenty of safe places for stay and practice. That, fortunately for the franchisees, is BCCI's lookout and not theirs.
Franchisees need to re-orient their business strategy as there might not be home games at all. Without spectators, there can hardly be any home advantage even if playing in home centre since other teams may also be using the same city and stadium as their base. It will cut down on travel costs but kill the hospitality earnings!
Lots of sponsors cut deals that, in large parts, involve in-stadia engagements. That may not be possible at all but still keeping them involved may be a challenge that franchisees need to start working on. Given the ban on public congregations, fan parks and the like may yet not be feasible options.
Even a truncated tournament with fewer matches is more than acceptable to both franchisees and broadcasters but BCCI and the IPL governing council are making their best effort to go the whole hog as far as fixtures are concerned.
Its all up in the air but one thing is certain ... It cannot be business as usual in these trying times and only fresh ideas will win the day. Its a challenge for all involved and whoever wins the day stays afloat!
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