A leading English football club are looking to buy a stake in one of two new cricket teams that will compete in next year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), according to the tournament’s ringmaster.
Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner and the driving force behind cricket’s wealthiest competition, said that he is also holding discussions with MCC about it becoming involved with one of the new IPL franchises.
“There is a football club, a very famous football club in the UK, very interested in bidding,” Modi told The Times yesterday in an interview at his office in Mumbai.
“[They are] probably one of the most famous football clubs — that’s all I can say. Probably top three. They are interested in taking a stake.”
Although he would not give further details, Modi’s words suggested that one of Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea is in the frame, although none of those clubs nor either Liverpool or Manchester City would confirm an interest.
The two new franchises for 2011 onwards will be sold at auction before the third IPL season begins on March 12. An invitation to bid will be issued this week and speculation is rife about who may invest.
The existing eight teams are owned by some of India’s wealthiest people, such as Vijay Mallya, the liquor baron, and Mukesh Ambani, a petrochemicals billionaire, who each bid more than $110 million (about £70 million) to own Bangalore Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians respectively.
Modi is seeking minimum offers of $225 million for the new teams, which will be auctioned by sealed bids. There is a strong suspicion that he is keen to promote interest to inflate the offers. An informed source said that Modi expects the winning bids to be above $500 million.
One football figure whose name has been directly linked with the IPL is Praful Patel, the Indian civil aviation minister and president of the All India Football Federation, who was recently co-opted on to Fifa’s legal committee. He is an ally of Sharad Pawar, the ICC vice-president and India agriculture minister, and is believed to be interested in forming a team in Nagpur.
MCC has also been linked with a bid, according to Modi. The club would add significant credibility to any consortium as well as offering the attractive potential of exhibition games at Lord’s. MCC recently signed a long-term deal with the Abu Dhabi Cricket Association and it is believed that one interested consortium comes from the emirate.
“I have talked [to MCC] last night and they are quite interested,” Modi said. Keith Bradshaw, the MCC chief executive, admitted that he had received “several approaches” but would not confirm any plan to be part of a consortium. “At the moment, our finances are focused on the redevelopment of the ground,” he said.
There were reports yesterday that Deccan Chargers, last year’s IPL champions, are threatening to boycott this year’s competition in protest at their matches being moved from Hyderabad for security reasons.
The IPL announced at the weekend that all of Deccan’s home games would be switched to Mumbai and Nagpur because of political tension in the state of Andhra Pradesh. A legal notice reportedly sent to the Board of Control for Cricket in India complains that the decision was in breach of the team’s franchise agreement with the league.
• Andy Flower will have his eye on Craig Kieswetter when England play the Lions in a Twenty20 match in Abu Dhabi tomorrow. Kieswetter, 22, was born in South Africa but qualifies for England today and has made 31, 40 not out and 77 not out for the Lions this month. “Wednesday is a chance for him to impress,” Flower, the England team director, said.
Source: Times Online