 The Sports Management firm which managed the Indian Premier League for
the first two seasons, IMG, has said that there was no reason why their contract
should have been broken by the BCCI. This has led to speculations that the IMG
may be planning to take BCCI to the court regarding the same.
Earlier, the BCCI had severed its ties with the Sports Management group
on the grounds of over-charging, and not being worth the amount spent on the
tournament. The first season of the tournament had seen BCCI pay the IMG Rs.43
crores, whereas in the second year, IPL had to shell out Rs.33 crores for the
same. The previous contract with the group was a revenue sharing model, with
the firm getting 10% of the profits that the BCCI was to make, whereas the second
seasons had seen BCCI renegotiate the same with a fixed bid model.
Andrew Wildblood, the senior VP at IMG has said that his form had a legally
binding contract for a period of ten years and "reserve all of our rights
and remedies at law under and in respect of the contract."
In a blow to the BCCI over the decision, seven of the eight franchises have
directly or indirectly opposed the move. Earlier, the Mumbai Indians
and Kolkata Knight Riders had expressed concerns in their own way, with
Mukesh Ambani fearing for the dilution of the brand, whereas Shah rukh
Khan wanting more say in the matter as a stakeholder. He had claimed, "All
we want is to be kept in the loop. A lot of our sponsorship deals depend on
the backbone of the IPL."
Joining them in the fray, the Deccan Chargers and the Kings XI Punjab
also handed over letters to the BCCI regarding the action, whereas Dr. Vijay
Mallya is said to have spoken personally with Sharad Pawar regarding
the issue.
The only franchise which has kept quiet in the matter has been the Chennai
Super Kings owners, the India Cements group. India Cements is owned by N.
Srinivasan, who is also the secretary to the BCCI, and was a party to the decision.
The move is said to be one that is part of its objective to clip the wings of
Lalit Modi who is said to be the face of the Indian Premier League. Some
insiders also say that the BCCI's intention is to take over the working of the
IPL in its entirety.
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