ICL Death Is Good Timing

Three years after Subhash Chandra wrote to BCCI chief Sharad Pawar asking for a separate cricket league, the ICL has all but disbanded. Three years after Subhash Chandra wrote BCCI chief Sharad Pawar hoping he would understand Chandra’s reasons for creating the Indian Cricket League, the ICL has all but disbanded. The ICL was formed after Chandra’s broadcasting company, Zee, failed to win the BCCI’s television rights despite a protracted and painful legal battle. Zee’s investment was huge, and it reportedly recovered a fraction of its costs. However, the timing of the league’s end was fortunate. “Now, Zee can bid for the BCCI’s television rights when they are next held,” says a former producer. Zee, faced with problems a sports network without cricket on its rolls is bound to confront, signed up for other sports, as well as alternate programming. The broadcaster sponsored Indian football in a 10-year, Rs 500-crore deal. “If you do the maths, they are spending Rs25 lakh a day for each game. In India, you purchase other sports for variety, but cricket pays your bills and makes you money,” the producer says. “No one knows how much India’s cricket rights are worth now. It’s scary.” The last rights were sold for $612 million for four years. The next bid is expected by the end of 2009.