In Lalit Modi\u2019s telling, it was anything but. It was imagined early, abandoned once, challenged by rivals, dismissed by the market and then, almost improbably, forced into existence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea to me was always to be the biggest league in the world,\u201d Modi, the first chairman of the IPL, says. But the idea predates the IPL. \u201cWhen I conceived it in the early \u201890s, it was called the Indian Cricket League. If you check who owns the domain name, it is not Subhash Chandra. It\u2019s Lalit Modi.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Modi, that first version, an eight-team, city-based competition, came close to life in 1995. \u201cIt was all set up, approved by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). We spent $17 million to $20 million. All the top players were hired. It was an eight-team format: Delhi Panthers, Mohali Stallions, Gwalior Cobras, Calcutta Tigers, Bangalore Bulls, Chennai Tuskers.\u201d<\/p>\n
It collapsed just as quickly. \u201cThere was a requirement of too many underhand payments, and I decided this is not the way it\u2019s going to work. And we shelved it,\u201d Modi says.<\/p>\n
The idea waited. When it returned a decade later, it entered a changed ecosystem and a rivalry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was launching the IPL, the first person I went to was Subhash Chandra. I said, \u2018Would you like to buy the IPL rights?\u2019\u201d Modi says. Chandra declined and built his own league. \u201cHe picked up two of my people to develop the Indian Cricket League.\u201d<\/p>\n
Modi calls him \u201ca great adversary\u201d, but is clear about the flaw in Chandra\u2019s system of \u201cowning all the teams, all the broadcasting and all the players\u201d. His own model would move the other way.<\/p>\n
Yet the larger obstacle was indifference.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went to all the broadcasters. Nobody came in. Everybody came back with a no.\u201d Investors were no better. \u201cI\u2019m making presentations to over 1,000 businessmen. Ninety-nine per cent didn\u2019t understand what we were talking about.\u201d Even within the BCCI, \u201cnot a single person could understand except for two.\u201d<\/p>\n
The problem, he realised, was cultural.<\/p>\n
\u201cI needed to attract the audience of the Saas Bahu shows on TV. That\u2019s where the money was. The bulk of the Indian advertising money sat on the eight o\u2019clock time slot,\u201d he says. \u201cI decided to do a paradigm shift. Night cricket. Eight o\u2019clock start. Music, dancing, fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
The logic is blunt. \u201cI needed to attract women and children\u2026 that is where the money was.\u201d<\/p>\n
The product still needed a trigger. And it arrived, unscripted, in 2007.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know the story of Yuvraj Singh\u2019s six sixes already,\u201d Modi says. \u201cIndia winning over Pakistan, huge, huge. We bring them back as heroes. Millions of people come. That helped it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The IPL had its first advertisement.<\/p>\n
But emotion could not substitute structure. \u201cI explained, the first pillar is the broadcaster. Without broadcasting, we don\u2019t have a pillar,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Sony\u2019s interest came with a condition: \u201cWe will buy it, provided you have the top 100 players.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe task became to find the top 100 players,\u201d Modi says. \u201cYou need Team India, without doubt. If you don\u2019t have Team India, you have a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even as he scrambled for players, the media rights auction brought the league to the brink.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, Sony signed the contract as a sub-licensee of World Sports Group. There were only three bidders, ESPN, World Sports Group, and Sony,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cESPN\u2019s bid was revenue sharing. \u2018If we do well, we\u2019ll give you 50 per cent.\u2019 I threw them out.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore I opened the Sony bid, minutes before, they withdrew. It was hand in glove. I\u2019m in front of live media. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cI opened the World Sports Group bid. It\u2019s a billion dollars. It was a mindset number\u2026 I needed the headline to be, \u2018IPL has the audacity to ask for a billion dollars\u2019. So, we have a billion-dollar cheque guaranteed. We don\u2019t have a broadcaster at that point in time.\u201d<\/p>\n
From there, he says he turned to franchise owners.<\/p>\n
\u201c4th of January was the opening of the franchisee tenders. The minimum bid price was 50 million paid over 10 years,\u201d Modi says. \u201cIf you bid a minimum of 50, I\u2019m going to give you back five. You\u2019re only giving me five; the rest is your ego money.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to get ticketing revenue, team sponsorship, food and beverage, and 60 per cent from the central pool.\u201d<\/p>\n
He tried to sell belief. \u201cIf you believe in me, it\u2019ll be so big, you don\u2019t have to ever look back.\u201d<\/p>\n
But few did.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of them believed it, Airtel, Tata group, Birla group, ICICI, HDFC. None of them believed it,\u201d Modi says.<\/p>\n
So, he made the risk explicit. \u201cIf the IPL doesn\u2019t work in year one, I will tear up all these agreements and cancel IPL year two.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was not just a league being launched. It was a wager.<\/p>\n
\u201cI put my entire career on the line. I put all my goodwill on the line,\u201d he says. \u201cWe formed our own team, paid from our own pocket\u2026 and with Sharad Pawar, we got it up and running.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd fortunately for us, it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Published on Apr 08, 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n