Live Current Media, a media company built around content and commerce destinations, announced that Global Cricket Ventures (GCV), a joint venture between Live Current and NetlinkBlue Holding, a consulting, technology and outsourcing services firm, has reached an agreement to build, manage and monetize the official website of the Champions League Twenty20 (Champions League) for a period of 10 years.

The official website of the Champions League will offer cricket fans an enriched digital experience featuring video highlights, a live video scoreboard, mobile content as well as official photographs, press releases, player interviews, schedules, statistics and newsletters. Revenues generated from the website will be split evenly between GCV and the Champions League.

The inaugural Champions League Twenty20 will be held in India from December 3-10 this year and will include the reigning winners and runners-up from the domestic Twenty20 competitions in India, Australia and South Africa, as well as the reigning Twenty20 champions from Pakistan and England who will compete for T20 supremacy and $6 million prize money. The tournament will be produced and broadcast by ESPN Star Sports who in September paid close to $1 billion to secure the media and commercial rights of the league for 10 years. This investment represents the most lucrative rights contract ever agreed in the sport of cricket on a per-game basis.

Mark Melville, Chief Corporate Development Officer, Live Current and acting CEO, Global Cricket Ventures, said, “We are very fortunate to have obtained the rights to the official website of the Champions League Twenty20, one of the most exciting new sporting events in the world. This is another key milestone for our cricket media business and we look forward to working with the Champions League to create an unrivaled user experience and commercial success. If you factor in our digital and mobile rights to Indian cricket through our agreements with the BCCI and the IPL we have an unrivaled portfolio of digital rights that places GCV in a unique position to take advantage of the massive growth of cricket and the T20 format globally.”

Australia’s domestic Twenty20 winners Victoria will take on English champions Middlesex in the opening match of the inaugural Champions League on December 3 in Mumbai. The tournament final will be played in Chennai on December 10, instead of Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium as previously reported.

The draw for the tournament, featuring the top Twenty20 sides from India, Australia, South Africa, England and Pakistan, was revealed in Delhi on Thursday. Besides Victoria and Middlesex, IPL runners-up Chennai Super Kings and South Africa’s Titans are the two other teams in Group A.

Rajasthan Royals, the IPL champions, are in Group B, and will start their campaign at Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium against South Africa’s Dolphins. They will also pit their wits against Pakistan’s Sialkot Stallions, who have won 16 games on the trot, and Western Australia.

The group games will be played in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai over four days, with Bangalore and Chennai hosting the semi-finals.

The best Twenty20 performers in leagues around the world were also handed awards during the ceremony to unveil the draw. Rajasthan’s Sohail Tanvir had the best bowling figures [6 for 14 against the Chennai Super Kings], while the Kolkata Knight Riders’ Brendon McCullum won the award for the highest score [158 against Bangalore Royal Challengers].

Dolphins’ Yusuf Abdullah had the best economy rate for the season [4.32], while Graeme Napier of Essex took home the award for the best batting strike-rate. His 326 runs in the Twenty20 Cup in England came at an astonishing strike-rate 195.2.

Shaun Marsh topped batting averages both in Australia’s Twenty20 Big Bash and the IPL [616 runs at 68.4]; Shane Watson of the Royals accepted the award on his behalf, with Marsh on his way to join the Australian Test squad, not due in India for another few hours.

Charl Langeveldt of the Cape Cobras had the best bowling strike-rate, his 18 wickets came at a rate of one every nine balls, but the bowlers taking part in December will be thrilled to do anything like as well with the wealth of batting talent on display.

When Chris Gayle and Kevin Pietersen walk out for the coin toss next Saturday, their teams will be competing for the richest prize in cricketing history – US$20 million – to win the inaugural Stanford 20/20 event.

Bankrolled by Texan billionaire Allen Stanford, England and a West Indies all-star team called the Stanford Superstars will play a Twenty20 match with each winning player receiving $1 million for about three hours work – and the losers getting nothing.

Lance Gibbs, the former West Indies offspinner who manages the Superstars, is confident his team will be in the money.

