Gurgaon : The BCCI-backed Indian Premeir League may have the best of current players on its roster but the Indian Cricket League recruit Chris Cairns feels the so-called rebel venture would be a bigger hit with the fans as it has more local youngsters.

“The IPL will have a lot of current players and all of them are huge stars. But ICL has an edge because we have a local flavour to our sides, which makes it easier for the fans to connect with us,” the former New Zealand all-rounder said.

“We have a nice mix of youth and experience in all our teams. On one hand we have recently-retired megastars like (Brian) Lara and Inzamam-ul Haq, who can pull in crowds on any given day. And on the other, there are youngsters from within India, who will get an opportunity to showcase their talent,” he added.

Cairns said another factor which makes ICL more appealing to fans is that it would be the first of the two Twenty20 leagues to take off.

“IPL hasn’t even started and it will be some time before it happens. But we are getting started right away and being the first has its advantages because if everything goes off well and spectators enjoy our product, it will raise the bar for IPL. So as I see it, ICL is certainly bigger at the moment,” he explained.

The 37-year-old felt it was unfair to call ICL a rebel league.

“More than anybody else, I think its the media which is trying to build it up as a rebel series. I don’t agree with this description. Take for instance my case, How can you call me a rebel? I am not contracted to my country’s board any more, so no one has the right to stop me from coming here and playing,” he said.

“As for the boards threatening to ban players, it’s unfortunate. Playing in ICL does not make you ineligible for selection. Why can’t we treat it as just another opportunity to go and play cricket?” he asked.

On his own reasons to sign up with ICL, Cairns, who would be playing for Chandigarh Lions, said, “Playing here would help me stay in touch with the game that I love and which gave me so much. It’s an interesting format and I found the whole package quite appealing.”

“And it would be interesting to find out how I do against the younger lot,” he quipped.

NEW DELHI : The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today said that the door is open for Brian Lara to join next year’s Indian Premeir League (IPL), but the West Indies batting great would have to first snap all ties with the Essel Group-backed rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL).

BCCI vice president Mr Rajeev Shukla said Lara was free to join the IPL but for that he would have leave ICL. 

“He would have to terminate his ICL contract in such a case,” Mr Shukla said when asked whether Lara, who is in the country to play in the ICL, could be part of the IPL.

However, the domestic players, who have joined the rebel league, have reached a point of no return, said Mr Shukla. 

“There is no plan to take them back. We’ve been approached by a number of players who have aligned with ICL. 

They want to play for their states and want to come back. But as of now, the Board has not arrived on a consensus about a general amnesty to them,” he said.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) expects broadcasters to pay at least $59 million for a year’s broadcasting rights of its fledgling Indian Premeir League. 
 
The Twenty20 league will involve 56 matches in a year. The base price was arrived at BCCI’s meeting on Monday. 
 
Last year, Nimbus Communications paid BCCI $612 million (around Rs 2,724 crore) for four years up to 2010, for all international cricket matches in India. 
 
BCCI Vice-President Lalit Modi confirmed the figure, adding the tender document will be made available in a few days after some modifications are made. 
 
“Broadcasters have the choice of bidding for a five or ten-year period,” he said. Three television broadcasters - ESPN STAR Sports, Sony Entertainment Television and Nimbus Communications - have expressed interest in acquiring the rights for the 56 matches that will be played by eight teams. 
 
Almost ten days ago, the broadcasters made their presentations to BCCI, highlighting how best they will leverage acquired rights. “The broadcasters will have to submit the bids by December 20.” 

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is expected to issue tender forms for broadcasting rights of the Indian Premeir League (IPL) in the coming week. According to industry sources, the winner might have to fork out over Rs 1,000 crore for a five year telecast rights. 
 
Last weekend, three broadcasters Nimbus Communications, Sony Entertainment Television and ESPN-Star Sports made their presentations to the BCCI. “The presentations basically outlined how best a particular channel intends to leverage on the property, if it won the bid,” said a source. 
 
When contacted BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi said, “The BCCI will meet on Monday (November 26) and then it will be decided as to when the tender document should be made available.” 
 
In 2006, Nimbus Communications chief Harish Thawani astounded the broadcasting world by winning the rights to cricket matches in India for an unheard of $ 612 million – about Rs 2,724 crore at the prevailing exchange rate – for four years up to 2010. 
 
