Lalit Modi, the founder of the Indian Premier League, talked about his two most important ingredients for building a multi-billion dollar franchise.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Two things worked in India, Bollywood and Cricket.
00:02How do you combine the two?
00:03You can't take Bollywood into the field.
00:05That's a pajama game.
00:06So why not make a Shah Rukh Khan owner team?
00:08How did IPL happen?
00:09I always had this thing that we should own.
00:12Because I wanted to own a league.
00:15But now, I no longer can own a league.
00:18Because I'm part of the BCCI.
00:21I knew there was so much money sitting on the table
00:25outside of National Cricket.
00:28Two people made money in those days.
00:30ICC and BCCI.
00:33And ICC made money only based upon India Cricket.
00:36India is very passionate about cricket.
00:40But they're only passionate about Indian cricket.
00:42They don't care a damn about anything else.
00:45The person in the village doesn't care a damn.
00:47He wants Sachin Tendulkar.
00:50He wants Kapil Dev.
00:50He wants Vishal Tendulkar.
00:52He wants to see Harbhajan Singh's spin.
00:55He wants to see gully cricket.
00:57I knew there was a burning desire
01:01outside the 110 days India played international cricket.
01:04The rest of the year, what do people do?
01:05It's a daytime sport.
01:07I understood in the entertainment industry,
01:08two things worked in India.
01:10Bollywood, cricket.
01:13Nothing else.
01:15Why not find a way to combine the two?
01:17How do you combine the two?
01:18You can't take Bollywood into the field.
01:20That is pajama game.
01:23You need to keep it real.
01:26I came up with the idea.
01:27And I started seeing international sports
01:30where celebrities would attend the basketball game.
01:33And the media would go crazy.
01:34The fans would go crazy.
01:36Why not make Shah Rukh Khan own a team?
01:39Make the who-do of India own teams.
01:42How did you convince Shah Rukh Khan to buy a team?
01:45Because you said it was important for him to buy a team.
01:48Because you wanted him to buy a team
01:50so that stadiums can be filled.
01:51Not only stadiums can be filled,
01:54women and children will come into the game.
01:59So I said to Shah Rukh,
02:01you need to own a cricket team.
02:03He says, Lalit Bhai, I don't know what cricket is.
02:06You know me.
02:07He had a football with him, I remember that day.
02:08And he and Aryan were kicking football,
02:11playing football, kicking it up,
02:13putting it on my head, putting it on my shoulder.
02:15I said, that's amazing, okay.
02:16Can we just concentrate on cricket?
02:18He said, I don't know anything about cricket.
02:19If you tell me you're investing, I trust you.
02:23I will invest.
02:24But you have to hold my hand and show us how to do it.
02:28And I said, that's good.
02:31If that's the case, will you definitely attend?
02:33I said, yes.
02:34I said, you have to be present everywhere.
02:35Thought about a minute.
02:36You know I have film commitments.
02:37I said, definitely bigger than your films.
02:38Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
02:40Started laughing.
02:41I said, definitely bigger than anything.
02:43If you say so, in a joking manner,
02:45trying to contain his laughter
02:50and that I'm really dreaming big.
02:54This was in December, 2007.
02:59In principle, he said, okay, fine.
03:02I will come in.
03:05And that was it.