The BCCI took a great step ahead in the launching of
its mega million dollar new 20-20 domestic cricket structure aptly named the
Indian Premier League with the naming of the eight city franchises and
their owners, a mix of the biggest names in business and Bollywood. The auction
conducted by the Indian cricket board fetched a massive $730 million dollars
almost twice as much of the expected $400 million dollars with Mumbai fetching
the maximum cash into the BCCI coffers.
The auction saw the interest of some of the biggest names in
Indian entertainment and business world come together as most of the teams were
acquired by some of the biggest media barons and Bollywood names. Shah rukh
Khan acquired the Kolkotta Tigers franchise for a massive $73 million while
an even higher price tag was given by Ness Wadia and the sexy Bollywood
actress Preity Zinta for the ownership of the Chandigarh unit. Other
big names involved were the owner of UB Group the flamboyant Vijay Mallaya
who flashed out in excess of $70 million for the rights of Bangalore and the
Hyderabad based newspaper Deccan Chronicle which paid the BCCI a massive $107
million the rights of team Hyderabad.
However the highest price paid for a team was a whopping $111
million paid by the richest Indian in the world Mr. Mukesh Ambani for
the acquisition of team Mumbai. The IPL is touted by BCCI's response
to rival group Zee's Indian cricket league which has taken away some of the
most promising youngsters of the game from Indian domestic circuit and is touted
to be the next big thing since Kerry Parker's revolution three decades back.
Some of the biggest players in modern cricket are expected
to play a part in this series with players like Shaun Pollock, Graeme Smith,
Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath all expected to be auctioned to different teams in
what represent a big financial windfall for both the players and the Indian
cricket board. However Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Rahul Dravid will not be auctioned as they are expected
to play for their respective state teams in the upcoming championship. The inaugural
IPL is expected to have eights teams participating and will be held in the best
grounds of India with a total of forty nine exciting 20-20 matches expected
to be play in what is expected to be a mega success. The BCCI is yet to give
the media rights for the competition and this is expected to bring a lot more
cash into clash filled coffers of the World's richest cricketing body.
The IPL kicks off during the month of April and millions of cricket fanatics
across the world will be counting away days anxiously before they can follow
these exciting matches through print and live online scores. Further more the
BCCI is also expected to give web telecast rights pretty soon and this is expected
to widely increase the number of people who log in to watch India live online
via online cricket streaming services.
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