Zee Sports had acquired the telecast rights for 25 one-day international matches involving India at neutral international venues for five-years, estimated at $200 million about Rs 800 crore). 
 
However, now the rights are with Nimbus Communications, after Zee accused the BCCI of favouring Nimbus Communications for all matches held in India, over Zee Sports by agreeing to reduce its five-year telecast rights fee by 15 per cent from $612 million to $520 million) following the government’s “must-share” sports Bill. 
 
The IPL that was announced to counter Subhash Chandra’s Indian Cricket League (ICL) has not only been able to attract corporate interest to buy rights to own a team, broadcasters too are narrowing in on each other. While industry feels that Nimbus Communications will not be able to pull off the bid, the real competition will be between ESPN-Star Sports and Sony. 
 
Broadcasters are not sure yet if the telecast rights will be for a period of five years or ten years. “Ten years is too long a period and channels may not be willing to block money for a ten year period,” added a source. 
 
The IPL, which will kick off in April 2008, will host 56 matches in the Twenty20 format and will have international and domestic cricketers playing in eight teams. The tournament based on the soccer event English Premier League, each team will be owned by a corporate. The company will have to buy team ownership rights from BCCI for around $50 million. This apart, the company will have to deal separately with each cricketer it wants in its team. 
 
The amount the company will pay for a player depends on the company’s bargaining power. In turn, the BCCI will offer companies a revenue share from stadium advertising and gate money. 

Karachi : The Pakistan and Indian cricket Boards have reached an understanding over the launch of the lucrative and planned Indian Premeir League next year in April-May.

Under the agreement, while Pakistan has agreed to postpone the jinxed Asia Cup by around until June, 2008, so that the IPL can be launched, India have confirmed their participation in the Asia Cup.

The IPL is a brainchild of the Indian Cricket Board which is planning to host the Twenty20 event with the help of an international events and sports management company.

However, sources in the Pakistan Board said the Indian Board was finding it difficult to find a time slot for the IPL because of its own hectic international commitments and those of other countries.

The commitments of other countries are as important for the holding of the IPL which has signed on around two or three dozen international players for the league.

“The only way the Indian board could have the IPL was in April-May around the same time the PCB was hosting the Asia Cup on behalf of the Asian Cricket Council,” one source said.

He said the Indians had given clear hints to the Pakistan Board and ACC they would definitely play in the Asia Cup if it was moved forward to June.

MUMBAI: Former New Zealand batsman Nathan Astle on Monday sounded skeptical on whether the BCCI-backed Indian Premeir League will succeed in bringing top foreign players due to the packed international calendar.
   
“IPL (floated by the Indian Cricket Board), Indian Cricket League (of which Astle is a part of) and the Stanford League are all very good for the game. But I am not sure how it can bring together so many players here in India (for 44 days) with the packed calendar,” he said today.

Astle, who is part of the ICL’s Mumbai Champs team, said he did not get an offer from the IPL after he chucked away his international career in January prior to the World Cup, adding ICL would benefit young Indian cricketers.

“I threw it away (international career) in January itself. I am sure the young Indian cricketers will learn by playing with or against people like (Brian) Lara, Chris Cairns, myself and other ex-international players. This is applicable to Twenty20 games too, the learning process,” he said at the Western Railway ground in Mahalakshmi.
   
The 36-year-old former opener, who considers the back-to-back Test hundreds he struck in the West Indies against the pace attack of Courtney Walsh, Curtley Ambrose and Ian Bishop in 1996 as something very special He feels his retirement besides those of Craig McMillan and Chris Cairns is impacting New Zealand team.

“I am passionate about New Zealand cricket. I feel it will take two years for the team to recover following the retirement of Chris Cairns, McMillan and myself,” he said.

Astle, scorer of 4702 runs in 81 Tests and 7090 runs in 222 ODIs, trashed the revolutionary idea of former Australian team’s coach John Buchanan to allow players to choose the country for which they wanted to play.

“I know where it’s coming from. It needs to be thrown out the window. I don’t think any cricketer from any country would want to play for any other country,” he declared.

