Sachin Tendulkar could have a stake in the ownership of the Mumbai team in the Indian Premier League (IPL), according to reports in the media.

The Kishore Biyani-owned Future Group, which has expressed an interest in becoming a franchisee of the IPL, is in talks with Tendulkar to bid jointly for the Mumbai side, a report in the Economic Times said.

The Future Group and the Manipal Group, the report said, have already entered into a joint venture with Tendulkar for their new sports initiative – the launch of a variety of products in the health supplement, sports goods, fitness equipment and lifestyle accessories categories.

The products are set to be marketed under names S Drive and Sach, which would be retailed across the multiple Future Group formats like Big Bazaar, Central, Planet Sports and Manipal Cure & Care.

A stake in the Mumbai team would ensure Tendulkar a fixed fee on an annual basis and a variable component depending on the team’s profits. It would also mean that the team could use Tendulkar’s presence to attract other cricketers.

However, both the Future Group and Tendulkar’s management team have brushed aside these suggestions as rumours.

The IPL is scheduled to be held next April and the sale of its television rights in the near future is expected to see stiff competition. The IPL governing council has invited three broadcasters – ESPN-Star, Nimbus Sports and Sony Entertainment Television – to make presentations before awarding the rights on November 17.

Bharti Airtel and United Breweries have expressed interest in acquiring, respectively, the Delhi and Bangalore or Mumbai teams in the impending Indian Premier League (IPL) for Twenty20 cricket matches. 
 
A leading Indian private bank and another mobile operator that recently went public are also considering acquiring IPL teams, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sources confirmed. 
 
Bharti executives confirmed the mobile service provider’s interest in acquiring an IPL team. Vijay Mallya of United Breweries was not available for comment. 
 
Bharti executives are working on the details of the bids, which are likely to be invited through the BCCI’s normal process of tendering. 
 
“Everything will be done through tenders. Those buying the teams will have a right to make their own teams,” said Lalit Modi, chairman, IPL, and BCCI vice-president, adding, “There will be an auction for international players and a separate auction system for Indian players.” 
 
The Indian Premier League, the BCCI’s answer to Subhash Chandra’s breakaway Indian Cricket League, is slated to have eight teams. 
 
It has already signed on 49 international players including Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Shoaib Akhtar, Shaun Pollock, Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs. 
 
The Indian Cricket league, also a Twenty20 competition, initially comprises six teams. 
 
The eight franchise teams of the IPL will participate in a 56-game season. The four top teams will then play the semifinals, and the winners will contest in the championship match. 

MUMBAI: Industrialists Anil Ambani and Vijay Mallya, football teams from the English Premier League, some members of the American National Basketball Association, two foreign banks with operations in India and as yet unnamed investment bankers are among those who have expressed interest in owning cricket teams in India.

Sources said these parties had submitted their bids to the Indian Premier League, a body created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to stage the T20 format of cricket matches.

BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi said, “All I can confirm is that the Tatas and the Mahindras are not among the bidders. But many business houses, investment bankers and film personalities have expressed their interest in bidding for a team.”

TOI had reported in its November 5 edition that Hollywood star Russell Crowe was one of the interested bidders.

Matches under the IPL banner are scheduled to be played during April 2008. Under the format, interested parties can bid for one of the eight teams that will represent an Indian city.

The floor price for each team has been set at $50 million, Modi said. While 15 bidders have said they will bid only for Mumbai, nine have expressed interest in Delhi. Until now, 90 bidders have expressed their intention to participate in the auctioning that will be telecast on television, Modi added.

Having done that, the successful bidders then get to bid for players of their choice. According to Modi, the pool of players the bidders can compete for will include the top 50 cricketers according to ICC’s current rankings and every player in the current Indian team. Players ranked higher up on the listings will command as much as $300,000 while those lower down the rung can take home roughly $100,000.

The caveat here is that “iconic Indian cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly can only play for their home teams”, Modi said. Else, he explained, the sentiments of fans in their home state could be hurt.

MUMBAI – West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, batsman Chris Gayle and three South African cricketers have signed up for the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL), organisers said on Wednesday.

The South African trio who have joined the Twenty20 league which is due to start next April are all rounder Jacques Kallis, fast bowler Makhaya Ntini and wicket-keeper-batsman Mark Boucher.

The latest signings takes the list of international players to 49.

