Franchises for board's new Twenty20 league
Jamie Alter in New Delhi - Cricinfo
September 13, 2007

Rahul Dravid was among the high-profile players present at the launch of the Indian Premier League © AFP

The Indian board announced the launch of a new Twenty20 competition, based on a revolutionary franchise system, which it says is aimed at enticing a new generation of sports fans into cricket grounds. The top two teams in the competition, called the Indian Premier League, will qualify for the Champions Twenty20 League featuring teams from England, Australia and South Africa.

The league is scheduled to start in April 2008 and will last for 44 days, involving 59 matches. The prize money for the league will be around Rs 13 crore (US $3million).

None of that is really new; what's new is the franchise concept, under which teams would be owned not by the board but by separate corporate entities on the lines of the major sports leagues the world over.

Lalit Modi, the BCCI vice-president who is also convenor of the league, said there would be eight teams, or franchises, in the first season, playing each other on a home-and-away basis on Saturday evenings. Each team would have a minimum of 16 players, of whom four would be international and four from the Under-19 level or from the catchment area where the team is based. There would be a draft pick, similar to that in the US, which will allow players to be traded across teams at market rates.

Modi, the league's main architect, said each franchise would pay a fee to the board for access to shared revenues and the right to exploit exclusive revenue. These franchises represent the cost of access to shared revenues in that sports league. The board would be responsible for the tournament schedule, providing regulations and match officials, maximizing media coverage and guaranteeing territorial stability.
"These franchisees will get marketing rights and also a share in the centralised revenue, which is yet to be decided. They will also be entitled to local revenue like ticket sales," Modi said. "Each franchisee will get one home ground and will have to commit to building stadiums at their base."

The ultimate goal, he said, was to create a franchised Twenty20 cricket structure for India. "The Indian Premier League has been designed to entice an entire new generation of sports fans into the grounds throughout the country. The dymanic Twenty20 format has been designed to attract a young fan base, which also includes women and children."
The high-profile ceremony in New Delhi was attended by some of cricket's most powerful men and the official stamp accorded to this new tournament would not have gone unnoticed by the Indian Cricket League. Modi, though, was quick to dismiss the idea the league was a trigger-happy reaction to any other private initiative. "This not a knee-jerk reaction to any tournament but a project we have been working on for two years," he said. "It is too early to talk about revenue but already 30 different individuals and corporates have approached for franchisee."

In his reaction, Kapil Dev, chairman of the the ICL's board, said he wished the BCCI luck and welcomed the Board's Twenty20 initiative, saying "competition is good" for the game. "I don't want to say much. I have been asked to run the Indian Cricket League and I will be happy if I am allowed to do that."

The league will be run by a seven-man governing council comprising former Indian captains Sunil Gavaskar, MAK Pataudi and Ravi Shastri, and board officials Rajiv Shukla, Chirayu Amin, Inderjit Singh Bindra,and Arun Jaitley.

ICL chairman promises to reveal big signings soon
Kapil welcomes BCCI's proposed league
Cricinfo staff
September 13, 2007

It's all good: Kapil Dev believes the competiton that BCCI's proposed Twenty20 league will offer to the ICL will benefit the game © AFP

Kapil Dev, the chairman of the Indian Cricket League's (ICL) executive board, has welcomed the Indian board's plans of launching an international Twenty20 league.

"If the board has decided that, I'm proud and happy that they endorse our view about Twenty20 cricket," Kapil said at a press conference in Chennai where the ICL camp in going on. "There's nothing wrong with them coming. Competition is good. Good luck to them."

Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, is expected to unveil the board's plans for the Pro20 league in Delhi today. Top board officials from India, Australia, England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will meet in Delhi to thrash out the preliminary details of the proposed league, which is expected to kick off some time in the second half of 2008.

Kapil said the ICL was not trying to fight the BCCI and its aim was simply to improve the standard of cricket in the country. "I am not bothered by monopoly or anything. I have to look after my home. If you don't disturb me, if you allow me to run my ICL, I'll be happy." He also promised to soon reveal big names that had signed on with the ICL.

Kapil said ICL's administration would be an open one - with everything, including selection, put live on television. "The time has come when people want to be more and more involved, so it's all going to be in the open. Some things, the committee might not want to televise, but 90% will be in the open."