He also hit out at former Australian hockey skipper Ric Charlesworth for trying to induct methods alien to New Zealand players’ culture within a short period of two years as New Zealand Cricket’s high performance manager.
   
“Good luck to you people. I heard he’s here (to advise Indian hockey officialdom). He tried to change too much in our cricket in too short a time. Australians are confident by nature and we, Kiwis, are reserved,” he said with a smile.
   
The ex-New Zealand player felt that Twenty20 format was the ideal one to help spread the game to places like China and the America.
   
“It’s a good format for spreading the game to China and America. It’s exciting and gets over in three and a half hours. It has rejuvenated cricket in rugby-mad New Zealand and has brought in the younger generation,” he said.
   
But he also cautioned the authorities not to go for an overkill by playing too many Twenty20 internationals leading to fans’ disinterest as is the case with 50-over games.
   
“But the organisers need to be careful that there’s not too much of this thing and prevent overkill as is happening now (in 50-over games). One match is followed by another within two days,” said Astle who has signed a two-year contract with the ICL.

The country’s leading sports broadcasters — ESPN, Nimbus and Sony — have made presentations to Board of Control for Cricket in India on their marketing plans for promotion of its upcoming Twenty20 Indian Premier League ahead of a tendering process for telecast rights expected to start by the month-end.

According to sources, the three broadcasters made presentations, in Jaipur two days back, on their plans on how to promote the upcoming IPL. The successful bidder will be announced by the first week of next month, the sources added.

Neo Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd Chief Executive Shashi Kalathil said Neo Sports made a presentation to the cricket board.

Cricket is a good property for us and IPL promises to add value. The only concern that we have is how would it fit into the international cricketing calendar,” he said.

Set Max business head Sneha Rajni also confirmed that the channel made a presentation but declined to divulge its plans on promoting the new league. ESPN officials however declined to comment. A close fight between the three broadcasters is expected, with cricket becoming a hot broadcast property, especially after India’s success at the Twenty20 World Cup.

Kalathil, however, said with the international cricket calendar already congested, the broadcaster needs to know where IPL will be fitted.

Yet, if the league can take the following of the game to beyond just 11-12 players to 50-60, it could become a huge success,” he added.

Nimbus currently holds rights for both domestic and international matches to be played in India till 2010, while ESPN has rights for ICC matches from 2007-15, including two World Cups and three Champions Trophy and two Twenty20 World Cups.

IPL, which will be competing with Subash Chandra’s promoted Zee Networks breakaway Indian Cricket League, is expected to attract leading current players from cricket-playing nations.

Already 34 top players, including Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid and Stephen Fleming have been signed up.

The six-team format has also attracted interests of celebrities such as Shahrukh Khan and top corporates such as Future Group, Bharti and Anil Ambani.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) often drags it feet on cricketing matters, which is why the Indian team is without a coach and will be atleast for another month till they travel to Australia.

However, in marketing matters the board is right on top. The Indian Premier League, which promises to kill off the competition of the unofficial Indian Cricket League is their top priority.

Sachin Tendulkar among others is said to be interested in owning one of the teams and the board is out to ensure that this league modeled on the lines of club football is a huge success.

The kind of interest that the BCCI has generated in the IPL or the Indian premeir league is such that film actor Rusell Crowe wants to own one of the teams or atleast have a stake.

The BCCI hasn’t confirmed the names of any of the bidders but they have fixed a date when they will decide on who gets the lucrative television rights for this event.

“In November, the media rights for the event will be decided. The bidders will give presentations. Then the highest bidders can buy the franchise. But all I can tell you is that it has had an overwhelming response,” said Rajiv Shukla - Chairman, Media Committee.

The BCCI is so determined to make the IPL a success that they will meet with the Asian Cricket Council next month to postpone the Asia Cup to June 2008. The Asia Cup is scheduled for April which is the same month that the IPL will launch.

Already the IPL has big names and big money. The floor price for each team franchise has been fixed at about Rs 200 crores. Sources in the BCCI have told NDTV that 20 bidders have expressed interest for the Mumbai team and nine for Delhi. Each of the players could be paid as much as Rs 40 lakhs to a crore.

“We have 49 players contracted and they are our strength,” said Shukla.

