Sunday, February 24, 2008
Symonds case shows dollar is changing priorities
SURELY Andrew Symonds isn't stupid enough to think he can simply pull out of the Pakistan tour. He is a contracted player. If he breaks that contract and plays in the Indian Premier League instead of touring Pakistan, then surely his days as an Australian player must be over.
Although I agree and admire his stance not to tour for safety reasons, it is laughable that he is prepared to play in a country across the border that has had its share of similar problems, yet feels more than safe enough to fill his pockets with $1.47 million.
Cricket Australia must step in and stamp its authority, and the players' association must show strong leadership, demanding that playing for your country take precedence over any other team.
Victorians David Hussey and Cameron White are two of the brightest prospects in Australian cricket and they have made the choice, rightly or wrongly, to be sold off to the highest bidder. I do not begrudge them for one minute — most of us in the same situation would have made the same decision.
Hussey is currently earning just above six figures to be a Victorian player, and then on Wednesday night, he found out when sitting in front of a computer at the SCG that his pay had just increased by 700%. If his team were to win the IPL competition, he will share in the $3.3 million prizemoney, elevating his earnings for 44 days' work to close to $1 million. Not bad for someone who had to leave his own state to get a game in Victoria and has played only one Twenty20 game for his country. If the Indian powerbrokers can see how valuable Hussey is, cricket authorities must now respond.
My big concern is the precedent this will set. It's terribly exciting but could prove massively destabilising. The absolute honour of being selected for Australia may now be superseded by the thrill of the enormous cash on offer elsewhere. I hope like crazy I am wrong but my gut feel is that the dollar will win out.
Undoubtedly, the older players of the domestic scene will be lining up for the superannuation payouts across the way — Adam Gilchrist, Justin Langer, Matthew Elliott, Michael Kasprowicz, Mick Lewis and the like all had this circulating in their brains as their bodies were screaming for a rest.
Don't forget the other competition, the Indian Cricket League, a non-sanctioned tournament, also is offering good cash. Matthew Elliott is not confirmed but is believed to have signed a lucrative three-year deal with the breakaway group. This is one positive — with the older blokes moving on a bit earlier than otherwise expected, the door will open for exciting youngsters to emerge in our domestic scene.
The main concern I have is with the next in line for national call-ups — players such as Luke Pomersbach, Luke Ronchi, Adam Crosthwaite, Andrew McDonald, George Bailey, etc, not to mention Hussey and White. I'm not worried about their earning capacity — good on them — but their priorities in the future. Hussey is a star and is yet to be recognised for Australian honours — his time is now overdue. White has had a taste but has not consolidated. Neither can be blamed for their decisions to set themselves up financially, but they must ensure they still have the flame burning within to play for their country.
The money is awfully attractive. It will cause confusion with young minds and hungry managers, but is it as rewarding as carving out a successful Test and one-day career for Australia?
The honour of representing your state and country should be the most important thing for the next generation of cricketers to aspire to.
IPL warning
Vaughan is set to meet with star Caps Daniel Vettori, Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum who have signed lucrative IPL contracts this week to discuss when they will arrive in England for the side's three-test series later this year.
The England tour clashes with the inaugural Indian Twenty20 competition in April and May and there is some talk the trio will play in the IPL and meet up with their international team-mates on May 5 a prospect that will see them unavailable for the first two warm-up matches of the tour.
Last night Vaughan stopped short of a guarantee that Vettori and co would arrive with their team-mates in late April and John "Mystery" Morrison a former Black Cap and leading commentator said world cricket would be waiting anxiously on the decision.
"It could be disastrous (if the players arrive late) because obviously these guys are key players and we are also talking about the captain of the side," Morrison told Sunday News.
"We might be about to see the opening shots of this new era of cricket.
Given much of the NZC's revenue comes from the ICC, which in turn gets a large chunk of its cash from India, Morrison said he wouldn't be surprised to see Indian money talk in this case.
"The issue this scenario raises is the question of Indian cricket and its role as an economic power in the game," said Morrison.
"New Zealand Cricket look like they are in a position where they don't want to upset that apple cart because a large supply of their money comes from the ICC and a large portion of the ICC's revenue is from the Indian Cricket Board the BCCI.
"We could actually see this franchise competition growing to such a level that it's bigger than international cricket."
Morrison wouldn't criticise the message Vaughan is sending by refusing to order his stars to tour from the word go and said the situation was awkward.
"I think Justin is having to be extremely delicate in this situation with the IPL players because he doesn't want to offend the ICC but at the same time I am sure he wants his best team over in England," he said.
Undaunted by IPL, ICL to stage its next edition next
“The IPL will in no way threaten ICL because there is hardly anything common between the two except that both play cricket. Our vision, format, models and objectives are different from them,” Kaul told IANS.
