There is the story of an emperor who wore just an underwear and was riding a horse. The people could see that but everybody said the emperor was clothed in a fine robe and were praising the qualities of the robe. Then one boy said “The emperor is naked.” After that everybody said the emperor is naked.
Similar is the story of IPL. There was lot of hype and hoopla about it. Many said it was a great brand. The franchisees were not making profit. Some of them thrived on thousands of crores of rupees they borrowed from public sector banks which they did not return. They went for corporate debt restructuring (CDR). That meant they got more time to pay. Debts were converted into shares at higher than market value.
Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd, owners of Deccan Chargers, borrowed from different banks and defaulted. Deccan Chargers owe 35 crore rupees to players. DCHL pledged Deccan Chargers to banks. Banks wanted sale of Deccan Chargers. Bids were invited. PVP Films was the only bidder. The bid amount was 900 crore rupees, much higher than 428 crores paid by DCHL for Deccan Chargers. However the banks rejected the bid supposedly because they wanted full amount in cash, PVP offered 450 crore rupees in cash and 450 crore rupees in convertible debentures.
The glamour, glitz and gloss of IPL could not conceal the hollowness of the brand. Players wanted to play in IPL but not for their country. The money for playing in IPL was many times of what they got for playing for their country. Never before in the history of cricket so many cricketers got so much money for playing so less cricket. Now there is no certainty that players will get money if they play in IPL. It is said that Royal Challengers players except for Chris Gayle have not got their money.
There is some talk of action against paid news by politicians during election time. There should be some action against false news. There were reports of many companies bidding for Deccan Chargers. One report even said Videocon has bought Deccan Charges for 860 crore rupees.