The killer is on the prowl, folks - the taste of blood was never so sweet

[The Outsider]

NEW DELHI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) season is over, but the fun and games have just begun. In order to leverage the T20 craze and create new revenue streams, event managers and IPL franchisee teams are planning to play independent matches that will be outside the purview of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the IPL. Shane Warne is reported to have said that his Rajasthan Royals will play Victoria (his former Australian state team). Other teams such as Mumbai Indians and Kings X1 Punjab may also consider these options. The idea is to create property on the lines of the Manchester United programme whereby Man United plays matches in Asia and the US. Says Raghu Iyer, CMO of Rajasthan Royals owner Emerging Media: “Our team has been approached by various parties to play exhibition matches overseas. We are working out the details, and intend to travel with our team not only to market team merchandise but also to play matches.” One of the co-owners of Kings XI Punjab, Mohit Burman added, “We are all for raising revenues and will go with this idea. Of course, we have to take BCCI’s permission for this.” These matches may be played at home and abroad. Event management firm Percept Holdings, which also manages cricketers such as Sourav Ganguly and Sreesanth, plans to approach the franchisees of Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals for a five-match invitation series with an international team which it plans to call Invitation 11. The latter will comprise cricketers currently not engaged in their respective home teams. “We plan to do a friendly series between the franchisee teams and an invitation team. They will keep the IPL concept alive and the audience entertained,” said Percept Holdings joint MD Shailendra Singh. Internationally, big football clubs play exhibition matches all over the world to cash in on their popularity, raise revenues, and tap new markets for merchandise sales. While Manchester United’s Asia tours are always very successful, other big football clubs such as Chelsea and Real Madrid too play exhibition matches overseas. Even though big stars such as Sachin Tendulkar, Mathew Hayden and Andrew Symonds may not be be available for these independent matches due to international commitments, new kids on the block such as Swapnil Ashnodkar, Amit Mishra and MS Goni will be able to play. In addition, a number of retired international players such as Shane Warne, Andrew Gilchrist, Stephen Fleming and Shaun Pollock should also be available. A source with one franchisee clarified that the players’ contracts were not confined to IPL alone and would extend to other matches as well. It is possible that these independent initiatives may bring the franchisees in conflict with the BCCI and IPL. The franchisees may need a no-objection certificate from the BCCI. Said a top BCCI official on condition of anonymity: ”All franchisee teams are contracted by the BCCI and IPL management. They cannot play independent matches unless they get permission from the cricket board and franchisee owners themselves.” The official added that even if the team did play in parallel one-off matches, the details of sponsorships and other revenue streams would have to be cleared by the board and franchisee owners. For the first season, Mukesh Ambani’s Mumbai Indians was the most expensive team, bought for $111.9 million. Vijay Mallya’s Royal Challengers was bought for $111.6 million. Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta had bid for the Kolkata team for $75.09 million, while GMR Holdings had bought the Delhi Daredevils for $84 million. Finalist India Cements-owned Chennai Super Kings was bought for $91 million, while winner Rajasthan Royals was bought for the lowest $67 million. Decccan Chronicle had acquired the Hyderabad team for $107.01 million.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3094652.cms After loading the body with instant gratification drugs and putting it into a blissful stupor, after brutalizing it with beating and bashings with the bat, and after letting loose lasers, pions, and proton beams on to it's poor body and soul the killer has well and truly started hacking at the carcass and gnawing it's teeth into cricket. How could some have even been naive enough to think that IPL would be the end of it - these multi billion dollar entities have invested hundreds of millions into the show after all? They're going to keep mincing the bones till the final cup of soup can be had from it. The corporations have seen the popularity of something which looks like cricket and are going to ba$tardize on every chance they can get.

[fineleg]

Its upto the cricketers to say NO. But, will they say NO?

[abhinav]

Knowing how BCCI functiona nd their never ending lust for money, I just dont see how BCCI will ever allow the franchises to go out and make money without passing on a major share to the Board. The idea in itself is interesting and is bound to become a reality sooner or later IMO

[suraj]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3094652.cms After loading the body with instant gratification drugs and putting it into a blissful stupor, after brutalizing it with beating and bashings with the bat, and after letting loose lasers, pions, and proton beams on to it's poor body and soul the killer has well and truly started hacking at the carcass and gnawing it's teeth into cricket. How could some have even been naive enough to think that IPL would be the end of it - these multi billion dollar entities have invested hundreds of millions into the show after all? They're going to keep mincing the bones till the final cup of soup can be had from it. The corporations have seen the popularity of something which looks like cricket and are going to ba on every chance they can get.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS:yay::yay::yay::yay::yay: I was hoping this would happen and thegame will evolve even more :two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up: This is quite an exciting development- bring on the excitement instead of the boring test cricket:dance:

[fineleg]

suraj when did u become anti-Test cricket? i thought u liked the real cricket aka Tests!