The support that ICL has received from the public had been unexpected, according to Kapil. "There are a few teething problems in the first year and there has been some opposition. [But] whenever we've met common people, at airports, in railway stations, outside, you can't imagine how much encouragement we've got. Not just Indians here, but also Indians living abroad." He also dismissed the problem of grounds that ICL could face with the BCCI refusing to allow the league to use any ground that comes under its care. "Matches can be played here [at Mayajaal in Chennai] as well," Kapil said. "We'll go to schools; we'll go to the streets. We have to build."

The ICL plans to hold a Twenty20 tournament in October featuring six teams, each with two Indian internationals, four overseas players and eight juniors. Over 50 domestic players and over eight international players have already signed up with the league and more are expected to join.

thread already posted by yorker
http://www.lovelypk.com/cricket-disc...scussions.html

this is different superman..this is recognized by bcci lol

man so many 20-20 leagues coming up these days that u can open a new thread every day for one league. lemme also try and find out some 20-20 league for scotland and post a new thread here

so now we have the international leage, the ICL and the BCCI league? looks like cricket's going to the dumps in the race for money

Everything to know about the Champions League
Cricinfo staff
September 15, 2007

The Champions League was launched in the presence of the representatives of the Australian, Indian, South African, England boards and Indian stars Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar © AFP

What is the Twenty20 Champions League?
The Twenty20 Champions League is an international tournament featuring the best teams of the domestic Twenty20 tournaments in various nations. It is scheduled to be held in October 2008.

Who is behind it and is it official?
It will be run by the cricket boards of India, Australia, South Africa, and England. The league has the backing of the ICC, so it will be deemed official.

What's all the buzz about?
Simply put, it's probably the first international tournament for domestic sides. It's not too different from the similarly named football tournament in Europe. Just as football clubs from various European nations qualify through their individual leagues for the football Champions League, the top two teams from each of these cricket-playing nations will qualify through their respective Twenty20 domestic leagues for the Twenty20 Champions League. Teams in England, Australia and South Africa will qualify through existing competitions; for India, where the Twenty20 structure barely exists, a new league called the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be put in place.

Have the details been worked out? The where, when and how?
As mentioned above, it will be played next October between eight teams, two from each country, divided into two groups. There will be a total of 15 matches, including the semi-finals and the final. The venues are yet to be decided, but it shouldn't be a problem because the organisers have the support of the ICC and the national boards.

What will they be playing for?
The overall prize money for the Twenty20 Champions League will be $5 million, the winners taking home $2 million. There will be $3 million up for grabs in the IPL. By contrast, the winners of the ICC World Cup in the Caribbean took home $1 million; the team that wins the current ICC World Twenty20 will take home half of that.

Where did the idea come from?
There is a school of thought that the idea was originally put forward in 1996 by the same man who is in charge of the project now: Lalit Modi, BCCI's vice-president. But it was shot down then because it would go against the zonal system that the BCCI runs under. Modi, though, says the work seriously got underway a couple of years ago when Sharad Pawar became the BCCI president. It is believed that the project was fast-tracked when the Zee group in India announced the Indian Cricket League in April this year.

How are they different to each other?
They both use the Twenty20 format but that's about all they have in common. The ICL is not recognised by any of the national boards or the ICC; it is a one-nation tournament lacking the status, international reach, players, and the infrastructure that the Twenty20 Champions League will have by default. The players here won't be barred from representing their nations, unlike the ones who have joined the ICL. It will eliminate the concept of regional representation. For example, it is possible in theory that Glenn McGrath plays for Mumbai Maulers against New South Wales in the final of the Twenty20 Champions League.

And there's one more difference: Franchises.
Franchises? What's that?
That means the teams making up the Twenty20 league in each participating country will no longer have regional affiliation as they do now - states in Australia and India, counties in England - but will be owned by corporate houses, rather like football teams in Europe or the major sports teams in the US. And, like them, they can trade, appoint coaches and support staff, buy equipment and make best use of whatever resources they have. Apart from the prize money (more on that later) the sources of revenue will be gate money, a share of TV earnings, and sale of merchandise. It hasn't yet been decided if they will have a share in the players' endorsements.
To begin with, the franchise concept will apply to the IPL; the organisers plan to extend it to the other countries in a couple of years' time.

