The hefty fine levied by the Competition Commission of India is a slap in the face of the national cricket board. As an autonomous sports body of awesome means, it had the duty to follow best business practices, particularly when it moved on to a fulsome business phase in the birth of the Indian Premier League.
This is where the BCCI went wrong as it sprang into monetising the game by resorting to any means to get its IPL going, with the Indian Cricket League having stolen a march in this format.
The deceptive practices were legendary as IPL founder Lalit Modi gathered businessmen to back the league, which as a revenue model was an unknown quantity back in 2008. Allowing a grouping of bids to create a winner in TV rights bidding auction, and then squeezing bidders for a bigger contract were a clear breach of ethics. As a non-profit sports body, the BCCI could have favoured insiders and sports sponsors earlier. But as the sport entered the modern professional era, the BCCI had a duty to ensure due diligence in its dealings.
It can’t place the entire blame on Lalit Modi as he could not have strung together such a huge enterprise without the tacit approval of fellow committee members and the board’s administrators. As an “aggrieved” body, the BCCI has every right to go in for appeal, but it would be well advised to desist from contesting the claim and go about immediately to set its house in order.