Champions League rights sold for $900 million to ESPN

ESPN-STAR Sports has won the exclusive Global Commercial Rights to telecast the Twenty20 Champions League matches for 10 years starting from the event's inaugural edition scheduled to be held from December 3-10.
The channel bagged the rights for USD 900 million, making the League highest value cricket tournament on a per game basis. On their way to secure the commercial right, ESPN STAR Sports left behind Abu Dhabi Sports Club and DIC.

The status of Twenty20 cricket as the sport's most lucrative avatar has been confirmed with commercial rights to the Champions League being sold to broadcasters ESPN-Star Sports (ESS). This makes the Champions League, promoted by the national boards of India, Australia and South Africa, the highest valued cricket tournament on a per-game basis.

The deal marks ESS's entry into the specialized Twenty20 market; it had lost out on the bid for the Indian Premier League after what seemed like a miscalculation on its part. The IPL rights were eventually sold to a consortium, including Sony Entertainment Television and the Singapore-based World Sports Group, for more than $1 billion. It had seemed like an outrageous price to pay at the time; now, after the overwhelming success of the inaugural IPL, it seems a steal.

ESS are the ICC's television rights holder until 2015 - they acquired the rights in 2006 for $1.1 billion over nine years - but the postponement of the Champions Trophy, originally due to start in Pakistan tomorrow, left them facing a long spell without a major series.

Singapore batsman hits Twenty20 double hundred

A batsman in Singapore has scored what is believed to be the first Twenty20 double hundred, bludgeoning a remarkable 219 from 56 balls in a club match.

Sagar Kulkarni, 28, hit 18 sixes and 23 fours in his in Marina Club's 368 for 3. His partner for much of his innings was Mulewa Dharmichand, who made 89 off 44 deliveries.

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IPL cricketers set to earn more next year

If you thought that the IPl cricketers were earning more then you are in for a shocker. After the success of the first edition IPL commitee is set to remove the $5 million cap on the spending of the team on the players next year.

"If we hadn't done that, I can tell you that our players would already be the highest-paid across any sport in the world," IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi was quoted as saying in 'The Daily Telegraph' .

"It will happen - if not today, then tomorrow. Because once the franchises have established themselves, it will be a free-for-all," he added.

The report stated some leading Australian cricketers like Matthew Hayden and Brett Lee can expect a several-fold hike in their pays when they go back to play the next season after their short stints this time.

Indian ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who fetched the maximum bidding price of Rs 6 crore this season, reportedly told a senior Australian player last week that extraordinary contracts of up to $14-15 million were likely to be introduced by the next season.

Hayden confirmed that players were up for a financial windfall when the next season of the IPL gets underway.

"From what I have heard, some of the stuff (payments) this year could be just the tip of the iceberg," Hayden said.

Where are the consumer rights in IPL ?

I went for the two IPL matches which was played in the newly built D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. The stadium is superb. Unlike Wankhede stadium of Mumbai which has benches, this stadium has bucket seats with seat nos. So, no problem regarding where to sit as we get our nos. on the ticket we purchase. The stadium has no pillars, hence, we can have full view of the stadium and field of play without any obstruction. The good things end here.

Feeling thirsty or hungry? Then you are going to be looted. You are not allowed to bring water from outside but then if you want to buy from the stalls Aquafina mineral water which costs Rs. 12 is being sold for Rs. 40. You might have noticed ads on TV, newspaper and radio exhorting you to complain if any shopkeeper asks you to pay a couple of Rupees extra for cooling any drinks. But here in such a big event things are being sold at sky-high price. Not just water. Soft drinks worth 40 being sold for 100. Food items worth 10-40 being sold for 40-100.

No wonder it is said that watching any live event in India is a painful experience. I understand Mukesh Ambani has purchased the most expensive IPl team and he is building a two billion dollar worth home but that doesn't mean he should extort money from loyal cricket fans.

Not slap, it was slugfest with Harbhajan: Sreesanth

Sreesanth has told a Malayalam news channel that he had fist fight with Harbhajan sing after the IPL match.


COOL!!! Why didn't he tell this before.

Maharashtra Government to ban IPL cheerleaders

Maharashtra Government looks to play 'moral police'. They are planning to ban cheerleaders from Mumbai matches. They argue that if bar dancers were banned for indecency so should these cheerleaders.It should be noted that the IPL teams have spent a lot on these cheerleaders. Notable is Vijay Mallya's Team Bangalore Royal Challengers who have brought Washington Red Skins.

Hats off to these stupid politicians who are extremely able to find anything Under The Sun to protest and create some controversies. They don't seem to understand vulgarity depends on one's perception. These cheerleaders just adds to the colour and festivities of Twenty20 cricket and does not makes it an 'immoral' event.

A Salsa dance, depending on one's perception, will be the most beautiful form of dance or the most vulgar.