“I think we will win it. We should be able to beat England,” Gibbs said. “I’ve never been on a team as a manager which has lost and I think that will continue.”

After a period of uncertainty because of a legal challenge by a sponsor of the West Indies Cricket Board over branding and commercial rights, the event has generated huge spectator interest.

Between 500 and 700 million people worldwide are expected to watch the matches on TV, while ticket sales in Antigua have picked up after organizers slashed prices by almost half with fans being affected by flooding from hurricane Omar last week.

The match at Stanford Cricket Ground in Antigua will be preceded by a series of Twenty20 games starting Saturday and also involving Trinidad & Tobago and Middlesex.

Gayle, who scored the first Twenty20 century at last year’s World Cup in South Africa, will have ICC Test cricketer of the year Shivnarine Chanderpaul and West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan as Stanford Superstar teammates.

Pietersen’s side includes match-winning all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and fast bowler Steve Harmison, who have both recently returned from injury and loss of form to re-establish themselves in the England setup.

Former West Indies batsman Daren Ganga will captain Trinidad, which includes Windies wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, while offspinner Shaun Udal will lead a Middlesex team that contains England opener Andrew Strauss and Indian spinner Murali Kartik.

Gibbs believes a good performance from his players could lead to them securing deals in the Indian Premier League.

“If they are successful in this game one or two of them might be getting IPL contracts,” he said. “They are some youngsters who might not have got this type of exposure and it is for them to make use for it.

“The type of money they will be getting will be good for their family … it will serve them in good stead.”

The Superstars take on Trinidad, the regional 20/20 champions, in the first match of the Super Series. England, which arrived Friday, will oppose English champion Middlesex on Sunday.

Trinidad and Middlesex meet Monday in the Stanford Champions Cup with the winners receiving $400,000. England plays Trinidad on Tuesday before the Superstars face Middlesex the next day as they complete their buildup toward the Nov. 1 bonanza.

Cricket often wondered what would happen if it could sell itself to the Americans. On Saturday it will find out as the England team plays its part in a Texan’s vision of the game.

And what a vision it is: a toytown stadium, black bats, silver stumps, vulgar amounts of money and a contraction of the game’s skills into the time it takes to consume a jumbo burger, a tub of popcorn and a bucket of Pepsi. Bad taste, just another toxic asset the United States has given the world. Let us hope that, in these jittery times, the money is good.

Purists fret about what the Indians are doing to the game now they have got their commercial teeth into Twenty20, though as long as their national team thrash the Australians as they did in Mohali last week they will appreciate that Test cricket still has a place and a purpose.

But if Sir Allen Stanford has his way and successfully sells cricket to his fellow Americans, the long-term future of the five-day game could be in terminal decline. The England match, which has had a lot of publicity in the States, will be available there live through ESPN on pay-per-view, with two hours of highlights on terrestrial television the following day. Further concerted PR campaigns such as the one Stanford conducted in Colorado will be needed if serious headway is to be made. Momentum might be built if allrounder Lennox Cush, 33, who has represented the United States and is resident there, were to take the field against England, but he is likely to be among the six members of the Stanford Superstars squad left on the bench.

Speaking before departing for Antigua, Kevin Pietersen, the England captain, conceded that the rise of Twenty20 was a concern for Test cricket, which he regards as “the big stuff”. He said: “It is worrying what may happen in the future. Ten-year-olds now may be thinking they just want to play Twenty20. But [Test match] crowds in England are amazing. We always play in front of full houses here.”

Was there scope for other Stanfords to come along and set up more “exhibition” games? “Yes,” said Pietersen. “Hard as it is to say, cricket is a business, the ECB is a business. We play for our country and we just do as we are told by the ECB.”

Pietersen described Middlesex’s decision to sign Neil Carter on loan from Warwickshire for their showdown against Trinidad & Tobago tomorrow and the Champions League in December as a “disgrace”. But with Middlesex standing to pick up $280,000 for beating Trinidad and $3m for winning the Champions League, such brazen opportunism has become the name of the game. Pietersen’s words will certainly add spice to England’s warm-up match with Middlesex (and Carter) today.

