Smells like team equity

In order to avoid future spats like Twittergate, an editorial in the Indian Express says the IPL can emulate the model followed by soccer's English Premier League.

There shouldn’t be an iron curtain when it comes to information on team and league ownership in professional sports leagues. Indeed, the IPL is one of the only global sports leagues about which so little is known when it comes to the stakeholders. Until now this was not really an issue; but transparency in ownership is a must, as is accountability of the league and confidence in its conforming with legal and ethical considerations.

Another editorial in the same paper says Modi’s weekend-ful of tweets has exposed the power struggle within the BCCI and confirmed suspicions about the arbitrariness and, worse, personal interests that dictate the conduct of Indian cricket. And given the context, the imposition of transparency on the sport must begin at the IPL.

A Hindustan Times editorial says that given the financial potential of the IPL, it cannot get by without being transparent.

If the IPL gets free press from the public auction for players, it cannot justifiably deny a similar interest in the less public auction for clubs. Messrs Modi and the grey eminences in the Board of Control for Cricket in India need to work this out. Till then, a via media is for the owners to take their clubs public. This serves the purpose of getting a proper fix on how much each club, and hence the IPL franchise, is worth.