![Nothing compares to the Indian Premier League’s monopoly on eyeballs in India. <br /><br />In this episode, we unpack how the IPL is the fastest-growing sports league in the world. We cover some eyepopping stats about cricket and the IPL, examine the fascinating story behind its emergence and the key business decisions that make it so interesting to investors. <br /><br />And what better guest than former Australian test cricketer turned investor, Ed Cowan.<br /><br /> <br />For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here: https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/5270704/cowan-ipl-reinventing-cricket<br /> <br />-----<br /> <br />This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. I’m a longtime user and advocate of Tegus, a company that I’ve been so consistently impressed with that last fall my firm, Positive Sum, invested $20M to support Tegus’ mission to expand its product ecosystem. Whether it’s quantitative analysis, company disclosures, management presentations, earnings calls - Tegus has tools for every step of your investment research. They even have over 4000 fully driveable financial models. Tegus’ maniacal focus on quality, as well as its depth, breadth and recency of content makes it the one-stop, end-to-end research platform for investors. Move faster, gather deep research to build conviction and surface high-quality, alpha-driving insights to find your differentiated edge with Tegus. As a listener, you can take the Tegus platform for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick.<br /> <br />-----<br /> <br />Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.<br /> <br />Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.<br /> <br />Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss | @ReustleMatt | @domcooke<br /> <br />Show Notes<br />(00:00:00) - Intro<br />(00:03:05) - [First question] - An overview of the Indian Premier League (IPL) today<br />(00:07:41) - How cricket fits in the context of Indian culture and markets<br />(00:11:06) - The mechanics of T20 cricket and its history<br />(00:19:33) - The genesis of the IPL<br />(00:21:42) - How the original eight teams were sold by the league and seeded by investors<br />(00:24:44) - The IPL’s conception and the rockier aspects of its startup phase<br />(00:30:13) - The revenue structure and business model broken down into their many streams<br />(00:33:44) - How Indian culture influences media deals in cricket<br />(00:41:55) - How operators have structured the IPL to optimize for media rights <br />(00:44:53) - More on league-level economics, costs, and IP monetization <br />(00:47:22) - Dynamics of individual franchises within the league<br />(00:55:19) - The infrastructure model and overhead costs for individual franchises<br />(00:59:03) - A deep dive into the player auction and how it works<br />(01:07:48) - Fanbase demographics and the importance of female representation in the IPL<br />(01:12:38) - How IPL creates and leverages scarcity value<br />(01:17:26) - The increasing international reach of the IPL draft<br />(01:19:32) - How the BBL in Australia stacks up against the IPL<br />(01:25:18) - Premortem case for the IPL<br />(01:28:22) - Why he thinks cricket and the IPL won’t be disrupted any time soon<br />(01:31:59) - Lessons for operators and investors<br /><br />#businessbreakdowns](https://media.thebusinessprofessor.com/wp-content/plugins/youtube-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
Nothing compares to the Indian Premier League’s monopoly on eyeballs in India.
In this episode, we unpack how the IPL is the fastest-growing sports league in the world. We cover some eyepopping stats about cricket and the IPL, examine the fascinating story behind its emergence and the key business decisions that make it so interesting to investors.
And what better guest than former Australian test cricketer turned investor, Ed Cowan.
Show Notes
(00:00:00) – Intro
(00:03:05) – [First question] – An overview of the Indian Premier League (IPL) today
(00:07:41) – How cricket fits in the context of Indian culture and markets
(00:11:06) – The mechanics of T20 cricket and its history
(00:19:33) – The genesis of the IPL
(00:21:42) – How the original eight teams were sold by the league and seeded by investors
(00:24:44) – The IPL’s conception and the rockier aspects of its startup phase
(00:30:13) – The revenue structure and business model broken down into their many streams
(00:33:44) – How Indian culture influences media deals in cricket
(00:41:55) – How operators have structured the IPL to optimize for media rights
(00:44:53) – More on league-level economics, costs, and IP monetization
(00:47:22) – Dynamics of individual franchises within the league
(00:55:19) – The infrastructure model and overhead costs for individual franchises
(00:59:03) – A deep dive into the player auction and how it works
(01:07:48) – Fanbase demographics and the importance of female representation in the IPL
(01:12:38) – How IPL creates and leverages scarcity value
(01:17:26) – The increasing international reach of the IPL draft
(01:19:32) – How the BBL in Australia stacks up against the IPL
(01:25:18) – Premortem case for the IPL
(01:28:22) – Why he thinks cricket and the IPL won’t be disrupted any time soon
(01:31:59) – Lessons for operators and investors