Sport and the IPL 2011 viewer !

Sport like everything else entertaining, needs to be kept alive. It needs to be re-christened, re-invented be curated according to the current tastes. Sports marketing resembles the codes of the entertainment industry. Its production and distribution, its resources and the audience - have been similar. Its measure-ability  is in film like terms - thrilling, exciting, tense drama, action and so on.  

The rise of T20 is the kind of high octane boost that a sport like cricket needs. There is a  lot of noise amongst those on twitter and blog-sphere about the player auction in IPL 2011. We know the smallness of public memory and its ability to forget the once sensational. As cricket and everyone else moves on, there is a lesson from the other end - its consumer. 

Have been an ardent - fan,follower, preacher, writer for Indian cricket and have been deeply let down by what the sport gives back to the spectator. Take a look at this stadium and we can tell. 

Hopefully the owners of IPL like the SRKs of the world will do more for the sport than use the sport to meet presidents and cut music videos through their own production companies. Here is a lesson from SA (where SRK was meeting the president)

 

 

Project: Moses Mabhida Stadium
Location: Durban, South Africa
Broke ground: 2006
Opened: November 28, 2009
Owner: South African Football Association
Surface: Grass

• Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium holds 70, 000 spectators during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.  Its design allows the stadium seating to be reduced to 54,000 for local matches or up-scaled to 80,000 for events such as the Olympic Games.
• There are 150 corporate hospitality suites with 7,500 seats.
• The grand centre arch, 106m high, is not just a design feature.  A cable car takes visitors up to its highest point, where they can get out and enjoy breathtaking, panoramic views of the city and ocean.
• The 350m long free-span steel arch weighs 2600 tons – that’s the equivalent of 2,600 average cars.
• The roof is made of 46,000m2 of Teflon®-coated glass fibre membranes, which produces a translucent glow when the stadium is lit.
• The roof is attached to the arch by 95mm-diameter steel cables.
• Each seat of the all-seater stadium is spacious and comfortable, providing clear line-of-sight to the pitch.
• A roof cover provides shelter to 80% of the stadium in the case of rain.
• A brand-new passenger terminal includes a railway station, parking, and park and ride facilities for spectators.

If we expect the action to continue and the scams to be rolling, then we better keep the audience is in it. Ah India - when will we sweat the small stuff ?