Posted on 03/18/2010 9:49:15 PM PDT by cold start
March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Cricket has proven a better investment than the stock market for India’s billionaires, prompting tycoons to line up this weekend to buy new franchises. The Indian Premier League, playing a three-hour version of the traditional five-day game, has set a March 21 deadline for prospective owners to bid for its ninth and 10th teams. The $225 million minimum is more than double the highest bid submitted for an original team. The eight teams’ owners include Mukesh Ambani, the world’s fourth-richest man and chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd.; billionaire Vijay Mallya, chairman of UB Group; Rupert Murdoch’s son, Lachlan; and movie megastar Shah Rukh Khan. The league’s appreciation outpaced last year’s 81 percent gain in India’s benchmark Sensitive Index, the most in 18 years. “The speed with which the IPL has been able to generate value in a very short span of time is astonishing,” said Unni Krishnan, managing director of Brand Finance in India. “I would bet that there is no comparable brand in the world.” Growth was fueled by a $1.8 billion TV contract with a Sony Corp. unit and a deal with Google Inc. to show matches on YouTube. Now IPL founder and chairman Lalit Modi, 46, wants to bring the fast-paced version of the game, called Twenty20, to the U.S. Brand Value Doubled The IPL has more than doubled its brand value to $4.13 billion now from $2.01 billion in 2009, according to Brand Finance Plc. ........ This will be the second attempt at an auction, initially scheduled for March 7. Bidders originally were required to have a net worth of at least $1 billion and to pay an advance bank guarantee of $100 million if they won.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
Cricket. For cryin out loud. Yer a worser man than I, Gunga Din.
India should have been part of the American Empire.
After watching baseball on ESPN for quite some time, I find cricket far more absorbing with its many variations. Baseball is almost momtonous as compared to Cricket. (Body armour on :>) )
But then, I'm Indian.
momtonous = monotonous
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.