“There will be four international [foreign] players per team, as was the case in the first edition, but this time we may have more teams than the six in the previous tournament. The details will be out by this weekend, but there will be no change in the tournament format,” he said.
Business magnate Subhash Chandra launched ICL after Zee lost the race for money spinning five-year cricket board television rights which went to Nimbus. Then, last May, Zee pulled out of its five-year contract for overseas television rights given by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) following a new government law stipulating mandatory sharing of telecast of important matches with Doordarshan.
Last September the BCCI launched the lucrative IPL, carrying $3 million prize money and approved by the International Cricket Council and the other nine Test-playing countries. After the 44-day IPL tournament, beginning April 18, the BCCI will also organise a Champions Twenty20 tournament carrying $5 million and involving teams from India Australia, England, Pakistan and South Africa. The dates and venues are yet to be announced.
Last month, the BCCI auctioned the eight IPL franchises for a cumulative $718 million, with some of the best known Bollywood stars and business tycoons buying Mumbai (Mukesh Ambani, for $111.9 mn), Bangalore (Vijay Mallya, $106 mn), Kolkata (Shah Rukh Khan, $75.09 mn), Mohali (Preity Zinta, $76 mn), Jaipur (Emerging Media, $67 mn), Hyderabad (Deccan Chronicle, $107.01 mn), Chennai (India Cements, $91 mn) and Delhi (GMR Group, $84 million).
The eight franchise owners spent $36.6 million on buying 75 players at the auction in Mumbai Wednesday.
Zee, on the other hand, had signed the players for an undisclosed amount, but there was no auction.
Kaul said that the idea of launching was not to spend big money, though when the ICL was launched, the IPL concept was still under wraps.
“This is definitely their [IPL’s] moment of glory. But our objective is to give an opportunity to the unknown domestic Indian cricketer and help raise the standard of the international game through ICL. The first tournament in Panchkula in December was at par with international standards, in terms of television coverage etc.,” he said.
“The BCCI is not thinking about its domestic players. How come some of their own Ranji players are playing with torn pads and bats? IPL is a high profile tournament and it is only making Sachin Tendulkars and Sourav Gangulys of the world only richer,” he lamented.
Tendulkar and Ganguly were given the status of ‘icons’ and were not auctioned like others. Instead, they will receive 15 percent more money then the most expensive player in their teams.
By this calculation, Tendulkar assured income of $1.1 million.
Lalit Modi is the most powerful cricket administrator in world cricket.
The brains behind money-spinning Twenty20 league
By K.R. Nayar
Dubai: Lalit Modi is one of the vice-presidents of the Board of Control in India (BCCI), but is known as a marketing wizard. It his business acumen that has helped swell the BCCI coffers.
When business tycoon Subash Chandra introduced the Indian Cricket League (ICL), which threatened to shatter the monopoly of BCCI, all of them turned towards Modi.
He emerged as their saviour, creating the Indian Premier League. So brilliant was his idea that international cricketers are now flocking around him.
Forty-five-year-old Modi was born in Delhi but his roots are from Rajasthan and he lives in Mumbai. It was Inderjit Bindra, a former president of the BCCI, who introduced Modi into cricket administration by appointing him as the vice-president of the Punjab Cricket Association.
Modi went on to become the president of Rajasthan. He hails from a business background and is the scion of Modi Enterprises.
He is also a board member of Godfrey Philips. His clout with the Rajasthan government is such that many say he is the ex-officio chief minister of the state.
Sharad Pawar, the president of the BCCI who is also a politician, used Modi's help in formulating his plans to successfully oust Jagmohan Dalmiyan.
Once Dalmiya was ousted Pawar and Bindra gifted him the BCCI vice-president's post. Modi ensured that the BCCI revenues increased seven-fold since he took office.
Today Modi is the most powerful cricket administrator in world cricket.
All you wanted to know about IPL
What is the Indian Premier League?It’s a Twenty20 tournament involving eight teams (cities), starting April 18 and ending on June 1. Launched on September 14, 2007, it’ll be organized by the BCCI and has the sanction of the ICC. The model, based on the same lines as the English Premier League (EPL) in football and the National Basketball League (NBA) in the US, is franchise-based and the eight teams will be owned by a host of businessmen and celebrities. The players will be bought through auction and will represent the teams/cities who bid for them. The matches will be played on home and away basis.
Who has the TV rights of IPL?Sony Television and Singapore-based World Sports Group, who paid a whopping $1billion to bag the rights for 10 years.
Which are the eight teams and their franchisees?1. Mumbai (Mukesh Ambani)2. Hyderabad (Deccan Chronicle)3. Kolkata (Shah Rukh’s Red Chillies Entertainment)4. Chennai (India Cements)5. Delhi (GMR Holdings)6. Bangalore (Vijay Mallya)7. Mohali (Preity Zinta & Ness Wadia)8. Jaipur (Emerging Media)
What is the money involved?Overall prize money is US$5million, with the winners getting $2m. The remaining money will be given in the form of awards like ‘man-of-the-match’ etc.
