GBR Pro | McIlroy's U-Turn: Could LIV Golf Integrate Like Indian Cricket Premier League?
Team Format, Schedule Challenges, and Power Dynamics: A Comparative Q&A Analysis with Rory’s Model to Untangle the Saudi Tangle
Reading this guide will take approximately 18 minutes.
If you spot any errors, we apologize and appreciate your re
porting them to newsroom@golfbusinessreview.com.
Leave us a little heart or a comment once you’ve finished reading. We’d love to hear from you!
By Shantanu Gupsta
Having spent the past two years as the poster boy for the PGA tour and having been an outspoken critic of LIV Golf, Rory McIlroy appears to have had a change of heart.
Speaking on the podcast “Stick to Football”, hosted by four former Premier League players, not only did he soften his previous hardline stance on players who had elected to join the rebel tour, but he also opened up the possibility that he too could join LIV Golf in certain circumstances.
He suggested if it could become integrated into the regular golf circuit in the same way that the Indian Premier League (IPI) has carved out a niche role for itself in the cricket calendar, then he might be tempted.
Whatever the reasons for McIlroy’s Damascene conversion – although he has hinted there is a growing realization that LIV is here to stay, and it is better to work with it than against it - there is a great deal to unpick in his arguments.
By reading this Q&A article to the end, you will have answers for the following questions:
What is the Indian Premier League, when and how was it created?
What other cricket competitions are there in India and how does the IPL co-exist with them?
Why has the IPL had such a great impact?
How does it fit into the Indian cricket calendar?
Where does the power balance in Indian cricket lies after IPL?
How does the format of LIV compare to IPL?
Why does the team competition format work in IPL and not in LIV?
How could LIV fit into the schedule if a format similar to the IPL was sought?
What would be the benefit of a merge to the PGA tour?
Where would the balance of power lie?
Here we go!
Q. What is the IPL?
A. The IPL is the acronym for the Indian Premier League, a franchise based T20 competition between competing cities in India. First conceived in 2007, it was first contested in 2008, and has been played annually ever since.
Although primarily based in India, it was relocated to South Africa in 2009 because it clashed with local elections, and has also been played in the UAE during the Covid pandemic. It has become the most popular cricket competition in the world (and ranks 13th overall among all sports leagues in terms of revenues generated).
Q. Why was the IPL created?
A. Although T20 cricket originated in England, India winning the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 provided the impetus for franchise cricket. The enthusiasm with which that victory was greeted in India persuaded cricket administrators in the country that there was a regular market for a competition based around the format.
And they reached out to corporations, wealthy industrialists and Bollywood celebrities to find those willing to back the concept with financial muscle.
To ensure that the nascent competition had the necessary elements of stardust, they approached not only the leading Indian players of the day, but also to the major stars from abroad, household names that Indian audiences would only have seen in the flesh on the occasional times their country toured India.
Now there is scarcely any international cricketer of any note who has not played for one franchise or the other over the years.
Q. Why is T20 cricket all the rage?
A. Even though limited overs cricket kicked off in England in the 60s, the first ODI didn’t happen until 1971. It was kind of a happy accident, really. They put together a game between Australia and New Zealand to keep a rain-soaked crowd from getting too grumpy. While ODI cricket is still a thing, it’s lost some of its charm compared to T20, especially for the younger crowd. With their jam-packed schedules, they just don’t have the time or energy for a game that lasts all day. A T20 match, on the other hand, can be squeezed into an evening, making it perfect for after work or school. Plus, it’s a great fit for prime time TV.
Q. What other cricket competitions are there in India?
Besides the IPL, there are a bunch of first-class cricket competitions in India for men while women have their own competitions, including their own IPL.
Ranji Trophy: It started in 1934. It’s mostly played by teams from different Indian states.
Duleep Trophy: This competition started in 1961 and is used by Indian selectors to check out the form of top cricketers.
Irani Trophy: This competition kicks off the Indian domestic season.
There are also a bunch of limited overs competitions – the Deodhar Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy are the main ones.
Q. How does the IPL co-exist with these other competitions?
A. When the IPL first started, it was just supposed to be another tournament, a 20 over a side limited overs kind of thing. But it really caught on and now it’s the premier competition that everyone wants to play in. It’s the dream of every up-and-coming cricketer to get picked by one of the franchises.
