IPL’s prize money

Indian Premier League is one of the richest domestic cricket tournaments in the world . The inaugural Indian Premier League(IPL) of 2008  offered a winners’ cheque of Rs 4.8 crore and an overall prize money of Rs. 12 crore. Since then the prize money has only been increasing. Table below lists the prize money in various seasons in Rs.

Teams: Rajasthan Royals :RR Chennai Super Kings :CSK Royal Challengers Bangalore :RCB Mumbai Indians :MI Deccan Chargers : DC Delhi Daredevils   D Kings XI Punjab :KP Kolkata Knight Riders :KKR Pune Warriors India   WI Kochi Tuskers Kerala :KTK

IPL	Season 5:2012	Season 4:2011  (in Rs)	Season 3:2010   (in Rs)	Season 2:2009   (in Rs)	Season 1:2008   (in Rs)
Winner	$2 million	10/6 crore CSK	6 Crores CSK	4.8 crore DC	4.8 crore RR
Runners Up	$1.5 million	5/3 crore RCB	3 CroresMI	2.4 crore RCB	2.4 crore, CSK
3rd		1.75 Crores MI	1.75 Crores RCB	1.2 croreDD	1.2 croreKP
4th		KKR	DC	1.2 croreCSK	1.2 croreDD
5th		KP	DD	80 lakhKP	80 lakhMI
6th		RR	KKR	70 lakhRR	70 lakhKKR
7th		DC	RR	50 lakhMI	50 lakhRCB
8th		KTK	KP	40 lakhKKR	40 lakhDC
9th		PWI	-	-	-
10th		DD	-	-	-
	Ref:TOI				(Ref: Business Standard )

Note:We found conflicting reports about Prize money for IPL 4. with ritrosoft.com  claiming Winner prize is 10 crore and sportingattitude.com  claiming 6 crore. Please help us in filling/verifying the table.

Some of the other prizes given in IPL 2011 or IPL 4 are as follows.

Man of the Final – Murali Vijay (CSK) – Rs. 5 Lac
Man of the Series – Chris Gayle (RCB) – Rs. 5 Lac
Orange Cap – Chris Gayle (RCB) – Rs. 10 Lac (Orange cap: Cricketer with maximum runs)
Purple Cap – Lasth Malinga (MI) – Rs. 10 Lac (Purple cap: Cricketer with maximum wickets)
Rising Player – Iqbal Abdullah (KKR) – Rs. 10 Lac
Catches in IPL4 – Kieron Pollard (MI) – Rs. 10 Lac
Best inning in IPL4 – Paul Valthaty 119* runs – Volkaswagen Vento
For comparison in Cricket World Cup 2011 the total prize money  was 44.1 Crore Rs with following distribution:

Rs 13.8 Crore to Winner Teams.
Rs 6.9 Crore to Runner-up Teams.
Rs 3.45 Crore to the 3rd and 4th Place Teams.
Rs 1.80 Crore to the 5th to 8th Place Teams.

Cricketers and money

We hear or read news like MS Dhoni earns Rs 450 crore a year, Sachin endorses a brand for Rs 5 crore, Gautam Ghambir got Rs 11.04 crore in IPL4 auction. All such news make us think that these cricketers are minting money. But it’s actually the top players like Sachin, Dhoni who rake in the moolah. We can compare it to hearing about NIT-Allahabad student bags Rs 1.34-cr Facebook offer  (Jan 2012) or Three IIM-A students bag Rs 1 crore package  (Oct 2011) which is for top students of instiute and not everyone. Cricketer and Money(Mar 2012) discuses in detail about How much does a cricketer earn? How much IPL pays cricketers?What about the endorsements and his retirement?

Sanjay Manjerakar,Former India batsman; now a cricket commentator and presenter on TV on ESPCCricInfo:Thank god for the IPL (Apr 2011) said

 I believe the IPL should be given a special window in the ICC cricket calendar for just one reason and one reason only: because the players benefit from it greatly. I know international cricket makes money for players, but it does not even come close to matching what one IPL season can put in their pockets. The IPL has its flaws, but no other cricket event in history has created so much wealth for such a large number of players. As a former India cricketer I am glad it is making so many domestic players financially secure.

Aakash Chopra, opening batsman and author also agree about it. Quoting from Yahoo:Pros and Cons of IPL

Playing one full year in all three formats for Team India, a player stands to earn between USD 1-1.5 million, which includes the annual central contract fee too. But one needs to be a player of extraordinary ability to not only fulfill the demands of three different formats but also remain super-fit too, to avoid missing tournaments due to injury. On the contrary, a player of very limited abilities can earn USD 2 million and above for playing 14 T20 matches lasting 3 hours each over 8 weeks.

IPL raises the question Is Technique, passé? Gen Next is asking for reasons to play the longer format of the game. Are you playing for your country, for those countless millions of fans who follow the fortunes of the national team, who make cricket the game it is in India? Or are you playing for Vijay Mallya, Mukesh Ambani et al. Right from the first edition of the IPL, players picking up injuries during IPL season and then miss participating in the International series right after the IPL has been growing! IPL has affected the game everywhere in quality, schedules and priorities. What is IPL doing to Indian cricket, cricket in general is discussed in detail in Hindu-BCCI: Billionaires Control Cricket in India(Jan 2012)
IPL has always been mired in controversies. 2011 asked if IPL would survive without Lalit Modi, 2010 was about the underlying financial mess within BCCI, 2009 saw IPL being forced to go out of the country while 2008 the inaugural edition raised the questions about the feasibility of such a high profile, ultra-rich but long drawn out league. Will IPL-5 be able rise above the controversies around it,the India’s disastrous tour down under and in Asia Cup,  falling TRPs and viewer fatigue is to be seen.