Promoted by the Indian cricket board with support from other major national boards, the IPL was launched to counter an unofficial Indian Twenty20 league due to start on November 30.

The 44-day IPL event will feature eight franchises in the inaugural season with each squad containing 16 players. They will play home and away games leading up to a grand final.

South Africa’s Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Makhaya Ntini were among the five foreign players who on Wednesday signed for the $3 million Indian Premier League (IPL), the Indian cricket board announced.

West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan and his teammate and ace opener Chris Gayle were the other two who have signed to play in April, in India, in a Twenty20 tournament, which has the backing of the International Cricket Council.

With these five, the total number of players who have signed up for the IPL has gone up to 49, said Lalit Modi, IPL chairman and commissioner and also a vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

“I am happy to state that we have completed the first phase by signing some of the best international talent available,” he said in a statement.

“IPL had publicly promised the Indian cricket fans of delivering high voltage Twenty20 cricket action through some of the most talented international and national cricketers,” he added.

Modi said he is also encouraged by the response from potential franchisees who will be buying stakes in the IPL.

“The response from potential franchisees for owning an IPL team has also been quite overwhelming and I am certain we will have some very interesting announcements to make in the days and weeks ahead,” he said.

IPL will feature eight teams in the first season, with each team playing seven home and away games against one another with 56 matches to be played in total.

After the league matches four teams would play in the semi-finals. A grand final would be played toward the end of April. The IPL hopes to grow to 16 teams by 2010.

Each team would have a squad of 16 players registered with the BCCI and drawn from its central contract pool.

Moreover, each team will also feature both under-21 players and designated players, who could be either Indians or foreigners.

All matches will be played under floodlights at BCCI-designated stadiums across the country for a total prize purse of $3 million, making it the richest cricket tournament in the world.

West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, batsman Chris Gayle and three South African cricketers have signed up for the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL), organisers said on Wednesday.The South African trio who have joined the Twenty20 league which is due to start next April are all rounder Jacques Kallis, fast bowler Makhaya Ntini and wicket-keeper-batsman Mark Boucher.

The latest signings takes the list of international players to 49.

Promoted by the Indian cricket board with support from other major national boards, the IPL was launched to counter an unofficial Indian Twenty20 league due to start on Nov. 30.

The 44-day IPL event will feature eight franchises in the inaugural season with each squad containing 16 players. They will play home and away games leading up to a grand final.

 South Africans Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini and Mark Boucher, along with West Indies duo Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle are the latest international stars to join the Indian Premier League.

Almost 50 international cricketers have already signed up for the IPL, which is scheduled to start in April 2008. The competition will consist of eight teams and will last 44 days.

The league was launched by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to counter the “rebel” Indian Cricket League, which is due to start on November 30.

Other international stars who have signed up include Australians Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Brett Lee and Adam Gilchrist, Indians Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid as well as Pakistanis Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi.

SYDNEY • Academy Award-winning actor Russell Crowe and friend Peter Holmes are all set to buy a franchise in the newly launched Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket event, a report said here yesterday. Crowe and Holmes, who own the South Rugby League Club, may well hire players like Australian captain Ricky Ponting and fiery paceman Brett Lee to play for the Rabittohs cricket side in Indian city of Mumbai next year, a report in the Sun-Herald reported. The proposed alliance between Souths and the IPL continues a fresh approach to sporting investment by Crowe and Holmes a Court. They have announced a plan to abolish poker machines inside the Souths football club and the Rabbitohs have been the subject of a six-part documentary.

The Souths, a football club of considerable merit, is tinkering with the idea of launching a cricket side to take part in IPL, which commences with a Twenty20 event next year in April. Earlier this year the club formed a ‘global partnership’ with English club Leeds. The two clubs will play a trial match in Jacksonville, Florida, on Australia Day next year. Crowe’s global appeal as an Academy Award winning actor has allowed Souths to try things other clubs could only dream about. He had prime time on ESPN’s top rating Monday Night Football show to talk about his efforts to rebuild the Rabbitohs and their US trial match, the report added.

Organisers of the IPL are seeking applications by potential owners or investors in franchises, which will contest a Twenty20 tournament in India next April. The top two teams from the IPL, as well as those from Twenty20 competitions in Australia, England and South Africa will enter an international Champions Twenty20 league. That league will offer $5m in prize money to the winners.