It is very strategic and part of the plan for a long time. When I started 12 years ago with KKR, there was always the question, ‘how do you keep your brand alive round the year, build and cultivate a fan base and scale it up with a ‘two-month project’?’ Also, for us it was important to build a model successfully at our home base in India and on the basis of that, we were looking at similar types of investments in other markets. We are fortunate to have managed to turn our vision into reality with the ILT20 in the UAE where we will play in Jan, IPL in March-May, MLC in the US in June-July and the CPL in Aug-September.

The easier part was to acquire these franchises but the challenging part is to be able to build every business successfully. We work diligently towards that

How do you integrate business across leagues?

If you try to recreate everything you have done in India, in other markets, you will not have the economies of scale. To achieve this, we have built the "hub-and-spoke" model with India being the hub and the other ventures being spokes or extensions. The resources we have here, be it marketing, branding, digital, logistics, merchandising/licensing, operations, ticketing, F&B/hospitality, all of it is driven by a member of the leadership team here. We are not trying to reinvent the wheel. Yes, we need key resources on ground but the size is not large. It is one of the considerations when we go to a new place & if there are resources available, we have successfully built bridges between the hub and spokes. That we believe is the only way we have been able to globalise.

You would have factored in non-availability of Indian players and unfavourable time zones…

It is well understood that Indian players will not be available to other leagues. So, we had to evaluate opportunities keeping this in mind, the relative time zones etc. Notwithstanding all this, each opportunity has its own advantage and potential. It has taken the IPL 15 years to be where it is now. If you look at the prices at which IPL teams were first acquired in 2008 it seemed significant. Investors are now paying those type of prices for brand new leagues. Can the new leagues monetize and grow at that level remains to be seen. But it can’t be judged based on what the market is today. You have to look at what you can do with the product over a period of time.

For example, before we went in, the Indian viewership of the CPL was 22 million. To realise that it has become 150 million last year, tells you that when the franchises work with the league to develop & cultivate the market, it’s possible. Then monetization follows. We took some decisions with CPL to play more than 50% of the games that TKR (Trinbago Knight Riders) plays at 10am Caribbean time to ensure its prime time (7:30 PM) for India. We help socialize the tournament and the Indian broadcaster is happy. They acknowledge that substantial ratings are attributed to TKR games. Therefore, we take a long-term view of things and that it should make business sense. Nobody is expecting to make big money from day 1. There is a gestation period, a break-even period.

Can you elaborate on your choice of investments to go for MLC in US, the ILT20 in UAE and not to go for the South African league?

The Caribbean (CPL) has always been very exciting because of the depth of the talent they have for white-ball cricket. And then the proximity to the US market. If you look at the North American market, Canada, all those are important factors.

With MLC in the US, it is the biggest media market in the world and cricket being the second most watched sport coming together. At the beginning, the size of the market will be decided by the size of the diaspora. However, the vision for MLC is to grow and scale the market in a way to bring in the average American sports fan into the fold. When this happens, you can imagine what the scale can be. Of course, it’s going to be a long haul but that’s the opportunity in front of us. When one looks at the growth of IPL in 15 years, it’s exciting to imagine what we can do in the US in 15 years through grassroots programs, academies etc.

With UAE, the time zone is so ideally suited to India, unlike any other country. They have hosted 2 IPLs, a World Cup, the Asia Cup. It’s almost like an extension of India. All players I have spoken with like the idea of playing in the league - easy to get to UAE, great infrastructure, hotels, malls, restaurants, shopping, golf, no internal flights, no checking in & out of hotels, etc. and no taxes.

You don’t go into businesses where you know it would be tough. We have said no to several opportunities that have come our way.

Has it been challenging to rope in a bigger overseas talent pool in the UAE and US leagues, them being international in nature?

It is a challenge if you see it as such. It’s interesting because every league has foreign players, IPL has 8 in the squad and we hear SA has 7 out of 17 in the squad. Foreign players are integral to make the product attractive and to monetise the product.

Now, if you look at ILT20 or MLC, the primary objective is to develop local talent of Associate countries. No other league typically goes after Associate players except for the odd Associate player here & there. Without opportunities how will the Associate country’s cricket grow? The ILT20 in the UAE requires, in a squad of 18 to have 4 players from UAE and 2 from Associate countries. Furthermore, 2 have to be in the playing 11. That’s a start. But the reality is 36 Associate country players across 6 franchises (33%) get to be part of the experience of rubbing shoulders with international players, coaches over the duration of the league. I am pretty sure if you give the UAE league 2-3 years there will be players from Associate countries who will catch the attention and be sought after, because of the platform that’s being provided. Tim David from Singapore is an example, who has become a million-and-a-half-dollar player. There will be more Tim Davids emerging from these types of leagues.

