Indian Premier League (IPL) - What to do Next

The Indian Premier League (IPL) provides cricket fans all over the world - the best & not so good of what cricket and commercialization of cricket is today. With a franchise based business model, there is money, hope & city based passion that has crept into the game of cricket since 2008 when the first season of IPL was held. 

Context 
Over the past 8 seasons, IPL has gained in strength albeit a dip in ratings in 2012/2013 when there was spot fixing & betting by select co-owners of the teams happened. 

Spot fixing is an act where a player has a fix in with a bookie where the player alone in most cases can control the outcome of the fix, so this makes the probability of the fix happening very high - such as bowling a no-ball, dropping a catch, getting out a certain way.  

The team co-owner of Rajasthan Royals & the son-in-law of Managing Director of India Cements who own Chennai Superkings were held for giving team inside information to bookies & placed bets. 

The Board of Cricket Control of India(BCCI), a non-profit organization that is responsible for all things cricket in India including IPL conducted an internal inquiry to the spot-fixing & betting claims and banned a few cricketers who were involved but took no action against the teams whose owners were involved in betting. This resulted in a public interest petition filed in the Supreme Court and after a detailed investigation a committee set up by the court has come up with a judgement/recommendation to the BCCI on the co-owner & son-in-law who are "banned for life" on cricketing activities and the 2 teams - "ownership group" be banned for 2 years. 

Given the above judgement, there is plenty of speculations & ambiguity as to what BCCI should be doing to the 2 IPL teams for IPL Season 9 in April 2016. Some of the actions that are being proposed are - 

• Ban Rajasthan Royals (RR) & Chennai Superkings (CSK) for 2 Seasons 
• Bring in 2 new teams and put players from the banned teams into an auction for these new teams 
• 2018 IPL then goes from 8 teams to 10 teams
• Scrap IPL all together for an year & revamp it with more credible owners & management 

My Way Forward 

If I was in the BCCI, here are how things that can be done to handle the current situation, though this might seem to be moving away from what has been agreed to the respective agreements within IPL & BCCI but there has to be past precedents that one can learn from before arriving at a decision that is reasonable, well-thought out & fair to all stakeholders 

Firstly, the judgement cannot deny the players from each of the 2 teams a livelihood or the entire entity be disqualified or banned just because a owner or CEO of a company has done something wrong. A few examples that we can look at in terms as a reference & leverage the learning's in this situation for IPL 

1. Owner/Coach bringing disrepute for a team/league - many instances exist but the recent ones in memory are from NFL - Indianapolis Colts Owner Jim Irsay was caught with drugs & was banned for 6 games. New England Patriots were caught for video taping opponents signals & deflating footballs and were handed steep fines & draft picks were taken away 
2. Satyam Computer's- Ramalinga Raju's financial fraud but a company is an ongoing entity & government supported a careful takeover by TechM where the interests of employees, shareholders & other partners were protected  
3. Collusion - There have been instances where 3 or 4 banks have colluded to fix exchange rates, predatory home mortgage rates & terms where only fines were imposed & the banks were not banned & asked to close down 

Looking at some of these examples, here are the aspects that BCCI's Working Group can look into - 

1. Banning RR & CSK as teams or scrapping them is NOT an option. Ban the owners of RR & CSK - meaning none from the ownership group can be involved in the day to day activities of the teams for 2 years 
2. Impose a large fine on RR & CSK. Maybe BCCI donates this money to develop cricket in Associate countries in the region - Nepal, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. 
3. RR & CSK will be managed by a Supreme Court appointed Committee  
• All income & expenses will be managed by this committee & at the end of 2 years any profit left is transferred to the respective owners of RR & CSK 
4. RR & CSK - lose the right to participate in the auction in 2016 & 2017 (similar to NFL teams losing Draft picks) 
• RR & CSK will play with the same team that were contracted in the 2015 Season for the next 2 seasons 
5. Finally, IPL Management is transferred from BCCI to Team Owners similar to NFL, MLB, NBA, etc. This will remove the political angle that exists in day to day management of the league 

The idea is to retain stability in IPL as there has been a lot of investment made in the past 8 years from the fans & players aside from the owners and one cannot dilute this because of a owner & son-in-law. 

IPL is a global brand and despite the controversies, the 2015 Season 8 was a big hit, which indicates that fans have moved past these issues & have placed faith on the players & on the game than what happens off field. 

