The Indian Premier League (IPL) has become one of the world’s biggest and most lucrative franchise-based sports leagues. Some reports put the IPL’s brand value in 2022 at $8.4 billion. With the T20 World Cup on the horizon, how much of a shadow does it need to overcome to outshine the rising start that is the IPL?
The IPL Is A Powerhouse
From an idea born some 16 years ago, the IPL has become the de-facto standard of success. Franchise-based leagues around the world have patterned their success on the IPL. Pakistan’s Super League has announced that it will begin expanding to take eight teams in 2026’s competition. Yet the IPL has many high points and records that other leagues can’t begin to dream of overcoming.
With the IPL being such a big deal, how does cricket’s premier short-form version of the game stack up? As it turns out, the Indian Premier League is still getting loads of coverage despite the looming start of the T20 World Cup. As it stands, many cricket fans are somewhat starved for information about what’s going on in the most incredible show in cricket because the IPL has overshadowed the global game.
The T20 World Cup Is Taking Place in a Non-Test-Playing Country
The T20 World Cup has had its share of great hosts. From the inaugural tournament in 2007, the hosts have been test-playing nations across the world. However, this tournament is seeing a change in hosting. The US is jointly hosting the competition with the West Indies, and many cricket fans believe this will raise the sport’s popularity in one of the largest markets in the Western world.
However, part of the reason there hasn’t been much coverage is that there isn’t a large cricket following in the US compared to its overall population. Additionally, strife within the WICB has seen some infighting among the island nations over who will get to host which games. These combined factors have cast a deep shadow over preparations for the T20 World Cup.
No Overlap in Schedules
Since this is a global tournament, it wouldn’t be possible to have overlapping schedules, and many franchise leagues realize they can’t compete against national callups. As a result, most tournaments have stopped (at least temporarily) while the greatest international short-form version of the game is played among twenty teams worldwide.
A few teams have already released their T20 World Cup lineups, and commentators are speculating about who will win. Yet the energy is not the same as hearing news from the Indian Premier League, like Harbhajan Singh’s take on the Mumbai Indians’ captaincy. Despite no overlap in scheduling, the T20 World Cup still falls underneath current IPL news.
Foreshadowing The Event
The world will be watching the T20 World Cup, and that alone will raise its prominence in the news. However, since the T20 World Cup is a short-term seasonal event, the hype behind it will be a lot more subdued than the IPL. The IPL has fans in every corner of the world where cricket is played and watched. The T20 World Cup will see fans supporting their home teams to victory. Whether this will be enough to make it more popular than the IPL is right now remains to be seen.
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