So the IPL tournament will be played at the cost of the Asia Cup. Once again the BCCI coffers are all set to swell with top companies expressing interest to own IPL teams.

And with the number of them increasing, it is likely that the number of teams participating in the first edition of the tournament will also go up.

If Sachin Tendulkar had any inclination to jointly bid for a team of the Indian Premeir League, he will have to think of an alternative what with the BCCI stating today (November 13) that no contracted player will be allowed to make a bid to own an IPL team.

Just when reports suggested the Master Blaster was keenly considering a joint bid to co-own a Franchise of the Indian Premier League, the Board has made it’s stand clear.

Senior board officials have catagorically told TIMES NOW that no current player would be allowed to make bid to own an IPL team.

“Sachin’s playing - when someone is playing, where does this question of owning a team crop up?” said BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla.

“Anyone who is contracted cannot own a team. So far there is nothing in this scheme that players can also buy. So unless it is built in as a clause how can they buy,” said BCCI joint secretary M P Pandove.

The BCCI has for now put its position in the open following media reports that said the Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group were in talks with Sachin Tendulkar for a partnership to bid and own a team representing Mumbai in the official league.

Leading retail gaints The Future Group meanwhile were tight lipped about their possible alliance with the Master Blaster, terming the reports today as ”speculation”.

Current players may not have the right to own IPL teams, but the race to pick franchise stakes with the IPL is gaining steam with leading corporate biggies entering the fray. Business Tycoons like Vijay Mallya and the Ambanis are believed to be finalising formalities with the Indian cricket board to pick stakes with the official league.

Tendulkar’s attempts of picking a minority stake in an IPL franchise may not happen following BCCI’s hard-stance on the issue - but will the star-cricketer still pursue the matter?

Reports suggest the BCCI have levelled a base price of $50 mn (USD) for owning a 10-year Franchise with the IPL, but sources say the figure could swell anywhere between $75 mn to $90 mn. IPL clearly means big bucks and understandably corporate bigwigs are keen on getting their share of the pie.

Not just corporates and Hollywood celebrities - even the biggest brands among cricketers want to own stakes with the highly lucrative Indian Premeir League.

But the BCCI for now have clearly put their foot down reiterating that no current cricketer will own a stake in any of the IPL franchises.

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan is among the 90 bidders for a franchise from among the teams competing in the $3 million Indian Premeir League (IPL) next year, a top Board official said on Tuesday.Even as some of the top business names have been mentioned among bidders, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, whose name was also doing the rounds, will not be allowed to bid, as the Board will bar current cricketers from bidding for a franchise.

“Shah Rukh Khan has bid for a franchise,” the official told IANS.

According to the official, England-based Lord Swaraj Paul is also in the fray. “There are a lot of prominent businessmen and personalities among the 90 bidders we have received so far,” he said.

While the franchisees will also bid for the players, some ‘iconic’ stars like Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly will play only for home teams.

The other prominent bidders are business tycoon Vijay Mallya, Anil Ambani and Hollywood actor Russel Crowe, a cousin of former New Zealand cricket captain Martin Crowe.

The floor price for the bidders has been fixed at $50 million.

Mumbai, the game’s hub and home to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters, and Delhi, where the board was formed in 1928, are amongst the big favourites with bidders.

A final decision on the teams, the league format and other related issues would be taken at an IPL governing council meeting Nov 17 in Jaipur.

The IPL, conceived by BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi and backed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and all 10 Test-playing nations, will comprise 56 matches in Twenty20 format.

Many of the world’s top cricketers, like Australians Shane Warne and Glenn McGarth, South Africa captain Graeme Smith, Pakistan’s Mohammed Yousuf, New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming and Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene, have signed to play in the IPL.

IPL will feature eight teams, with each playing home and away games against the others. After the league matches, the top four teams will play in the semi-finals with the grand final scheduled towards April-end.

Each franchise/team will have a squad of 16 players registered with the BCCI and drawn from its central contract pool. Moreover, each team will also feature under-21 players and those from the BCCI’s annual contract.

All matches will be played under floodlights at BCCI-designated stadia across the country for a total prize purse of $3 million, making this the richest cricket tournament in the world.

There will be eight franchises for the first year and the IPL hopes to double that number to 16 by 2010.