Times UK: "Crisis what crisis? Cricket keeps credit crunch at bay"
From a Times article today:
All the grounds are reporting high demand for tickets....The credit crunch has also had little effect on corporate sales. “There is overwhelming demand for boxes and other types of hospitality, a waiting list for long-term boxes, and perimeter advertising is already sold out for the whole of 2009,” an MCC spokeswoman said.
And what of India, the most booming growth market for cricket? The eight Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises met in Bangkok last weekend and agreed to increase the cap for purchasing players from $5 million to $7 million. This will apply for the next auction of players in February, but the owners also agreed a one-month trading window from December 15 in which, as one source said, “trading can be done for players with absolutely no budgetary limits”.
The franchise owners have been buoyed by recovering, from television, sponsorship and ticket sales, almost 80 per cent of the money they paid to the Indian board for their teams. The franchises were bought for between $67 and $112 million, but are said to be worth between $250 and $300 million. They will also benefit from sharing the $1 billion of media rights that were recently sold for the Champions League.
There is speculation in India that the Deccan Chronicle Group wants to sell its 80 per cent stake in Deccan Chargers, who came last in this year's IPL, and cash in on the increase in value. Tim Wright, the chief executive of the Chargers, refused to comment but said the IPL had been more successful than anyone had expected. “The franchises did all their financial modelling before anyone knew how big IPL would be,” he said. “It has vastly exceeded expectations.”
Live Current/GVC attended the IPL franchisee meetings in Bangkok which are mentioned in this article.