The overall prize money for the Twenty20 Champions League will be $5 million, the winners taking home $2 million. There will be $3 million up for grabs in the IPL. By contrast, the winners of the ICC World Cup in the Caribbean took home $1 million; the team that wins the current ICC World Twenty20 will take home half of that

Hang on - what about other countries where they play Twenty20, Pakistan, for example??
Pakistan is a notable missing name but Modi says it will be part of the inaugural Champions League. However, it's yet to be seen in what capacity Pakistan is involved; it is believed that Pakistan, like Sri Lanka, does not have the economy to sustain a full-fledged franchise concept. It's possible that the IPL includes one team from Pakistan. New Zealand have also not been directly involved in the Champions League so far but the country's cricket board is already talking of its teams joining Australia's Twenty20 competition to have a shot at the international event.

All this is pretty radical, isn't it?
It certainly has potential to change the game. Lalit Modi wasn't joking when he told Cricinfo, "We're going forward and trying to change the world order." One, the money could make Twenty20 the most lucrative form of cricket any aspiring cricketer wants to play. So what would that do to cricket skills and talent pools for longer versions of the game is anyone's guess. Two, it could change the way we look at cricket. Teams based on regional affiliations will be replaced by teams based on commerce, players playing not for local pride but for top dollar. That's how football has grown in the last 20 years - and not everyone's happy with the shape it's in today.

It is significant that the league was launched in the presence of cricket's most powerful men - the heads of the ICC and the Indian, Australian and South African boards, and the ECB's No. 2 (not to mention Messrs Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, McGrath and Fleming).

Indian Premier League signs international stars
Warne reported to have joined Indian Twenty20 League
Cricinfo staff
September 16, 2007

Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath could soon be playing for Indian domestic sides © Getty Images

Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Stephen Fleming have reportedly signed with the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Champions Twenty20 League.

A report in the Sydney Morning Herald quoting the Sun Herald said Warne was pursued by the Indian Cricket League (ICL) for over four months before declining their offer - reported to be US$700,000 a season - and accepting the IPL's offer for "significantly less".

The IPL is the planned Indian domestic Twenty20 tournament modelled on the system of franchises used by the American NFL and NBA. Each franchise will pay a fee to the BCCI, which will give it access to shared revenues and the right to exploit exclusive revenue. There will also be a draft, similar to the one used in the US, which will allow the buying and selling of players.
The report said Fleming, the former New Zealand captain who was on the verge of signing with the ICL, also joined the IPL for a lower fee. McGrath, who retired from all forms of cricket at the end of the World Cup this year, had said he was tempted by the ICL offer, but now if reports are to be believed, he will be playing for an Indian domestic team by April next year.

The ICL, backed by the Essel group in India, is also a Twenty20 league - though not recognised by the ICC or any of the national boards - that has signed at least seven international players including Brian Lara, Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq, as well as more than 50 Indian domestic players. In its first year the ICL will feature six teams with two Indian internationals, four overseas players and eight juniors in each side. They play their first tournament next month.

The newspaper reported that Warne would play for Hampshire till the end of the English season and then go to India and join one of the IPL teams. If his team qualified for the league final he would play in the Champions League, where he could possibly be traded to the highest bidder.

IPL may offer performance-based contracts


Mumbai: The governing council of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s newly-launched Indian Premier League (IPL) is contemplating a policy that the BCCI has been trying to streamline for the national side.
Cricketnext has learnt that the IPL body wants to put in place a performance-based contract system, to be renewed annually, for all the players who would align themselves with the Champions Twenty20 League and the Indian Premier League.
The existing system (for the national side) guarantees players annual contracts, distributed over three grades, along with an annual retainer-ship free.
The IPL’s governing council, which comprises BCCI office-bearers Lalit Modi (the chief architect of IPL), Rajiv Shulka, Chirayu Amin, IS Bindra and Arun Jaitley, wants to ensure that the league does not become a ‘hit and giggle’ affair for some of the big-ticket players who have reportedly inked the deal for exorbitant amounts.
In contrast to the IPL, cricketers who have committed allegiance to the Essel-group’s Indian Cricket League (ICL) are bound to a three-year agreement – the amount of the contract is a guaranteed sum of which 25% would be paid upfront.

