IPL or Indian Premier League is the BCCI's newest money earning machine on the block. Using the shortest avatar of cricket i.e. the Twenty-20 format of the game which recently got famous with the ICC's Twenty-20 world championship held last year in 2007, BCCI is all set to wage the biggest marketing battle in India based on cricket.
Now, why I call this IPL, the biggest marketing gimmick of 2008 is due the fact this would change the face of cricket from a respectable sport to a money earning machine where the cricket sportstars will be converted to mere commodities who would be auctioned every now and then in the market.
I respect cricket as every Indian in my country does...for us cricket is like a religion, but since IPL's is changing the face of cricket and making it a place of betting where big honchos come down and officially bet on different players to earn money as it used to happen during horse races or poker matches.
Now, whats in store in the forthcoming IPL tournament for the viewers is a lot of glamsham and cricketing buzz where there would be a lot of hoopla created around cricket all for just one objective and that is marketing. Lots of brands will galore behind the cricketing extravaganza where cricketers will be mere pawns of the marketing.
Whats the future of IPL...nobody can predict...but I am sure whether it becomes a failure or a success, it would definitely be remembered as the biggest marketing gimmick of our times...so wait and watch cricket becoming a mere place of betting all for making some of "the richie rich" a little more richer...
