London [UK], June 4 (ANI): Former Indian Premier League (IPL) Chairman Lalit Modi has made a stellar forecast for the future of women's cricket, predicting that within the next 15 years, individual franchises in the women's game will touch billion-dollar valuations.
Speaking to ANI, the 62-year-old sports administrator stated that the meteoric rise of women's cricket, fueled exponentially by the Women's Premier League (WPL), is putting the sport on track to overtake almost every major men's sporting league globally, eventually settling right behind the men's IPL.
'It is also going to go to another level. Amazingly, Indian cricket is going to get better. Women's cricket, the crowds are filling up.'What the men's IPL was 20 years ago, women's cricket has reached that level already. Mr. Adani paid 1,600 crore for a women's team (Gujarat Giants). Conversely, we only got around $100 million or 400 crore in season one of the men's IPL for the Mumbai Indians. So on its very debut, women's cricket hit 1,600 crore,' he said.
While acknowledging that matching the current multi-billion dollar scale of mature men's franchises will take time, Lalit Modi emphasised that the financial runway for the women's game is significantly shorter than it was for the men's league in 2008.
'Women's cricket is going to go to another level,' Lalit Modi said. 'What the men's IPL was 20 years ago, women's cricket has reached that level already. Mr Adani paid 1,600 crore for a women's team (Gujarat Giants). Conversely, we only got around $100 million or 400 crore in season one of the men's IPL for the Mumbai Indians. So on its very debut, women's cricket hit 1,600 crore.'
He estimated that it will take roughly 15 to 20 years for women's cricket to fully maximise its viewership capacity. Lalit Modi confidently predicted it would eclipse long-established Western sporting leagues to become the number two sporting property in the world, sitting just beneath the men's IPL.
'You will see, unlike any other sporting league in the world, in any sport, that women's cricket will become number two in the world, and after IPL, men's cricket. And in terms of viewership, you will see that women's cricket will also, but it will take, I will tell you, take another 20 years. Okay, it has taken 18 years for the IPL to reach where it is today, with a $2 billion team. And women's cricket has just begun, but 15 years from now, Women's cricket will also be worth billions of dollars for each team. But it will be great for the game.'
The recent commercial explosion of the WPL, coupled with the historic milestone of Team India winning its first-ever women's Cricket World Cup on home soil, represents the future potential of Women's Premier League.
He recalled his time as the Vice President of the BCCI in 2006, during which he orchestrated the crucial merger of the independent Women's Cricket Association of India (WCAI) into the mainstream BCCI fold.
'I was the one who introduced women to the constitution and the BCCI,' Lalit Modi stated. 'We started to achieve that in my time alone when we started having women coming and women's cricket starting out there... I did not think the IPL ecosystem would be ready for a women's league for 10 or 12 years, but they have done it now, and they have achieved it.'
While celebrating the financial health of the Indian ecosystem, Lalit Modi pivoted back to a stark warning regarding international cricket's structural reliance on India. He reiterated his call to scrap bilateral One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and introduce franchise-backed 'IPL-style' Test matches to cross-subsidise struggling global boards.
'I am saying that test matches on bilateral will die. One Day should die. The test should survive. The test is a very important part. Unfortunately, it will die if it IS not taken over by club cricket because there is no viewership on a global level. So it will be a loss leader. I am not saying everything has to make money. So you can...develop players for the T20. You do not have to have profit in everything. You have got to do something for the game too. So, as far as the BCCI is concerned, it is a non-profit organisation. But every other country has to make some money. If they do not make money, cricket will die. Sri Lankan cricket is crying. Pakistan is crying. They have no money. Bangladesh is crying. They have no money. If India does not go to New Zealand, they die. If you do not go to the West Indies, they die. If you do not go to South Africa, they die,' he concluded. (ANI)