"Unlike others, we do not wish to work on high-budgets and whooping signing amounts. A player should ask himself what after the firm exhausts the initial investment or does not draw the projected returns?" a board official remarked, obviously hinting at the ICL.
It is not clear though as to who would be offering the contracts, for the teams playing the IPL would be owned not by a cricket board but by corporates on the lines of the major sports leagues the world over.
The official said, "What we unveiled before the media was just a general lay-out of our plans. The working committee has merely approved of the general concept. There are other significant decisions that need to be taken including the contract clauses and the franchisee’s payback to the board. A considerable part of the revenue generated by the IPL would be allocated to the state associations. It is imperative that they are upgraded technologically."
Virtuosos at the old game, the BCCI, by fastening a vision statement to the peg of stability, has incited a growing concern: what of the players, should the ICL reaches the end of its tether?
Connect it to how swiftly the BCCI has roped in Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Stefan Fleming –Warne for a significantly lesser amount than what was reportedly offered to him by the ICL – and one would have no doubts as to who is pulling the strings at the moment.


http://www.cricketnext.com/news/ipl-.../26954-13.html

now my turn...

lol so many leaque opens up that its hard to stay updated

Jayawardene among eight Sri Lankans to join IPL
Cricinfo staff
October 1, 2007

Mahela Jayawardene is keen to be a part of the IPL and has come on board ... now one of the eight franchises can hire him to play for them © Getty Images

The Indian Premier League received a boost as top Sri Lankan cricketers including Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara signed on. Although it will ultimately be down to various franchises to sign players onto their rolls, the latest announcement from Lalit Modi, the convenor of the IPL, makes it clear that these players are on board and available to be hired.
The signings of these players, along with Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Farveez Maharoof and Nuwan Zoysa is the latest move from the IPL, which already announced that players like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Stephen Fleming had expressed their interest to get on board.
"We at the IPL are committed to enticing an entire new generation of sports fans into the grounds by showcasing some of the best cricketing talent on offer from the world over. It is in line with this philosophy that we have signed eight of the current Sri Lankan squad," Modi said while announcing the signings. "We are also in talks with some of the finest players in the international cricketing arena. I promise Indian fans that the IPL will truly be one of the finest cricketing leagues anywhere in the world."
Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, though likely to play county cricket in England, will take part in the IPL before the English domestic season begins. Speaking on behalf of the Sri Lankan players who joined the league, Jayawardene said, "Twenty20 cricket is an exciting new format for both cricket players and fans. We are all thrilled to be joining the IPL, an innovative venture that has the potential to fuel cricket's growth around the world during the coming years. We are looking forward to making our mark in the league."
These players who have signed on will be part of a central pool of "designated players," that each of the franchises can choose from. Designated players constitute international cricketers from India and abroad. Each franchise can field a maximum of four such designated players while four other players will have to come from the under-21 age-group from the catchment areas around the home city in which a home team is based.
The IPL is scheduled for an April 2008 launch and will feature eight franchises in the first season, with each team playing seven home and away games against one another. At the end of the a 56-game regular season, the top four teams will then face off in the semi-finals which will culminate in a grand final. The tournament comes with a prizemoney of US$ 3 million, the richest purse in international cricket at the moment. The IPL hopes to grow the eight franchises to 16 by 2010.
© Cricinfo

Shoaib eyes India Twenty20 league

A pensive Akhtar arrives for his disciplinary hearing

Shoaib Akhtar has asked the Pakistan board to let him play in the newly formed Twenty20 Indian Premier League. The 32-year-old fast bowler was at a disciplinary hearing into his clash with Mohammad Asif that saw him sent home from the ICC World Twenty20.
"I have got a written offer and I am keen to take part," Akhtar said.
The International Cricket Council has endorsed the league, which is different to the breakaway Indian Cricket League with Brian Lara and Inzamam-ul-Haq.
The controversial Shoaib, who had a two-year drugs ban overturned on appeal last year, has also been charged with four other counts of misconduct.
PCB officials revealed that a decision on Akhtar's future will be made next week after they have considered documents from the fast bowler's lawyer.
Akhtar rejected an offer to play in the ICL, to preserve his hopes of an international return.
Pakistan officials said they would not consider players who participated in the rebel event, but the IPL has the support of the Australian, England, South African and Pakistan boards.
"The IPL is an official tournament and has good money," he said. "The advantage is whenever it is held it will not clash with my national commitments."



SOurce: BBC