Is Pietersen happy playing in a match so blatantly just about money? “I have to be . . . it’s what I’ve been picked to do,” he said. “I don’t think too deeply about decisions over which I don’t have control.” He stressed, however, that there would be no over-the-top flashing of riches if England were to win. “I have friends who are really struggling just now, people who have lost their jobs,” he said. “There is no way I want people to carry on like a clown, win or lose.”

Gradually, the Twenty20 revolution is redrawing the cricketing map. India, mightily, head the Asian bloc, with Sri Lanka and Pakistan in thrall to them financially and politically. Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are attempting to strengthen their fragile balance sheets through a southern hemisphere Twenty20 and the Champions League. (more…)

Amid fears that Test cricket may soon be left trampled under the stampede for Twenty20 cash, England captain Kevin Pietersen today urged world cricket leaders to do everything in their power to protect the longer version of the game.
Pietersen insisted that the primacy and integrity of Test cricket must be preserved at all costs.

“Test cricket is the big stuff. It’s about challenging yourself against the best players in the world in the hardest environment. I’ve had a taste of how wonderful it is and I love everything about playing for my country,” Pietersen told ‘The Mail on Sunday’.

“But future generations, even my kids, might be facing questions like ‘Do I want to be a Test cricketer or do I want to be a Twenty20 cricketer and franchise myself out for that?”. And they might feel differently,” he stated.

Pietersen underlines the dangers by citing the example of left-arm swing bowler Neil Carter, contracted as a Warwickshire player but allowed by the club to join Middlesex on loan to play in their Twenty20 games in Antigua and in Champions League Twenty20 in India in December.

Pietersen’s side play county Twenty20 champions Middlesex today in Antigua as part of build up to first of five annual winner-takes-all USD 20 million Stanford matches on Saturday which could net him and his team more than 6 lakh pounds each.

With a new Southern Premier League planned for clubs from Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, the Champions League T20 in December, the second Twenty20 World Cup in England next summer and the English Premier League due to start in 2010 alongside the Standford international quadrangular tournament, the power and popularity of the shortest form of the game is growing across the world. PTI

The status of Twenty20 cricket as the sport’s most lucrative avatar has been confirmed with commercial rights to the Champions League being sold for US$900 million to broadcasters ESPN-Star Sports (ESS). This makes the Champions League, promoted by the national boards of India, Australia and South Africa, the highest valued cricket tournament on a per-game basis.

The ten-year deal, which includes an additional $75 million for marketing the tournament, gives the network the global commercial rights to every Champions League match from this year’s inaugural event in December until 2017.

The organisers confirmed the deal when they opened all the bids in Dubai on Wednesday. ESS was preferred ahead of DIC, who offered $751.3 million, and the Abu Dhabi Sports Club, whose bid was disqualified for being conditional.

The deal marks ESS’s entry into the specialized Twenty20 market; it had lost out on the bid for the Indian Premier League after what seemed like a miscalculation on its part. The IPL rights were eventually sold to a consortium, including Sony Entertainment Television and the Singapore-based World Sports Group, for more than $1 billion. It had seemed like an outrageous price to pay at the time; now, after the overwhelming success of the inaugural IPL, it seems a steal.

ESS are the ICC’s television rights holder until 2015 – they acquired the rights in 2006 for $1.1 billion over nine years – but the postponement of the Champions Trophy, originally due to start in Pakistan tomorrow, left them facing a long spell without a major series.

Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, said the bidding process had been “fair and transparent”. “We have what we believe to be the best commercial deal for the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 season and for cricket fans across the world,” Modi said. “All the bids received were of a very high standard.”

Modi told Cricinfo that Mumbai and Bangalore were the new “confirmed venues” for the 2008 series, while a suitable third venue will be finalised in the “next 2-3 days”. The organisers had previously scheduled the tournament in Mohali, Delhi and Jaipur, but Modi said the venues had to be changed taking into consideration the dew factor that may affect the night games in northern India during winter months.