Further, the support for the recent World Cup shows that fans are more interested in the action on the field and we shows throngs of Indian & other country fans travel to Australia & New Zealand to catch the game. 

The media trying to manipulate the public discourse that fans have lost faith in cricket & players is not accurate as if this was the case then we wouldn't have seen the kind of fan following & viewership that IPL & World Cup had recently. 

Let's all look at this in a more practical way than rushing to a decision for the sake of doing something drastic. 

Cheers!! 

Making Baseball more Fun for the Average Fan!

Baseball is America's Pastime Sport - 162 games in a season & then playoffs makes it one long season starting in April and ending in October with games being played almost everyday.

I have been to a few Boston Red Sox games in Fenway and came out really understanding why Baseball is the pastime sport! A very large cross section of the crowd in Fenway were there more to socialize and were hardly watching the game, their heads turned towards the field only when there was a "cling" noise from the bat hitting ball (some unfortunate fan injuries off late have happened, especially the broken bat that hit a lady in the crowd). The rest of the time they are either talking with their friends or others, drinking beer, enjoying their hot dog or socializing in the hallways! Being in Fenway, you will off course find a few series fans who are scoring every pitch in their personal scoring sheet - true fans!

In the recent past there has been a talk of Pace of Play & making a baseball game completed in under 3 hours. So, there might be a pitch clock for pitchers similar to the shot clock in basketball. Thinking through this and other aspects from my experience at Fenway, sharing a few ideas where baseball can change to make it interesting for the average fan & adding more excitement in the game (meaning more Runs scored, my cricket influence wont go away!)

3 Changes to Baseball  

1. Reward every Base Hit - either with 0.25 runs (as 1 run in baseball is circling all 4 bases) or 1 run (then make a home run or a player circling all 4 bases be given 4 runs if one doesn't want to see decimals)
      - In an era of instant gratifications & rewards, it is very painful to see base hits not being rewarded with anything that counts to the end result of a game. People want action, results, runs & every hit having some meaning, so reward it

2. Powerplay - For the first 3 innings eliminate the Short Stop position. This will create more opportunities for Runs to be scored, which is what an average or casual fan wants to see
    - Most people are not interested in a pitching duel especially those who are watching it in the stadium as sitting a far from where the action happens, it is very difficult to follow & gauge what a great act the pitchers are putting up  

3. Ball Count - While a player is trying to steal a base the pitcher throws to the first base or second base to prevent him from stealing the base. If the Pitcher ends up throwing a pitch anywhere - home base to the batter or any other base to prevent a steal, call it a BALL. This will not only speed up the game but will also create more strategic thinking before throwing unnecessarily to prevent a steal. If the player is out stealing a base then do not count it as ball (reward for achieving some result!)

Assume that implementing any of these changes in MLB will be radical & not easy. Why not experiment with these changes in AAA or Minors or Little Leagues to gauge the impact on the players, fans & game results?

What say Baseball fans?!

International Cricket - Setting Context To A Calendar Year of Matches

International Cricket has a year round calendar with different countries playing in different parts of the world at any given point. A country is either playing a Test Match, One-Day International (ODI) or Twenty20 (T20). These International Matches are mostly bilateral series between 2 countries and sometimes includes a Tri-Series - ODI or T20.

The problem with the current International Cricket Calendar and as International Cricket Council (ICC) calls it Future Tours Programme, there is No Context at the end of a full year of cricket matches. There are No Champions crowned at the end of each calendar year through a proper format of Points System or Win/Loss ratios.

*There is an ICC Champion Table for each format that is difficult to follow,  some points carry forward each year, & no one really cares about it in the current format. 

By creating a proper context & format and crowning a Champion at the end of each calendar year, will ensure the following -

1. All bilateral series & matches have a larger context other than just who wins that particular series
     - All these interim, stop gap series that India plays with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies will have more meaning or will not be scheduled at all 
2. Every Match counts in larger scheme of things as Points or W/L ratio will matter
3. Every Country will have interest in Other Countries matches & results
     -  Even Associate Member countries can be included in this format for ODIs & T20s
4. All Fans will have more stake & interest in other bilateral series being played
5. Race to Playoffs will emerge making it exciting & a Champion in each Calendar Year for each format will be crowned

An example of a New Structure & Format that will benefit Cricket -

1. Current Future Tours Programme finalized by the countries to play Tests, ODI, T20 can be continued or tweaked to bit to ensure that most teams play in the same ballpark of matches each year in each format
2. There is no need for each country to be playing every other country each year as long as the total number of matches played is in the ballpark
3. Win/Loss Ratio will determine the ranking of countries in each format OR teams winning maximum Bilateral Series can be used to rank teams too
4. On Dec 1st of each year, the top 4 teams based on Win/Loss Ratio in each format will qualify for a Playoff Format and a Champion in each format - Test, ODI & T20 will be crowned at the end of the year.