How much does the Board get?The BCCI has earned $723.59m from the ‘sale’ of the eight teams. On top of that, the Board will get around $1billion from the sale of TV rights.
Will the IPL dates clash with cricket seasons of other countries?For India, no. It’s off-season here. But it clashes with the tours of other countries. The BCCI plans to sort this out during the ICC chief executives’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
Some other salient features of the IPL are...*The franchisees will have the freedom to run the teams in their own style, bring their own sponsors and even name the team as they wish (after consulting the IPL board)* After the auction in the inaugural year, they will be free to trade their players, as is done in various leagues around the world* The players also get a share in the profits, starting from TV revenue, gate money and merchandising* The teams can be listed on the stock exchange* Top players in the teams are expected to earn a minimum of Rs 1-2 crore per season as guarantee money. They are also slated to get salaries on which there won’t be any cap* All IPL matches will be played under lights, as per ICC rules. The League will feature a total of 59 matches that would be spread over 44 days. All matches will be played on Saturdays and Sundays plus one yet-to-be-decided weekday. There will be two matches per day, the start time being 5pm* The IPL governing council will be in charge of running, operating and managing the league independently
Englishman's wealth of ideas helping India to milk its latest cash cow
Mark Souster
It began with a gentlemanly chat over a cup of tea at Wimbledon eight months ago and this week turned into the most valuable start-up event in sporting history and a tournament worth possibly $3.5billion (about £1.8 billion) over the next decade. When Andrew Wildblood, a senior vice-president and corporate director for India at IMG, sat down at the All England Club last July with Lalit Modi, the vice-president of the BCCI, both men shared a vision. They wanted to re-energise Indian domestic cricket and to tap into the apparently insatiable demand for the sport in the country.
The constraints of the domestic calendar mean that there will not be any Englishmen actively involved in the inaugural DFL Indian Premier League that starts in April, but Wildblood will be there to see the fruition of his IMG team's work.
It is a concept that has gripped the imagination of the cricketing world, one that before a ball has been bowled appears to have brought together sport, showbiz and big business, with Bollywood stars and mega-rich tycoons and conglomerates vying for the prestige of owning a team.
The financial figures are mind- boggling, akin to a modern-day gold rush, not least for the players. Mukesh Ambani, one of India's richest men, paid more for the Bombay franchise than Randy Lerner did to buy Aston Villa, who came complete with £30million of Birmingham real estate. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is, temporarily at least, earning more per week than Cristiano Ronaldo. Television rights went for more than $1billion.
So how did it come about? “Initially, we kicked around a few ideas,” Wildblood said yesterday from India, which over the past months has become a second home as he and his team work ceaselessly to overcome the hurdles inherent in establishing such a tournament from scratch. It has been a huge undertaking with an array of processes that all had to be rigorously tested.
“For some time, Lalit had had a vision of what he wanted and in order to do that we agreed it had to be based upon a city to city format rather than state to state,” Wildblood said. “It was a broad vision with no meat on the bone. We also concurred that the model should be based on US-style franchises whereby the owners of the teams would also benefit from the properties that were sold as a consequence of the creation of the product, ie, television and sponsorship.”
Within a month the concept had taken shape. Eight city teams will play home and away, with 59 matches over 44 days taking place almost exclusively during prime-time television hours, using the Twenty20 format. A commercial structure was developed to wrap around the sporting model to create an investment vehicle that would prove attractive to owners.
“I knew it would be huge,” Wildblood, 50, who is married with two children and lives in London, said. “There is nothing else that has been launched as a start-up that comes anywhere near to it in sport. We got a little lucky when India won the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup, which transformed the perception of that type of cricket into the format which 76 per cent of the population now say is their favourite.
“It has been the project of a lifetime, one of the biggest single things that IMG has ever done. From a business context, it has been life-fulfilling.”
It has comes as a result of an incredible convergence of a number of things: the advent of Twenty20, the development of the Indian economy, the desire to regenerate the stadium infrastructure before the 2011 cricket World Cup that India will co-host and the demand for more entertainment opportunities in a maturing economy.
“IMG has done a pretty amazing job,” he said. “There have been bear traps all the way down the line, but we have managed to avoid them because we have been incredibly rigorous and determined that what we constructed was totally robust.”
Modi agreed. At the culmination of the auction of the world's best players on Tuesday, he paid the ultimate compliment to the company without which Modi said the IPL would have been stillborn. When the first ball is bowled on April 18, in the match between Bangalore and Kolkata, Wildblood will be entitled to feel satisfied at a job well done.
