The Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast is an “audio biography” series with the leading Entrepreneurs and Movers & Shakers in the business of Sports & Esports of the past 40 years. Marcus drills deep into the career of his guests, what worked and what didn’t, the learning from the good, bad and ugly. Through his wide network, Marcus is able to host top guests from across the industry and from around the world. As a western Sports Entrepreneur operating in Asia for the past 25 years, it has a certain East-West flavour.
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The Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast is an “audio biography” series with the leading Entrepreneurs and Movers & Shakers in the business of Sports & Esports of the past 40 years. Marcus drills deep into the career of his guests, what worked and what didn’t, the learning from the good, bad and ugly. Through his wide network, Marcus is able to host top guests from across the industry and from around the world. As a western Sports Entrepreneur operating in Asia for the past 25 years, it has a certain East-West flavour.
Lalit Modi, The Founder - IPL .. Episode 1, The Build-up
The Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast by Marcus Luer
1 hour 3 minutes 32 seconds
1 year ago
Lalit Modi, The Founder - IPL .. Episode 1, The Build-up
Lalit Modi, the Architect and Founder of the IPL (Indian Premier League) – we recorded four episodes to go very deep into his amazing stories from his early days as a young entrepreneur making his marks, to his entry into Cricket (board of BCCI) to the creation of the IPL and controversies after. Lots of amazing stories, facts and anecdotes many told for the first time.
Key Highlights
Lalit’s early day, joining the family Tobacco business (Godfrey Philipps India) – the three criteria for the family to support a business
JV with Disney in India – licensing, merchandise, etc (Michael Eisner his mentor) - looking to launch sports channel with ESPN – movies, etc
Early days of DTH and cable operators in India – Star TV (Prime Sports later Star Sports)
Placing Disney TV program on Doordarshan (DD) – huge hit
Rupert Murdoch coming into the picture – Modi Entertainment Network – Zee TV story
Power of Database from Godfrey Philipps India to launch sports network – IMG Bill Sinrich early days of sales of Indian Cricket rights
Leveraging Indian Cricket rights to launch an encrypted sports channel (first India’s Pay channel)
Lalit entering Cricket space – Mark Mascarenhas (Worldtel) – the key broker at the time
2002/3 – first time the concept of an Indian Cricket League comes up – 50 over game – Indian Cricket League (ICL)
2005 – Lalit becoming VP of BCCI – commercialization of Indian cricket taking off under his leadership
First Lalit cancels Sahara contract – (paying only USD 100k per year, front of Jersey) – pushed to USD 1 mil per Day of Cricket (105 days)
Nike new kit deal – (Reebok small deal before) – Nike bids 52 mil per year during tender process
Terminating Murdoch’s media contract story – new tender pushing fees up 10x – bids over USD 500 million – political pressure
Harish Thawani – Nimbus – USD 612-625 mil (4 years) – launched NEO Sports on back of it
ICC T20 World Cup in South Africa, 2007 - re-ignites the ideas of a T20 League
BCCI board gives Lalit a green light to explore the idea since he had already made some a few billions over the past 2 years
Indian Players not very enthusiastic – hadn’t played the format
Subhash Chandra – ZEE TV owner - copied idea and launched ICL first – lots of issues
BCCI stops Indian national team players from joining – international players joined
IMG - Andrew Wildblood – enters the frame – Lalit hires them to put the concept together (Aug 2007)
Lalit knows key is for India to do well in T20 WC - offers a Porsche for Six Sixes to any Indian player to motivate them to win the T20 WC
Negotiating with international players in South Africa
Rudra Singh hits six sixes - India vs England – huge news, Indian fans catch the fever and Indian wins the WC
Open Double Decker Bus parade for players – pouring rain on that day – team arriving from South Africa – nine hour tour – 4 million people on the streets
T20 was the new buzz word in India – story to be continued………
About
Globally recognized leader, Executive Director of Modi Enterprises, with business interests across nearly every industry vertical. Built a billion-dollar brand in less than a year, launched a revolution to Indian broadcast entertainment, and negotiated partnerships with ESPN, Disney, Google, Ten Sports, B4U, Fashion TV, Voyages TV, Buena Vista Television, United Artists, Marvel, Nike and others.
International business strategist who catalyzes transformation and change by capitalizing on unmet demand in domestic and overseas markets. Embraces technology and creates opportunities to enrich lives, create sustainable revenue, and optimize productivity through integration of emerging platforms in social and digital.
An entrepreneur at heart with a phenomenal ability to connect people and ideas into revenue-generating enterprises, an active member of the board for one of the oldest and most successful industrial conglomerates in India, and the thought- leader behind radical change in India’s leading Cricket admini
The Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast by Marcus Luer
The Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast is an “audio biography” series with the leading Entrepreneurs and Movers & Shakers in the business of Sports & Esports of the past 40 years. Marcus drills deep into the career of his guests, what worked and what didn’t, the learning from the good, bad and ugly. Through his wide network, Marcus is able to host top guests from across the industry and from around the world. As a western Sports Entrepreneur operating in Asia for the past 25 years, it has a certain East-West flavour.