Cricket's Best Sold For Millions In India

[MALINI PRIYA]

MUMBAI -

Bollywood’s best rubbed shoulders with India’s corporate stars Wednesday in an adrenaline-packed auction for players for a new cricket league that is shaking up the sport globally.

Reliance Industries head Mukesh Ambani, United Breweries Chairman Vijay Mallya and Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta were among those present at the seven-hour, closed-door auction, which sent onlookers into a frenzy, with television channels exhaustively covering each high-profile entry and exit.

Investors have shelled out a total of $723.3 million to buy city-specific franchises in the Indian Premier League, organized by the Board of Cricket Council for India. In the auction to stock the teams, a total of 77 of the world's top players were on the block, including several drawn out of retirement by the huge sums of money dangled, of a magnitude previously unheard of in the sport.

“It is amazing drama,” Inderjit Bindra, a member of the IPL governing council, told media at the event. “The market is determining the price. That’s how a free-market economy should flow.”

The IPL season will consist of a total of 59 matches over 44 days from April 18. The teams will play a fast-paced variant of cricket called Twenty20, a format in which matches take about three hours to complete--far shorter than traditional test cricket, in which games can run for up to five days.

The fan-friendly Twenty20 format has become a hit with sponsors and viewers since it was introduced in England in 2003.

The IPL has already raised $1.8 billion from the sale of the teams, title sponsorship and electronic media broadcast rights for 10 years.

India’s largest real estate developer, DLF, is shelling out $50 million to be title sponsor of the league for five years in a nation where cricket victories bring thousands onto the streets in celebration.

Indian one-day captain Mahendra Dhoni and Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds went for the highest prices in the player auction.

Dhoni went to the team representing the south Indian city of Chennai--owned by India Cements--for $1.5 million, while Hyderabad shelled out $1.35 million for Symonds. The players will receive three-year contracts under which they will be paid the amount they were purchased for annually.

Symonds’ involvement in a recent racism row in Australia--India’s Harbhajan Singh was accused of hurling a racial slur at him during a match--was forgotten amid the heated bidding.

“There have been some surprises in terms of some players being bid for at prices far above expectations and others getting low bids,” acknowledged Sundar Raman, chief executive of IPL.

The eight teams--in addition to Hyderabad and Chennai, there are teams representing Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata and Mohali--have a budget of up to $5 million each for a maximum of eight contracted players.

With star players going for high premiums, other players will have to settle for much lower rates as the owners quickly exhaust their salary limits.

But Raman said the cap on teams' spending for players was valid only for the first year.

“From the second year on, subject to performance, there is significant upside opportunity for each of the players. And there’s a good amount of prize money to be won by the teams,” he told Forbes.com.

Mukesh Ambani--India’s second-richest man and owner of the Mumbai team--shelled out $975,000 for Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya and $800,000 for India’s Harbhajan Singh. He also won South Africa’s Shaun Pollock with a bid of $550,000. Mumbai had already signed Sachin Tendulkar, who as captain must be paid 15% more than the salary of the next highest-paid team member.

Star actor Shah Rukh Khan, part-owner of the Kolkata team, sat through the bidding with his wife, Gauri. His team also paid handsome sums for the West Indies’ Chris Gayle ($800,000), New Zealand’s Brendan McCullum ($700,000), Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar ($425,00) and Australia’s Ricky Ponting ($400,000).

Mallya’s Bangalore team snagged South Africa’s Jacques Kallis for $900,000 and Australia’s Cameron White and India’s Anil Kumble for $500,000 each.

The IPL is the brainchild of Lalit Modi, the cricket-mad scion of one of India's richest families, who is also vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. He reportedly spent several years in the U.S. studying sports marketing, and has brought the international sports agency IMG in to manage the league.

The venture is designed to generate hype and reinforce India’s position in the world cricket arena. With a billion people potentially watching, advertisers are more than willing to buy into the game.

“We expect Twenty20 to enlarge the base of cricket-loving consumers, and get more people to come on to performance-based entertainment," Raman said. "We believe it will co-exist with other platforms. It has already brought in a younger audience that needs a snappier form of entertainment.”

[Robert]

Wat do u think about " Tamil Nadu Team" In that.....

[Robert Davidson]

Hi,
Robert..
Even me thinking the same..