The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a made for television professional league for Twenty20 cricket championship in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner. It is currently contested by nine teams, consisting of players from around the world. It was started after an altercation between the BCCI and the Indian Cricket League.
The IPL inspired various international T20 leagues including the MiWay T20 Challenge (South Africa) , the Big Bash League (Australia), and the Bangladesh Premier League (Bangladesh). In turn, the IPL was inspired by the Indian Cricket League (ICL), a private cricket franchise which was founded by Zee Enterprises in 2007.
In 2010, the IPL became the first sporting event ever to be broadcast live on YouTube in association with Indiatimes. Its brand value is estimated to be around US$3.67 billion in fourth season. According to the Annual Review of Global Sports Salaries by sportingintelligence.com, IPL is the second highest-paid league in the world, based on first-team salaries on a pro rata basis, second only to the NBA,USA. It is estimated that the average salary of an IPL player over a year would be $3.95 million.