Q. Why has the IPL had such a great impact?
A. The main reason the IPL has been a hit is that it’s more than just a sports event. The money it brings in from broadcasting rights, sponsorships, and ticket sales pumps hundreds of millions of dollars into the Indian economy every year. It’s also created thousands of jobs, not just for those working for the franchises, but also in the hospitality and related industries. It’s even boosted tourism, with fans from overseas coming to watch their favorite stars in action. Plus, it’s raised India’s profile globally, attracting more and more investors to the country.
Q. How does it fit into the Indian cricket calendar?
A. Typically, the men’s cricket season in India starts in October, so the IPL, which usually kicks off in late March or early April, comes at the end of it. That means it’s scheduled after major domestic competitions like the Ranji Trophy have wrapped up. In a normal year, the IPL is concentrated in one season that ends towards the end of May.
But there were some exceptions during the Covid pandemic. In 2020, the whole tournament had to be moved out of India to the UAE, and was played between September and November. The following year it started in India, but after several breaches of the quarantine bubbles around the teams, it was put on hold for four months, and the season was finished in the UAE.
Q. What about cricket on a global scale?
A. Cricket is a global sport, with games being played somewhere in the world almost all the time. Traditionally, countries like England, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand reserve cricket for their summer months. With the rise of both domestic and international tournaments, it’s inevitable that some will overlap with the IPL schedule.
The IPL has become so significant that the International Cricket Council (ICC) and other leagues try to avoid scheduling major events against it. They understand that they won’t be able to draw in the players, viewers, and broadcasters that the IPL does. However, it’s not unusual for IPL franchises to lose some of their international stars before the tournament ends, as these players are often called up by their home countries to fulfill international duties.
Q. Is the IPL only for Indian players?
A. While it’s true that all top-tier Indian players are signed to one franchise or another, the IPL isn’t exclusive to them. Each franchise can have up to eight foreign players in their squad, but only four can be in the starting lineup for any given match.
Players are recruited by franchises through an auction typically held in December, before the season starts. Each team has a spending limit, usually based on their performance in the previous season. Franchises can increase their budget by releasing players from their squad. Interestingly, franchises that performed well in the previous season tend to retain their existing players.
Q. What are the monetary rewards on offer in the IPL?
A. The financial rewards from playing in the IPL can be immense, especially for those who come from smaller nations and cannot afford to pay their top stars fortunes in terms of central contracts.
Last year, for example, Virat Kohli was paid US $2.4 million by the Royal Challengers Bangalore, whilst Australian fast bowler Mithell Starc was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2024 auction for a record US $3.5 million.
That is life changing sums of money for what amounts to two to three months’ work.
Even for “journeyman” Indian players they know they can earn far more from an IPL contract than is available to them elsewhere.
The expansion of franchise cricket means that there has also been a change in the balance of power between players and their national boards. Players are aware of the vast sums of money available to them if they become “guns for hire”, and are no longer ready to commit years of their contract to playing for their country, where the financial rewards on offer do not compare.
Q. Where is the power balance in Indian cricket after IPL?
A. Responsibility for all cricket in India is the responsibility of the BCCI, and the success of the IPL would not have occurred without their full backing and support. Ironically, they were initially lukewarm after India won the World Cup in 2007, but quickly changed their tune when they saw the money on offer, both from sponsors and the sale of TV rights.
They had a strong hand, with a ready-made audience of hundreds of millions of cricket fans, many of them young, and with growing affluence. In fact, more than 70% of the global audience for cricket can be found in India, which gives the BCCI unprecedented power.
They have also taken steps to ensure the exclusivity and cachet of the IPL by prohibiting Indian players, past and present, from playing in overseas franchise leagues.
Q. How does the BCCI interact with the sport’s governing body?
A. Although the ICC (International Cricket Council) is the nominal body responsible for world cricket, the BCCI is very much the power behind the throne, not least because its revenues help to fund the game elsewhere.
And that means their voices are all powerful. This means that they have been able to carve out a period in the calendar for the IPL when little cricket of significance is being played elsewhere.
It also means that not only can the tournament be staged with little competition, but most top stars are available to participate in it.
In fact, there are plans to expand the IPL even further with the addition of more franchises, which means additional games and an extended schedule. The ICC is likely to carve into such demands, because they have little choice.
If the BCCI says jump, the only question as far as the ICC is concerned is how high?
