Lalit Modi, the brains behind the inception of the Indian Premier League, has spoken about how the richest cricket league in the world had to convince broadcasters to buy rights to the IPL in its first season and how he got “good friend” Shah Rukh Khan to buy a franchise, in the second part of a podcast with former Australia captain Michael Clarke on his podcast Beyond23 Cricket podcast.
Modi was asked by Clarke on how the IPL could have started when the players weren’t there, the TV rights were up in the air and the sponsors were yet to make a splash. The former IPL commissioner, who now resides in exile in Sardinia, said that it was his dream to have a product like the English Premier League (EPL) and the National Football League (NFL) in a country of India’s size.
“For me, the players were key. If I didn’t have the top 100 players on day one then nobody wanted to buy the rights and I’m talking to ESPN, Star Sports, Zee and Nimbus,” said Modi. He then spoke about why each broadcaster said no to him initially. “ESPN came back with a revenue share model. Zee came back with a partnership model. Star Sports was part of ESPN and so they were the same. Nimbus said, “Oh, we don’t believe in this product’.”
Modi then said that Sony told him that if he could hire the top 100 Indian cricketers and the Indian players are exclusive to the league, then they would bid for the TV rights.
Modi added that World Sports Group wanted to bid for the league but since they weren’t a broadcaster, he didn’t want to move in that direction and persuaded Sony to bid by telling them that Bollywood would be involved.
Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi gives an interview to ex-Australian cricketer Michael Clarke at his home in Sardinia. (Screengrab via Beyond23 Cricket Podcast YouTube)
How Modi approached Shah Rukh Khan to buy a team
Modi claimed that Shah Rukh Khan was a “good friend”. “We went to school together,” Modi claimed before adding that he had also watched football games with the Bollywood superstar.
Actor Shah Rukh Khan greets the crowd after KKR’s victory in the IPL 2024 final in Chennai, May 26, 2024. (PTI photo)
“I asked Shah Rukh Khan (to bid for a team). Shah Rukh said, ‘if you help me and guide me, then I’m in’. We didn’t know the price of a franchise yet. Nobody had the price. So I said to the owners, ‘If you buy a team, my minimum price is $50 million. I don’t know what the highest price is. It’s a bidding process, but the minimum going price is $50 million. That’s the base. And you can bid for any city you want’,” said Modi.
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WATCH: Lalit Modi talks about IPL’s business model
He also talked about the business model that the initial years of the IPL was based on and how he convinced players to not sign for Indian Cricket League, a rival league by telling them that they would get banned by the ICC as they weren’t sanctioned by the BCCI.
