IPL II a record-breaking logistical exercise: Modi

CAPE TOWN: Setting up the 2009 IPL tournament in South Africa inside three weeks has been a logistical task unparalleled in world sport, IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi said on Thursday.

Speaking at a news conference, Modi said one of the most challenging aspects of the league organisation had been getting the schedule right.

"My team finalised the schedule within 48 hours of arriving in South Africa. We started out having to schedule a league season of 56 games with each team playing the other seven on a home and away basis - plus three days of play-offs - in eight venues over a total of 37 days.

"There had to be an equal number of games per team in the main centres, no conflict with other major sports and cultural events and team and television production travel schedules had to be taken into account.

Expressing his pleasure at the way things had worked out, Modi was also lauded local authorities: "Government at national, provincial and local levels had been exceptionally accommodating, while the Cricket SA had welcomed the IPL with open arms and made its world-class stadiums available."

Giving some statistics to back up the claim to a record-breaking logistical event, Modi said about 700 people were currently working full time in South Africa on the IPL, including an enormous team that has relocated from India to South Africa.

This includes the Central IPL and IMG event team of 60, a television and digital media crew of over 200, the eight team franchises bringing about 30 playing staff each along with 20 coaching staff, executives and team owners for each team.

In South Africa, a range of companies were engaged over the course of several days at the end of March to provide security, broadcast support, PR and advertising, event management, entertainment, travel, hospitality and ticket sales.

Modi believes holding the IPL in South Africa will bring with it tremendous economic benefits. "If we look at some of the key statistics it is clear to me that the economic benefits should be significant."

Modi cited the total of 22,000 hotel rooms that have been booked with Southern Sun Hotels, 10 000 domestic flight bookings made and the millions of rands expected to be spent on tickets, food and beverage, transport and merchandise sales.

"We also expect large groups of Indian tourists will come to South Africa to watch at least several games each," Modi concluded.

Source: TOI

BCCI to compensate franchises

The BCCI will compensate the eight franchises for any extra expenditure incurred in moving from India to South Africa.

The BCCI has a "definite idea" of expenses incurred by the franchises last year along with an estimate of how much the cost would have been had the event been staged in India this year, the official said.

"Any expenditure that occur above these estimates due to the relocation to South Africa will be borne by the BCCI and IPL," a senior BCCI official said. "Of course, this does not mean a blank cheque for the franchises, but a satisfactory resolution will be arrived at."

The IPL made a profit of Rs 51 crore in the inaugural season, but this year the scenario might be different because a "suo motu decision" has been taken at the "highest level" to compensate the franchises.

"The IPL is a long-term vision and the thinking at the highest level is to nurture the brand at all costs," the official said. "Not holding the IPL this year just because of the costs involved would have been disastrous for the brand. We envisage that the IPL will one day become - some say it has already become - the single biggest cricket tournament in the world."

The Indian board's compensation package, which would run into millions of dollars, is expected to include extra expenditure incurred by the franchises on travel, accommodation, and team costs, including practice facilities and fees for the host provinces in South Africa, which is likely to be paid as a bulk amount to Cricket South Africa (CSA) for distribution to various host provinces.

"For instance, each of the franchises paid an amount of Rs 5 milion last year for each of the seven home games to the local state association in India," the official, who is also a member of the IPL governing council, said. "We will keep that total of Rs 35 million as a benchmark this time and chip in with the extra money."

However, the official refused to say how much the IPL would cost this year, including the payment to CSA, saying that the "calculators were still at work". "You should understand that an event of this magnitude usually takes about two to three years to organize and we are squeezing everything into two to three weeks," he said.

Also the official told that the Indian board, or the IPL, will even step in to help with team sponsorships, in case sponsors decide to pull out of any arrangement due to the relocation, "We can either help in getting fresh sponsorship for the teams for equivalent and higher amounts or in a worst-case scenario, compensate the amount," the official said. "But I would hope that no sponsor adopts a short-sighted policy just because of this year's relocation because they should know that there's a lot of money coming their way in the long run."

© Cricbuzz

Majola hails SA for securing top ODI spot

Durban: After assured of the number one position in the ICC ODI Championship table, Cricket South Africa chief Gerald Majola Tuesday hailed the national team and said the Proteas next aim is to win the upcoming home Test series against Australia to topple Ricky Ponting's men from the elite position of the longer version of the game.

"This is a fantastic achievement by Graeme Smith and the Proteas, and all eyes are now focused on beating Australia in the upcoming Castle Tests here to take the top spot in Test cricket as well," Majola said after New Zealand's six-wicket defeat at the hands of Australia assured South Africa the number one position in ICC ODI Championship table at the April 1 cut-off date.

"This would be an awesome start to the beginning of this season, coming on top of the Proteas recording their best ever season in 2008," he added.

The ICC Tuesday announced that on the current ODI schedule, no other team can match South Africa and with the Proteas themselves not playing any matches before April 1, they will not be budging from the top rating they currently enjoy.

"Prior to Tuesday's match between New Zealand and Australia in Adelaide, only the Black Caps could possibly have overtaken the Proteas on the table before April 1. But their defeat means that even if they were to win the remaining ODI in this series and then beat India 5-0 next month, they would still fall short of South Africa's current rating of 125," an ICC statement said.

Smith's men will pocket $175,000 apart from the ICC ODI Championship shield carries, while the second placed team will be richer by $75,000.


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