Q. How have the franchises expanded beyond India?
A. The various franchises have not been content to stick to the IPL either. Over the years the owners have expanded their reach to burgeoning T20 competitions across the world, and now there are teams bearing their name to be found in competitions in South Africa, the Caribbean, the USA and the UAE.
There are recent reports suggesting that the Delhi Capitals are considering purchasing a stake in Hampshire. If this goes through, it would mark the first instance of a foreign investor trying to acquire an English county team.
Consequently, brands like the Knight Riders, the Mumbai Indians and the Super Kings have been elevated to global status.
The IPL franchise expansion can be equated to the rise of multi-club ownership in football, such as the City group stable of teams, or the Red Bull sporting model.
Clubs like Manchester City are now part of a global network of teams that includes Girona in Spain, New York City in the USA, and Mumbai City in India. They share, within the group, the technical know-how, coaching resources, and information exchange, as well as aiding with player recruitment and development. For example, a parent club may send one of its promising youngsters out on loan to one of its junior partners knowing they will be guaranteed first-team opportunities there.
And the IPL teams have begun to do the same with some of their contracted players. For example, Jos Buttler, England’s white ball captain, plays for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL and the Paarl Royals in SA 20 in South Africa.
Q. How has Saudi Arabia used the concept of sportswashing?
A. Saudi Arabia is an autocratic monarchy based on the principles of Wahhabist Islam, and with a poor record when it comes to human rights. Women are relegated to the status of second class citizens, LGTBI individuals are subject to persecution whilst political opponents of the regime are regularly imprisoned, tortured, and even executed.
In a bid to improve its international reputation, the Saudis have decided that the best way is to invest in sports, because of its global audience, and its ability to generate goodwill.
Known as sportswashing, the country has invested hundreds of millions of dollars across a network of sports. They include Formula One, tennis and boxing, whilst it is also making significant inroads in the world of football.
First, through their sovereign wealth fund, they acquired a majority stake in Premier League club Newcastle United, and then they bankrolled the Saudi pro League, which has attracted a host of top talent from across Europe and South America to join one of their sides.
Saudi has become the venue of choice for international and domestic tournaments as well. Before its expansion for the 2025 tournament, the latest versions of the Club World Cup was staged there. It has also hosted the Italian Super Cup between the winners of the league and major cup competition, and the Spanish equivalent. That started out as just a match between the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Rey, but now features four teams.
Q. What about cricket?
A. Saudi also has eyes on cricket itself, particularly the IPL. State oil company Aramco is now the ICC’s main naming sponsor, whilst the Saudi tourism board has assumed a similar role at the IPL. There have been suggestions that they want to set up a complementary competition, with franchises owned by Indian teams, or take over the existing tournament completely, knowing that they have the financial clout to bring the ICC into line.
Currently, the IPL income is limited to how much advertising broadcasters can sell. A Saudi-backed league would suffer no such impediments.
Q. How does the format of LIV compare to IPL?
A. From the start LIV has been both an individual and a team-based competition, with the first tournaments featuring 48 players organized into 12 four-man teams. And, unlike PGA tournaments, events are shorter, with only 54 not 72 holes, with the belief being that this engenders a greater sense of excitement and also jeopardy, since players have less time to recover from a poor round or even bad hole.
In that sense, LIV can be equated with the IPL, although with the difference that players are also competing as individuals in terms of prize money.
Q. Why does the team competition format work in IPL and not in LIV?
A. One of the reasons for the IPL’s success is that each franchise has managed to attract a fierce and dedicated local fan base. And, whilst the majority of these supporters tend to be concentrated in and around the city in which the franchise is based, it is not always the case. Franchises have fans from all over India and beyond.
Rules limiting the number of overseas players that each franchise can have in their team not only helps with the development of Indian players, but also helps create a closer bond with the average fan.
The teams in LIV Golf have no regional affiliation, because of the global nature of the tour.
Events have been held in the US, the UK, Mexico, Singapore, and Australia, and new locations have been added to the schedule in the future. That means that there is no instinctive affinity between any of the teams and the individual fan, with LIV Golf more akin to a traveling circus.
Q. How could LIV fit into the schedule if a format similar to the IPL was sought?
A. If McIlroy were to have his way, LIV Golf would be limited to just several months in the year, and would be fitted around the majors and the other main tournaments.
For example, although the Masters, the first golf major of the year, is held in Augusta in early April, the other three majors take place within two months of each other.