IPL cricket twenty20 web resources

Official IPL site- iplt20.com
BCCI site- BCCI.tv (not yet fully launched)
Exclusive online partner- cricket.com (not yet launched)

MumbaiIndians - Mumbai
Knightriders - Kolkata
RoyalChallengers - Bangalore
Superkings - Chennai
DareDevils - Delhi
Royals - Jaipur
DeccanChargers - Hyderabad
Kings X1 - Mohali

Tickets- Ticketpro.in ( except for matches in mumbai )
for mumbai matches kyazoonga.com

iPL Twenty20 schedule

April 18: Bangalore v Kolkata at Bangalore
April 19: Mohali v Chennai at Mohali and Delhi v Jaipur at Delhi
April 20: Mumbai v Bangalore at Mumbai; Kolkata v Hyderabad at Kolkata
April 21: Jaipur v Mohali at Jaipur
April 22: Hyderabad v Delhi at Hyderabad
April 23: Chennai v Mumbai at Chennai
April 24: Hyderabad v Jaipur at Hyderabad
April 25: Mohali v Mumbai at Mohali
April 26: Bangalore v Jaipur at Bangalore; Chennai v Kolkata at Chennai
April 27: Mumbai v Hyderabad at Mumbai; Mohali v Delhi at Mohali
April 28: Bangalore v Chennai at Bangalore
April 29: Kolkata v Mumbai at Kolkata
April 30: Delhi v Bangalore at Delhi.
May 1: Hyderabad v Mohali at Hyderabad; Jaipur v Kolkata at Jaipur
May 2: Chennai v Delhi at Chennai.
May 3: Hyderabad at Bangalore at Hyderabad; Mohali v Kolkata at Mohali
May 4: Mumbai v Delhi at Mumbai; Jaipur v Chennai at Jaipur
May 5: Bangalore v Mohali at Bangalore
May 6: Chennai v Hyderabad at Chennai
May 7: Mumbai v Jaipur at Mumbai
May 8: Delhi v Chennai at Delhi; Kolkata v Bangalore at Kolkata
May 9: Jaipur v Hyderabad at Jaipur
May 10: Bangalore v Mumbai at Bangalore; Chennai v Mohali at Chennai
May 11: Hyderabad v Kolkata at Hyderabad; Jaipur v Delhi at Jaipur
May 12: Mohali v Bangalore at Mohali
May 13: Kolkata v Delhi at Kolkata
May 14: Mumbai v Chennai at Mumbai; Mohali v Jaipur at Mohali
May 15: Delhi v Hyderabad at Delhi
May 16: Mumbai v Kolkata at Mumbai
May 17: Delhi v Mohali at Delhi; Jaipur v Bangalore at Jaipur
May 18: Hyderabad v Mumbai at Hyderabad; Kolkata v Chenna at Kolkata
May 19: Bangalore v Delhi at Bangalore
May 20: Kolkata v Jaipur at Kolkata
May 21: Mumbai v Mohali at Mumbai; Chennai v Bangalore at Chennai
May 22: Delhi v Kolkata at Delhi
May 23: Mohali v Hyderabad at Mohali.
May 24: Delhi v Mumbai at Delhi; Chennai v Jaipur at Chennai
May 25: Bangalore v Hyderabad at Bangalore; Kolkata v Mohali at Kolkata
May 26: Jaipur v Mumbai at Jaipur
May 27: Hyderabad v Chennai at Hyderabad
May 28 and 29: Rest days
May 30: First semi-final at Mumbai
May 31: Second semi-final at Mumbai
June 1: Final at Mumbai

What IPL now require is hooligans

IPL has been a huge success so far.It has proved to be money churner for every one.You can say that it has become the English Premiere league of cricket. The twenty20 format will generate soccer style violence. You might have hooligans,especilly in Mumbai. With our trigger happy cops we can have Serie A kind of situation arising because of this.
I hope they have good preventive measures in place.

Mukesh Ambani, Mallya, SRK win IPL bids

The high-profile Indian Premier League on Thursday received overwhelming response as India's top industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Mallya , and film stars Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta won bids to own teams in the Twenty20 venture.

After much suspense, Board of Control for Cricket in India vice-president and IPL governing council chairman Lalit Modi named the winning bidders, who shelled out staggering amounts to become owners of the Mumbai-based teams.

Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani pipped Vijay Mallya in the bid for the Mumbai team, for US $111.9 million.

The liquor baron, however, won the bid for the Bangalore team, for US $111.6 million.

Actor Shah Rukh Khan, joining hands with Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta, won the bid for the Kolkata team, for US $75.09 million.

Fellow-actor Preity Zinta and her boy friend Ness Wadia won the bid for the Mohali team, for US $76 million.

Among others, GMR Holdings was successful in bidding for the Delhi team (US $84 million), while India Cements bagged the Chennai team (US $91 million), Deccan Chronicle the Hyderabad (US $107.01 million) outfit and Emerging Media the Jaipur team, for US $67 million.

The bids of ICICI , Sahara and Futures Group were disqualified, Modi said.

"We can say that all the hard work fructified and the IPL is here to stay," Modi said.

Asked if Shah Rukh was bidding just to use cricket as a means to promote his films, Modi replied, "Shah Rukh loves cricket and that's why he invested his money. It has got nothing to do with film promotion.

"We have heard a similar complaint in the past but the Board never endorsed those views," he added.

He also dismissed suggestions that there was a conflict of interests in Indian Cements, which has BCCI treasurer N Srinivasan as a shareholder, becoming a team owner.

