What does Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have a connection with the city of Bangalore? This is a herd of rented rented players purchased in auction from all over the world, in which the number of local players this year is few. For example, Devdutt Padikkal, Manoj Bhandage and Mayank Agarwal.

On paper, this team is headed by a player from Indore and actually in the hands of a Punjabi player, who comes from Delhi. The loyalty of the players is also sold in the hands of a high bidder. After staying away from the IPL title for 17 seasons, the group of ‘Global Freelancers’ finally wins a cricket league, then there was such madness of this victory in the city of Bengaluru as if this team had won a big international tournament.

The city administration should be held accountable for crowd control arrangements- such as policing or lack of barricades. But this incident also stems from the pride for a team that had no deep relationship with the city and the corporate greed was fiercely redeemed by corporate greed.

Greed and fear

The IPL and all such city-based leagues around the world are vicious ways to capitalize on regional pride. They make a team by making a team in the name of cities and states. In fact, almost every team is adorned with external players, who sometimes appear to play for the opposition on their own home ground. Think, when Kolkata Knight Riders, whose owner is a film star of Mumbai and hardly anyone in the team is a Kolkata player, Delhi Capitals, whose director is Gaurav Sourav Ganguly of Bengal. Or when RCB fans clap against Rajasthan Royals, whose coaches are Karnataka’s hero Rahul Dravid. This ‘loyalty’ for the city teams is so entangled and showy that it looks like a joke.

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Unlike the national team, most of the IPL teams are only and only business ventures. The owners of these franchises are businessmen. These teams are sold like a brand and their earnings are recorded in the corporate balance sheet. Nevertheless, their biggest investors are fans- who spend money on tickets and emotions and sometimes lose their lives.

After all, why do fans get swept away in such craze? The reason for this is the cleverness of human psychology, social pressure and marketing, which is seen in every country and every game.

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Identity factory

Human beings can be rational, but often flow into emotions. Birth is a biological and geographical coincidence, but this becomes the main basis of our identity. We are proud of our place of birth, caste and community and consider others down. The franchises of the game take advantage of us by redeeming this congenital discrimination and rivalry.

We like to live in groups. Which gives us a feeling of being a part of a large group. This is even more true in big, multicultural metros like Bangalore, where people come from every corner of India and leave their old identity and social groups. A city which is different in terms of culture and language, gives a team like RCB an emotional support and fake identity.

Finally, we worship the heroes-sometimes make the gods. Their struggle, victory and defeat become a part of our own life. This is the reason that we feel deeply connected with stars like Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli, whether their roots are like us or not. In South India, this worship of heroes is so intense that sometimes it takes it to accidents.

Not only the hero or team loyalty, these businesses also create bitter rivals. Before every match, there is a flood of hatred on social media, where veteran players have to face abuses, hooting and lewd taunts. The enmity between Chennai Super Kings (whose captain is a player of Ranchi) and Mumbai Indians is so bitter that an atmosphere like an India-Pakistan match is created.

With the help of broadcasters, the IPL gives air to this primitive mindset, due to which fans start behaving like a crowd rather than logic. Its marketing mechanism makes the audience crazy through fake shortage of tickets, exclusive merchandise and high-set stories. In 2024, the IPL earned more than $ 1 billion, in which crores were spent on marketing, so that this passion could be further instigated.

The media also gives further to this selling spectacle, causing rivals based on regional pride and hero worship. This fake craze converts the common audience into staunch supporters, which can sometimes reach a stamin like Bengaluru.

So, whose responsibility is it for such accidents? The franchise owners, the city administration, and the culture that makes the game a spectacle rather than logic. But the biggest price has to be paid to those fans, who inadvertently become the biggest victim of loyalty in the factory.

(This article is from Sandipan Sharma who likes to weave stories on cricket, cinema and history. He has been a journalist and writer for 25 years. This is his personal views.)