* There will be an impact especially for the Australian Summer (December) but some adjustments need to be made. 

Playoff Format - Continuing the thought process & compiling a Win/Loss table for the period Jan 1st, 2014 to Dec 31st, 2014 for each format, we see the following emerge -

Test Match Champion - Based on the below table - New Zealand, South Africa, Australia & Sri Lanka will qualify for Test Match Playoffs. In the Playoffs - NZ will play Sri Lanka and South Africa will play Australia. The Winners will then play in the Finals to crown the Champion.

* Obviously there is a strong possibility that we may not get a result in a Test Match, and to keep it simple for now the team getting the 1st Innings Lead will be declared winner. Other ways to determine a winner can also be explored.  

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	Draw	W/L
New Zealand	9	5	2	0	2	2.5
South Africa	8	4	2	0	2	2
Australia	9	5	3	0	1	1.666
Sri Lanka	11	5	3	0	3	1.666
Bangladesh	7	3	3	0	1	1
England	8	3	3	0	2	1
Pakistan	9	4	4	0	1	1
West Indies	7	3	3	0	1	1
India	10	1	6	0	3	0.166
Zimbabwe	4	0	4	0	0	0

ODI Champion - Based on the below table - Australia, South Africa, New Zealand& India will qualify for ODI Playoffs. In the Playoffs - Australia will play India and South Africa will play New Zealand. The Winners will play in the Finals to crown the champion.

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	NR	W/L
Australia	18	13	5	0	0	2.6
South Africa	19	12	6	0	1	2
New Zealand	16	9	5	1	1	1.8
India	24	14	8	1	1	1.75
Sri Lanka	32	20	12	0	0	1.666
Scotland	7	4	3	0	0	1.333
U.A.E.	7	4	3	0	0	1.333
West Indies	13	7	6	0	0	1.166
Kenya	2	1	1	0	0	1
Netherlands	2	1	1	0	0	1
Afghanistan	14	6	8	0	0	0.75
Ireland	5	2	3	0	0	0.666
Pakistan	16	6	10	0	0	0.6
England	25	9	16	0	0	0.562
Bangladesh	18	5	12	0	1	0.416
Zimbabwe	16	3	13	0	0	0.23
Canada	2	0	2	0	0	0
Hong Kong	4	0	4	0	0	0

T20 Champion - Based on the below table - Sri Lanka, India, Australia & New Zealand will qualify for a T20 Playoffs. In the Playoffs - NZ will play Sri Lanka and India will play Australia, The Winners will then play in the Finals to crown a Champion.

* Zimbabwe& Ireland don't qualify for playoffs as they have played too few matches and it will be upto ICC to ensure that they play more matches. Same applies to other Associate countries. 

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	NR	W/L
Sri Lanka	9	8	1	0	0	8
India	7	5	2	0	0	2.5
Australia	13	9	4	0	0	2.25
Zimbabwe	3	2	1	0	0	2
Ireland	5	3	2	0	0	1.5
New Zealand	10	6	4	0	0	1.5
Hong Kong	4	2	2	0	0	1
Nepal	4	2	2	0	0	1
West Indies	15	7	7	0	1	1
Netherlands	7	3	4	0	0	0.75
Pakistan	7	3	4	0	0	0.75
South Africa	10	4	6	0	0	0.666
Afghanistan	3	1	2	0	0	0.5
England	12	3	9	0	0	0.333
Bangladesh	10	2	7	0	1	0.285
U.A.E.	3	0	3	0	0	0

*Data source from ESPNCricinfo 

ICC can eliminate the ODI Champions Trophy if this format is implemented & only 2 World Cups will remain - ODI & T20.

Does this seem like a reasonable structure & context setting for ICC to implement for International Cricket? Will this increase viewership in stadiums & on TVs/Online? Will it create more fan excitement?

I am all in for this structure!