Reports indicate that advertiser interest in the Zee-backed ICL has fizzled out drastically. ICL started a 10 second spot at Rs 40000, however, it seems that the price has come crashing down to only Rs 3000-4000 for a 10 second ad spot on Ten Sports-Zee Sports. This is a serious blow to the organisers who had hoped that the tournament filled with international stars would have been a sure-shot success.

In one my earlier posts, I had mentioned that with the India-Pakistan series clashing with the ICL tournament, things may get too hot for the rebel league. It was always going to be difficult to retain interest of the viewers but the way things stand at the moment, ICL will have to really do something special especially with the BCCI sponsored Indian Premier League starting next year. The problem for ICL has been the lack of big Indian stars. Yes, international stars have their own appeal, but to be realistic, this is an Indian tournament and if you don’t have enough Indian superstars then you are asking for trouble.

The only positive out of this ICl-IPL fiasco has been that the Indian board was forced to start a professional league that would not be based on States. Any player can play for any team. Let’s hope that the IPL can be a success and that would in turn translate to the current domestic season. If the way Indian cricket is run can be changed for the better, then the ICL would have played a big hand in it.

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