"Mr Srinivasan is just a stakeholder there and he is not the owner. So there is no such conflicts of interests," he said.

Modi admitted that some of the contracted international players would skip the twenty20 tournament, which begins on April 18 owing to national commitments, but said the pool of players is big enough.

"A team needs only four players from abroad and we already have a huge number of them contracted with us. You will have enough of them from the day one," he said.

In all, 59 matches will be played over 44 days, with ICC umpires officiating the games that will be broadcast live on SET Max.

"We already have 80 contracted players and their auction would start soon. Each franchise will consult with the IPL Governing Council before naming the teams and discussing revenue sharing," Modi said.

ICC's anti-doping and anti-corruption units will also keep an eye on the Twenty20 league, he added.

Asked if the base price of US $50 million was too high, he replied, "It's up to the bidders to decide if the base price was high. Since the winning bid proved much more than the base price, you can't really say that it was too high."

Schedules and operational guidelines of the league will be announced later.

Stung by the Essel Group-backed Indian Cricket League, the BCCI had announced the IPL to counter the rebel venture, which has left many state teams depleted.

New Zealand [Images] has also suffered a lot as six Kiwi players joined the ICL and pace spearhead Shane Bond too is ready to take the plunge.

The following are the bid amounts:

Vijay Mallya - US $111.6 million, for the Bangalore team.

Shah Rukh Khan - US $75.09 million, for the Kolkata team.

GMR Holdings - US $84 million, for the Delhi team.

Mukesh Ambani - US $111.9 million, for the Mumbai team.

India Cements - US $91 million, for the Chennai team.

Deccan Chronicle - US $107.01 million, for the Hyderabad team.

Emerging Media - US $67 million, for the Jaipur team.

Ness Wadia & Preity Zinta - US $76, for the Mohali team.

IPL teams in public issue

There are rumours that instead of inviting bids BCCI is going to issue a IPO in the BSE. So , all those who want the stars of cricketing world playing for them can bid for this IPO.
I just hope that they don't keep childish names to the teams like ICL did!!!

IPL or ICL whatever!!! will fail

The media is abuzz with reports that ownership of teams of BCCI backed Indian Premiere league is being sought after several industrialist and teams of English Premiership league and National Basketball Association. But I feel that the league will fail as in case of other sports club matches are played more than than international matches . Whereas in cricket more interntional matches are played . In soccer hardly four international matches are played in a month and most of matches are qualifiers.So there is craze for club matches. In cricket, there are three format. So International matches plus club matches together will in end kill the passion for the game.
For IPL to survive it will have to eat into the market of international cricket especially of test matches .

Yawn!!!!!! India-pakistan 1st ODI begins

Thanks to India's 100% win record in twenty20 all ODIs with slow pitches and pace of game seem very boring. I don't understand why doesn't the ICC just discard this format.

Shahrukh Khan and his one night stand with sports

It is irritating to see shahrukh khan in important India Twenty20 matches. He seems to be using the popularity of the format to promote his movie "om shanti om". He did this in the final against Pakistan wearing a t-shirt from the movie. In yesterday's match he made an appearance with Deepika Pudukone ,the lead actress of the film,
Looks like SRK has moved over "Chak De" and promoting sports other than cricket to taking refuge in the gentleman's game for his commercial interest.

BCCI scared of Aussies?

I don't understand the logic behind scheduling matches in places during its rainy season. I think, as it was decided before we won the twenty20 championship, the BCCI might have thought that the Australians will whitewash this series . So to prevent that the kept matches in these places.

India world champions,Aussies world number one

India might have won the cricket twenty20 world cup but the Australians are still the best team in the world. It's like Roger Federer might have lost few tournaments this year but still he is the best.

What is the stature of Twenty20 cup?Is it important

India has won the cup,but is it really worth the euphoria exceeding the 50 over world cup. ICC have shown in the past that they can give and take importance to a tournament when they scrapped the champions trophy. And this cup will be played again after 2 years. So how important is it?In contrast there was no euphoria when we won Hockey asia cup. This tournament has its importance . ICC should like FIFA world cup give a stature to a tournament.

Dhoni the great

Thanks to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's fearless captaincy we have won the inaugural twenty20 world cup. Now I must ask the cricket fanatics (as if India are tired of religious one) who damaged his home to rebuild it.I hope next time (I hope not) India lose we don't return to square one.

Adios,The gentleman's game

Cricket used to be a leisurely game for the gentlemen of England.They used to say "well played sir" even if he clobbered the opponents. Nowadays the fielders are likely to comment something not fit to be broadcasted.
Five day match was supplanted by 60 overs per side match then by 50 overs per side match. It is interesting to note that the two counties England and south Africa who played the longest test during the "timeless era" are hosting the first two edition of the three hours format short enough to capture the eyeballs of soccer,football,basketball fans.
Now the time has come to keep the tickets of the test match as a treasure for future generation.

Bad start for australia

Zimbabwe's young and energetic team has managed to put the world number one team Australia in back foot . This shows that twenty20 is good to teams of all tiers.
The current score is 78/4 in 12 overs