LIV Golf could either be held in the gap between the two or after the conclusion of the fourth major, the British Open after that.
Whilst this limited time frame is similar in that respect to the IPL, the way that competition has been allowed to expand could serve as a potential warning as to what might go wrong.
The IPL originally consisted of eight teams and lasted two months from start to finish. It has since expanded to ten franchises, and now stretches into a third month, and there are plans for more expansion in future.
And it would be hard to argue that traditional cricket has not been harmed along the way. Test cricket has been in decline for some time, and there are concerns also about the future of the ODI game.
And with top stars increasingly voting with their feet, turning down the chance to play for their countries because of the greater rewards on offer in franchise cricket, some fear for the future of international cricket altogether.
Q. What would be the benefit to the PGA tour?
A. In theory, the PGA tour would benefit if it could find a way to peaceably co-exist alongside LIV golf. Whilst the past two years have seen bitterness and rancor on all sides, the dispute has not helped the PGA tour at all, as McIlroy has hinted. The prize money on offer, although has been increased, does not compare, and sponsors have begun to pull out, finding that not all the top players in the world are available to compete in events.
And, if some events found themselves “shunted off” the calendar completely in order to accommodate LIV Golf, then that could cause damage to the image of the PGA tour, and it could also harm the long-term development of the game. If only the top stars are invited to play in the principal competitions, the opportunities for up and coming players becomes increasingly limited. Top level golf may be in danger of becoming a “closed” shop.
Whilst the IPL partially safeguards against this by limiting the number of overseas players, few restrictions would be expected in golf.
Q. Where will the balance of power lie?
A. Whilst the PGA tour may want to pretend otherwise, any merger between them and LIV Golf will result in a transfer of the balance of power, which may be compared to the relationship between the ICC and the BCCI. Whilst the ICC is nominally in charge of world cricket, in reality it is the BCCI that calls the shots.
LIV Golf has much deeper pockets than the PGA, and, unless the Saudis lose interest they will eventually get their way, and mold professional golf according to their own vision.
That may make 72-hole tournaments a thing of the past, whilst novelties like shotgun starts, faster play and other innovations will become the norm not the exception.
Golf is different from football, for example. In theory, a top-level player can ply his trade in any of Europe's major leagues, or follow the example of Lionel Messi and head to the United States. Saudi Arabia has now established itself as a credible alternative, and there are examples of former international players who have managed the end of their career, such as Benzema or Cristiano Ronaldo. In golf, the choices are much more limited, and, given the financial opportunities on offer with LIV Golf, arguably much starker.
Q. What about fundamentally redesigning the golf calendar?
A. If golf is looking for a blueprint for the future, Formula One may offer an example. Although the first Formula One race was staged in 1950, for the early years of its existence it was limited to a handful of races a season, mainly limited to Europe.
It was only when Bernie Ecclestone assumed control of the sport that its fortunes changed. Ecclestone recognised that TV held the key to the development of the sport, and he not only acquired all the rights but ensured they were marketed aggressively.
In the process, he transformed what had largely been a niche sport followed by a handful of enthusiasts into a truly global spectacle, with races held in almost every corner of the world, and a season lasting from March to December.
As McIlroy acknowledged in the podcast, golf will never have the global appeal of football. However, with better alignment, marketing and presentation, it has the potential to substantially increase its sporting footprint.
The timing of certain events would be hard to move. For example, the British Open is held every other year in UK, and the weather there means it can only ever be a summer tournament. Similarly, what makes the Masters such a unique tournament is the state of the Augusta course in early April.
And space would also need to be found for the biennial Ryder Cup. Nevertheless, other tournaments could be scheduled around LIV Golf. Egos might have to be put to one side, and some humble pride swallowed though if this is to occur.
Q. Is the genie now out of the bottle?
A. Whilst McIlroy’s comments may be seen by some as offering an olive branch, to others it is tantamount to him waving the white flag. If the staunchest critic of the breakaway tour is now prepared to entertain the idea of playing in their events then it is an acceptance that the PGA tour has lost the fight.
The Northern Irishman may want to see LIV Golf limited to defined months of the calendar, but the genie is not well and truly out of the bottle by this stage, at least not 100%. But if he does, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to get it back in again.
Shantanu Gupsta is an Indian voracious reader, a book author with six published books and an expert on cricket, golf and football.