The league to top it all : Stanford League
It was ICL - Indian Cricket League to start the things off. It was dubbed as the rebel cricket league and treated as an outcast by BCCI and forced everybody else to treat it that way. BCCI decided that after all ICL is not that rebel at all and they took a leaf out of ICL’s book and added few toppings and rolled out their own version IPL. Lalit Modi says it was his 13 year dream. IPL - Indian Premier League is an instant hit with the Indian business magnates and bollywood super stars joining the bandwagon and throwing money at will. It culminated with a great success and the least expensive team Rajasthan Royals grabbing the prize of 4.8 crores.
Most of us haven’t recoverd from the IPL hangover, people are talking about a new league. about. The Champions League. It will contain 2 teams each from England, South Africa, Australia and India. They will play for a winner take call cash prize of $5 million. While the rules are still being formulated by Cricket Australia, Sir Allen Stanford has other plans.
Sir Allen Stanford who was the first american to be knighted has sponsored a Stanford 20/20 tournament in the West Indies. He built his own ground in Angtigua for this tournament. Stanford has spent $100 million so far for the carribean tournmanet. He is billionaire # 239 in the world according to Forbes with a networth of $2 billion dollars.
Stanford declared and finalized a tournament worth $20 million dollars. Yes, you read that right. Its $20 million dollars. This would be held in carribean islands with players from west Indies and England fighting for the cash prize. Unlike IPL, the prize money will be split with the winning team players. Here is how the money($20 million) will be split :
- $3.5 Million to West-Indies cricket Board
- $3.5 million to the England Cricket Board
- $11 million to the winning team with each player in the winning squad getting a million each.
- $1 million to the reserve players
- $1 million to the support staff
There are really no rules for this tournament. I am not sure if we can call it as a tournament. There is nothing tournament like in this except the prize money. It is just one match and winner takes it all. Yes one match. Tournament starts on November 1, to mark the independence of Antigua and Barbuda’s independence from Great Britain. The team losing this would be the biggest loser of all times. Not to forget the players who would have made a million dollar by playing a 3 hour game. They don’t necessarily have to perform. They just have to be lucky to be in the team.
Sir Allen Stanford who was the first american to be knighted has sponsored a Stanford 20/20 tournament in the West Indies. He built his own ground in Angtigua for this tournament. Stanford has spent $100 million so far for the carribean tournmanet. He is billionaire # 239 in the world according to Forbes with a networth of $2 billion dollars.
Unlike ICL matches, these matches will be ICC acredited. The status of these matches is unofficial. I am really not sure what the acredition means without an official status. I guess the records won’t count.
Sir Allen Stanford with a net worth of $2 billion dollars can revolutionalize cricket, what happens if someone with a better net worth takes a liking to the sport. That would make the ultimate dream of every cricket fan a reality. Making cricket the new global sport or as they call Emerging global sport only next to football, oops Soccer (for them Americans who think football is rugby). Its only a matter of time for the Chinese and Americans to jump in.
Read what others has to say about this new league :
Telegraph
Sunil Gavascar
AFP News
- The league to top it all : Stanford League
- IPL decoded: facts and figures !
- The sticky wicket
- APL-American Premier League: New Rival for IPL ?
- Sticky Wicket Part 2 - Sir Allen Standford mess gets murkier
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