Therefore, it should not be seen as if it is only international players. Every league needs foreigners to make the product attractive. Here you need more in the starting point. Give it some time, I guarantee the ratio will change because there will be more quality domestic and Associate players.

Is there not merit in all stakeholders coming together to address the scheduling crunch with competing leagues?

You are right, but it is almost inevitable. I can’t see the calendars not clashing. We have been in CPL for eight years and there has not been a single year where there isn’t some form of clash or the other. We have had to do without some players, but we manage. The player base is also dramatically increasing. There are plenty of talented and highly skilled players.

So, the best performing leagues will survive?

Cricket in general will be very competitive. Whether the financials of a league will support, that will be a challenge because there are many moving parts in terms of viewership, ratings, rights etc. If the administrators of the leagues figure that out and we are collectively working for the benefit of the game, the economics will follow.

Do you foresee a set of players playing for the same franchise across leagues?

You try to move in that direction, but I don’t think it is practically possible. Also, a lot of depends upon the players. If you look at two of our constants across all the ventures Sunil Narine and Andre Russell, they are very clear that they would like to play for Knight Riders franchise wherever it plays. If the rules of the leagues permit and subject to their international commitments, they will be constants. I don’t think it is feasible to say all our players have to play for us round the year. You look at what you can control whether it is support staff, brand, the look-and-feel, the uniform, those can be constants. If you have 3-4 players who can play everywhere, that’s great. But it’s not imperative to make it successful.

Some believe the IPL franchises have begun to monopolize cricket leagues all over. Thoughts…

I think it’s just a phase. It’s only because people involved in IPL are a little bit more experienced and there is familiarity—therefore a level of confidence that we can do it elsewhere. It will change. If you look at the UAE league itself, there are 3 IPL owners and the others have no experience in cricket. But they know business and have already made some good decisions.

Are we monopolizing? It is just a natural progression. It happens in every business. Look at the IT business. Once you know it, you look at other markets where you can build an IT business and then everyone jumps into that and suddenly India becomes an expert in IT and BPO.

How significant a moment was the recent spike in IPL media rights value. Were your expansion plans driven by it?

Our whole strategy on expansion was not dependent on the media rights at all. We took these decisions way back in 2011, before we had any idea about what was in store. It’s of course a feather in the cap of the BCCI and all franchises to reach where we are. Honestly, if one had said this is where we would be before 15 years, nobody would have believed it.

Is the women’s IPL on your wishlist?

It is very much an important element of our planning. This year we have women’s edition in CPL and we are the first ones there. All my conversations with SRK are that we have to do this. Every time we have conversations with the BCCI, we have been keen and we are very glad that they are seriously thinking about it and we would very much like to be part of it.

It appears it’s no longer an SRK-owned franchise that you take to the market, but KKR for what it is…

It’s of course a huge advantage, everybody knows that SRK is solidly backing everything we do. We have his unconditional support. But every business, be it KKR, or Red Chillies or Red Chillies VFX, should run on its own steam and to ensure that is part of our job. It has to be that way. We were clear that KKR has to be ring-fenced as a brand. People who associate with us know what they stand to gain and we take that very seriously. When it comes to the business, it's up to me and my team and when it comes to cricket, we leave it to the professionals. Of course, there are chats and debates but everybody involved would vouch for the fact that we don’t impose on anyone.

How do you reflect on the expanding franchise order and the shrinking international calendar?

We all grew up enjoying Test cricket and continue to do. Having said that, look at IPL, 10 teams, 250 players getting an opportunity to an experience called IPL. It’s massive. So whichever format it is, it’s for the benefit of the players. We have seen how hugely the cricket ecosystem of the country benefits. Yes, there are some inconsistencies, some issues like player availability but it is part of the growth process. Some rationality will come into it and it will all sort itself out. Some people may say the pendulum has swung too much one way, but it is always the case before normalcy is restored.

Your thoughts looking back at the last season for KKR. Your head coach Brendon McCullum has graduated to international cricket…

Our head coaches keep graduating to international sides. I was telling the ECB (England board) as well, you took Trevor Bayliss, Matthew Mott, Brendon McCullum, all from KKR. And by the way the physio of the Indian team Kamlesh Jain was also with us. We are very happy for them. We want to be that sort of organization where we offer people opportunities, they get recognition and grow.

Looking back at the season, we played very good cricket. Sometimes the rub of the green does not go our way. I am counting at least three games which were in our hands but we did not win. You add two wins to our points tally and we are in the playoffs and then anything can happen. That’s the beauty of this tournament. We have shown consistency in what we are doing, be it win/loss percentages over the past 11/12 years or winning 2 championships, making it to the finals in 2021, making it to the champions league finals in 2014, or for that matter winning 4 championships in CPL & going unbeaten in 2020. That’s what you aim for. Winning the championship is your ultimate goal, but that is very difficult. You want to be a contender all the time. Hopefully 2023 will be our year.