To counter ICL, BCCI mulls 'PCL'

[King]

The BCCI is planning to organise a high-profile Twenty20 league of its own to counter the challenge posed by the unofficial Indian Cricket League. More... To counter ICL, BCCI mulls 'PCL' Posted online: Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 1909 hours IST Mumbai, August 23: The BCCI is planning to organise a high-profile Twenty20 league of its own to counter the challenge posed by the unofficial Indian Cricket League. The plan is still at a formative stage and it is learnt that the legendary Sunil Gavaskar would be asked to head the organising committee of the league to be called 'Professional Cricket League'. "We have been working on something for sometime now, but we are not yet ready to announce anything right now. When we are ready we will let you know," BCCI Vice President and marketing committee Chief Lalit Modi said. The proposal did not come up for discussion at the special General Body meeting of BCCI in Mumbai on Tuesday. "There has been no discussion on this in the BCCI," a top source in the board said. Although the BCCI official were not willing to shed much light on the new proposal, it is learnt that two or three foreign players will be allowed to play in each team. Jolted by the rebel ICL's massive recruitment drive, the BCCI has not only decided to ban defecting players but has also announced substantial hikes in match fees and prize money for domestic competition to prevent a fresh exodus. The ICL, a brainchild of Subhash Chandra owned Essel Group, has so far recruited 44 first class players and seven overseas players which includes West Indies batting great Brian Lara and former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq.

[King]

Copycats the BCCI.

[yoda]

Board of Copy Cat Idiots. :giggle:

[Guest dada_rocks]

these idiots think everything is in the buzzword "league"

[Chandan]

these idiots think everything is in the buzzword "league"

Nah. It is much more than just the copy of ICL. Read it: Cricket’s latest avatar: A world club tourney Kadambari Murali, Hindustan Times Email Author New Delhi, August 24, 2007 First Published: 02:30 IST(24/8/2007) Last Updated: 04:45 IST(24/8/2007) Coming soon is cricket’s equivalent of Manchester United or a Roman Abramovich owned-Chelsea. You could see a Tendulkar or a Ponting bought or sold or transferred. There will be buyouts and salary caps — also cheerleaders — in a mega-marriage of cricket and entertainment. For the past eight months, the Indian cricket board (with Cricket Australia and marketing giant IMG) has been secretly working on a two-tier world club championship in Twenty20 cricket that has borrowed elements from Major League Soccer, the Premiership, the (baseball) World Series, even the Champions League, to come up with a concept that is likely to revolutionise cricket. There will be buyouts and salary caps — and of course, cheerleaders — in a final mega-marriage of cricket and entertainment.There will be a domestic club league in at least four countries (India, Australia, England and South Africa), where there are enough corporates who can buy a team franchise from their national cricket association. In the first year — the season should begin April 2008 for India and run four weeks — the BCCI is looking at having eight to 12 teams. It might be different elsewhere. Like in soccer, the top two teams from each country will take part in a league of champions. The domestic league may be called Premier Cricket League and the international event, Champions Cricket League. There could be more domestic leagues but that depends on whether countries like Pakistan or West Indies can afford privately owned clubs. Otherwise, players from these countries can play in the leagues of other countries. Sources say IMG would make a final presentation to a group of all major cricket boards in Singapore next week. A special general body meeting of the BCCI will then approve the concept for India.

[Chandan]

BCCI set to steal ICL's thunder with secret plan Kadambari Murali New Delhi ACCORDING TO sources, the reason why many cricketers from Australia and players like New Zealand's Stephen Fleming have not joined the ICL is because they had been privately informed that there was a parallel, "official" league coming up very soon. It is understood from industry sources that the impending Champions Cricket League is the brainchild of BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi, who had first mooted a similar corporate league about 10 years ago for ESPN. This is a revised format of that same proposal, on a far bigger platform and has been conceptualised far before the rebel Indian Cricket League came into existence. While IMG is managing the concept and TWI is likely to produce the television content, there have apparently been a series of presentations on this to various boards, including one by two Indian-origin Harvard professors who were involved in the NBA. The BCCI (or CA, or other board) will hold an auction of sorts for team franchises. Once a company (state associations will not be involved but can host matches) buys a team, it can then bid for its players and fix wages. But sources say that like in baseball, there will be a cap on how much a player can be bought for (it is likely to be fixed at between $1-2 million). In India, the BCCI reportedly sees the league as something that will not only give international players a chance to earn much more and take domestic players into top income brackets (each team will have between 1520 players), but will also create a number of associated jobs - for former players to be coaches and managers, for umpires, scorers and other officials. Sources believe over 200 cricket-related jobs will be created and by all reports, the response from companies who have been sounded out about the idea (at least in India) has been terrific. There will apparently be an extended cricket season to accommodate this league, which will be played under lights, say 710 pm. A cricket board will make money from the sale of team franchises and part of the revenue from media rights (through the sale of television, radio, internet and mobile rights), which will also be shared with the franchisee. The team owner can also make money from team sponsors, clothing sponsors, the other usual things and perhaps, eventually, even public issues and part of the gate sales with the hosting association/ ground. Interestingly, this has not been announced so far because those involved wanted to sort out the nitty-gritty - how it will be run, who will run it, what the rules for the team and player sales will be etc. If things were to take place as planned, this league is likely to take the wind right out of the ICL's sails. And who knows? If the Board, in its new, magnanimous avatar allows it, perhaps rebel Indian players might even be given a time frame to reconsider and return to the BCCI fold. --------------------------------- This article--I've taken straight from the e-paper of HT. Hence no link for you. You can read it in today's HT.

[abhinav]

BCCI plans international Twenty20 league I have a feeling if this comes through..then the ICL is doomed: http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/current/story/308135.html

[abhinav]

Just realized there is a similar thread already. Can the Mods please delete or lock my thread. the cricinfo link can be posted there please.

[talksport]

Typical knee jerk reaction from BCCI a) ICL can proxy bid a Team..... b) ICC's calendar is already hectic c) Its only 20-20 d) ICL can expand to longer formats and be more domestic