IPL 2: Team loyalty assumed, but hardly upheld

Recreating passion for cricket on regional lines has perhaps been one of the major innovations of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The inaugural season of IPL promotion around the team loyalty factor was well played to get the loyalties develop and spread on.

IPL Season 2 is doing great so far and it has been well accepted as one big entertainment entity. Season 2 has gone the ‘ek desh ek junoon’ way by getting the whole country do the same thing at the same point of time, that is, watch cricket. While entertainment value and passion for cricket play huge roles in IPL’s success, what is IPL without heated and flaring team loyalties and fanatic fanship?

Shifting the venue to South Africa has already deprived IPL fans the stadium buzz and frenzy, which is only accessible to those who have made it all the way to South Africa and the locals there. But even for viewers back home, IPL doesn’t seem to have promoted the loyalty factor much this season. Last year, when most metro city cosmopolitan families were seen divided under the same roof, and BPO employees were seen at loggerheads with each other, this year, the rivalries look mellowed down and the heat is hardly felt.

According to Manas Mishra, Executive VP, Mudra Connext, “While the on-air excitement is not entirely missing, playing on home turf is always different. If IPL has to ever go abroad again, this issue will need to be addressed by them. Audiences are getting smarter every day and we know that from the recent experiences in the GEC space where they switch loyalties very fast. Unless IPL keeps reinventing itself, audiences will find other attractions. SA is a good innovation this year from the point of making India and Indian cricket go global. You feel it when you are in SA for IPL, making resident Indians feel this is the difficult part.”