IPL 2018: 3 Reasons why this season will be the grandest season in the tournament's history
The Indian Premier League is one of the most competitive and popular T20 Leagues in the world. Right from its inception in 2008, the league has enjoyed massive fan following and has also proven to be economically beneficial for the BCCI.
Almost all the top players in the world play in the IPL and for the two months that IPL goes on, it is almost a festive time for the whole country altogether. Such is the influence of IPL in the Indian markets that we hardly see any massive or big budget Bollywood film release when the IPL is going on.
Although every season of the IPL has been a runaway hit, some seasons are remembered more often than others. There are many factors that work in making an IPL Season successful, here we take a look at 3 such reasons which could make the 11th edition of IPL the grandest edition till now.
1) New Broadcaster
The success of sporting tournaments like IPL depends hugely on the fans. Fans fill the stadiums and make the sport popular, but all the fans cannot go to the stadium to watch the matches owing to different reasons.
It is the broadcasting that makes a difference because a majority of the fans watch the games on television or their laptops and mobile phones.
After the successful completion of 10 years, Sony's contract came to an end and BCCI invited bids for the broadcast and media rights. Media and entertainment company Star India demonstrated a big appetite and business acumen for an Indian cricket property by acquiring the IPL’s global broadcasting and digital rights for a consolidated sum of ₹16, 347.5 crore ($ 2.55 billion) for a period of five years, starting from the 11th edition of IPL 2018.
Star Sports will broadcast the IPL on 10 channels in 6 languages and viewers will also be able to stream it live on Hotstar, which will take IPL's popularity to further new heights. It's also noteworthy that the amount of money IPL has received by selling broadcasting and media rights is astonishing and it will further increase the profitability of the Indian Premier League.