The second coming of the big league

Will IPL be able to better its stupendous first year?

In the world of entertainment — and the Indian Premier League is nothing but — the second act is seldom easy. Godfather II is the only sequel to have won the Oscar for the best picture. Citizen Kane, often chosen by film critics as the best film ever, was Orson Welles’s first. The rest of his career was marred by lack of funds, interference by incompetent studio bosses and other unfortunate occurrences.

Farhan Akhtar’s first, Dil Chahta Hai, remains his best by a long mile. Kaun Banega Crorepati II never matched the euphoria of the first. Many would remember Abhijit Sawant for winning the first Indian Idol, but may struggle to remember the fellow who won the second.

IPL had a stupendous first edition. Can it ward off the second-year blues? The signs are ominous.

There have been some significant deals so far: Rajasthan Royals sold some equity for a lot of money, Coca-Cola joined hands with Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils added Coca-Cola and UB Group to its sponsors. But Rajasthan, the underdog that had a fairy tale run to the trophy last year, has not yet finalised a team sponsor this year after its deal with Bajaj Allianz broke down. HDIL, a housing company, has pulled out of an agreement with KKR.

Deccan Chargers, which finished bottom of the table last season, has lost its team sponsor, Jaypee. Reliance-ADAG’s Big TV DTH has walked out of an on-ground partnership deal with BCCI. Kunal Dasgupta, who has just quit as the head of the outfit that runs Sony and Set Max, the media rights holder along with WSG, was on record saying not too many sponsors were coming forward this year. Corporate gossip says there may be fewer exclusive advertising contracts this year, so that the door could be pushed a little more open to let more advertisers in.

To make matters worse, IPL will be much less of a novelty this time. Last year, the format was new. Besides, the scale, glitz and Bollywood’s involvement took the breath away. This year, none of it will be very unusual, be it 18 runs in the first over of the match or Shah Rukh jumping into Shoaib’s lap. The cheerleaders that do come (some teams may not like the controversy that accompanies them) will not shock like they did last year. Already, the players’ auction, though reported breathlessly by television channels, did not boggle the mind like it did last year.

The good thing is that many of these may become secondary issues once the game begins. None of the problems is so big that it cannot be solved by a few crackers right at the beginning of the tournament.