Every new sports league in India eventually gets asked the same question. “Can this become the next IPL?” The people behind the Indian Basketball League (IBL) don’t even want to entertain the idea. And honestly, that might be the smartest thing about the project so far.
Launched in 2025 and expected to begin competition in early 2027, India’s first-ever professional basketball league is not trying to copy cricket’s biggest machine. No forced “mini IPL” packages. No obsession with becoming a cricketer in sneakers.
Instead, the IBL wants basketball in India to finally feel like basketball.
Quick. Loud. Urban. Global. And most importantly, sustainable.
Speaking exclusively to India Today, league commissioner Jeremy Loeliger made it very clear that trying to directly compete with the IPL would be simply “foolish”.
“If we tried to become the next IPL, we wouldn’t succeed,” Loeliger said.
That line probably tells you everything about how the league wants to position itself. Because over the years, Indian sports leagues outside of cricket have often fallen into the same trap. Some have tried borrowing IPL-style auctions. Others have copied formats, brand structures or presentation styles in the hope that the cricket audience will automatically transfer.
Most tried to build a long-term identity. IBL seems determined not to make that mistake.
BASKETBALL DOESN’T WANT TO BECOME CRICKET
Loeliger’s biggest argument is actually quite simple. Basketball is already a natural fit for the audiences that modern sports leagues are trying to attract.
Fast pace. Constant scoring. Music during breaks. Short attention span. Indoor arenas. Fans sitting almost at the top of the court. Social media friendly moments every few minutes. Basically the exact reasons why T20 cricket has exploded worldwide.
“Basketball is already the kind of fast-paced, high-energy sport that was designed to replicate T20 cricket,” Loeliger said in an interview with India Today. And unlike cricket, basketball already comes with an inherently global ecosystem attached to it.
This is important in modern India.
Today, young fans don’t follow just one sport anymore. They move between NBA clips, soccer reels, UFC knockouts, F1 highlights and IPL games, all on the same phone screen. IBL knows the audience already exists.
The challenge is to provide Indian basketball players with a real journey through school. Demarcus Cousins talks to some young Indian ballers. (Image: X/IBL)
Because the irony is that basketball has always quietly existed in Indian school culture. Courts are everywhere. Interschool competitions are common. A lot of kids grow up serious about this sport. The problem always came later. There was nowhere to really go professionally. Now the league believes it finally can be.
THE BIGGEST WIN MAY NOT BE THE LEAGUE ITSELF
What’s interesting about the IBL project is that it’s not just about starting a tournament and hoping it works out later. ACG Sports and the Basketball Federation of India are trying to build a real structure around it.
A fully residential high performance center has already been launched. Trainers from the United States and Australia are expected to be part of the ecosystem. Training will focus not only on basketball, but also on nutrition, mental well-being and academic balance.
The long-term goal is obvious: to make basketball feel like a real career option in India. And Loeliger seems realistic enough to understand that success doesn’t immediately look like packed arenas or billion-rupee awards. DeMarcus Cousins with players from the Indie Basketball League. (Image: X/NBA India)
Instead, he kept coming back to one word: sustainability.
“We want players who have grown up in the system to feel that they can make basketball a real career,” he said.
This idea changes everything for young players. Because Indian basketball has often produced talent without opportunities.
IBL wants to become that bridge.
WHY IBL WANTS ITS OWN IDENTITY
One of the clearest signs of this approach is how the league plans to structure player recruitment.
No auctions.
Instead, the IBL wants a draft system similar to global basketball leagues, where teams select players in order rather than simply outscoring everyone else. Again, the mindset is less about grace and more about balance.
“Trying to replicate the IPL exactly would be a mistake because we are not cricket,” explained Loeliger. The league also plans to initially operate as a caravan model before eventually moving to a full home-and-away structure after improving infrastructure across cities.
This infrastructure challenge is real. India still lacks enough world-class indoor basketball halls to suddenly run a massive decentralized league overnight. However, the league seems more interested in building slowly than pretending the ecosystem is already ready.
And perhaps that patience is the biggest positive sign here. Because Indian sports fans have seen enough league launches with hype, celebrity owners and flashy announcements before they quietly fade away a few years later.
The IBL doesn’t seem obsessed with becoming the biggest thing in Indian sports right away. It just needs Indian basketball to finally have its own space.
His own sound. His own culture.
And for thousands of young players who have grown up hearing tennis shoes creaking on school courts without ever really seeing a future in the sport, that may be more important than becoming ‘the next IPL’.
– The end
Issued by:
Amar Panicker
Published on:
09 May 2026 11:52 IST