The Champions League this year will feature eight sides from India, South Africa, Australia, England and Pakistan, before expanding to a 12-team competition in 2009.

The BCCI-backed Champions League Twenty20 tournament will be played this year in India but may not feature a team from England, Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, has told Cricinfo. Modi’s statement comes on a day the English press reported that the ECB, which has been at loggerheads with the BCCI over issues regarding an international Twenty20 tournament, was finalising a “rival” Champions League, to be held in Abu Dhabi.

The one organised by the Indian board, Modi said, will be held from September 29 to October 8 at three venues – Jaipur, New Delhi and Mohali. The tournament, details of which will be finalised in Mumbai on Wednesday at a meeting to be attended by officials from the BCCI, Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Cricket Australia (CA), has received “four separate offers of US$750 million each” for the commercial and TV rights for a 10-year period, Modi said.

The ECB will not be represented at the meeting and, Modi said, the tournament is also unlikely to include England, which “has been unreasonable” in continuing to object to various rules and regulations, including the ban on players from the unauthorised Indian Cricket League (ICL), the share-holding pattern and profit-sharing formula.

“We are going ahead with the tournament whether England joins up or not, “Modi said. “South Africa and Australia are fully on board with the various rules and regulations but the ECB is being unreasonable and continues to have objections to issues like the shareholding pattern and the governing structure. But we can’t wait any longer and we are going ahead. It’s now up to the ECB to decide whether it wants to join us or not.”

A report in the Sunday Telegraph said the ECB was involved in talks with the royal family of Abu Dhabi over a Champions League to be held there with £750m available over ten years. Asked about the possibility of the ECB organising a Champions League of their own, Modi said “they are welcome to do so” but added that no Indian team would participate in that tournament. “There is no question of any Indian team, including those from the IPL, participating in any other Champions League, whether it’s organised by the ECB or anybody else. Anyway, we must not forget that it’s the television revenue that decides the fate of such tournaments and it’s very obvious where that is headed right now.”

The BCCI’s Champions League originally planned to include the top two Twenty20 domestic teams from India, Australia, South Africa and England. With the ECB’s participation in doubt, Modi said a team from Pakistan has been confirmed while the last slot may be filled by a team from New Zealand or even Sri Lanka.

“I can confirm that Pakistan will send a team because even if the ECB joins us, only one team from England can participate, which is Middlesex,” Modi said. “As for New Zealand, Sri Lanka, or even West Indies, they will all be taking part from next year, anyway, when we expand to 12 teams. One of them will send the eighth team this year, if the ECB stays away and refuses to send even Middlesex.”

Kent, the other finalist in England’s domestic Twenty20 tournament, has players affiliated to the ICL and will not be invited, Modi confirmed. “Kent will not be invited but we will be happy to welcome Middlesex. But for that to happen, the ECB has to take a final call,” Modi said.

The dates for the tournament clash with a tour game for Australia ahead of their first Test against India on October 9 but Modi said the issue will be sorted out on Wednesday. Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey, who are part of the IPL’s Chennai Super Kings, which has qualified for the Champions League, are also expected to be part of the Australian team for that practice match in Hyderabad from October 2-5.

Modi added that the Champions League’s governing structure, profit-sharing formula and shareholding pattern, to which the ECB had objected, will be revealed after Wednesday’s meeting in Mumbai but confirmed that the BCCI owns 50% of the tournament.

The inaugural Champions League tournament, involving the domestic Twenty20 finalists from England, Australia, South Africa and the IPL, will take place over a 10-day period in late September and early October with US$5 million on offer for the winners.

The fine detail is yet to be confirmed, but Cricket Australia are currently drawing up the regulations which will deal with the issues of Indian Cricket League players and potential conflicts for players involved with more than one team.

It is possible that the Indian board will be generous towards ICL players after the success of IPL. It was also agreed, verbally, between the boards that foreign players will turn out for their local teams in the tournament. That undertaking was sought by the England and Australia boards at a meeting in Singapore.

However, it has been confirmed the event will feature 15 matches over 10 days, and will take place in either the Middle East or India. Alongside the huge sum for the winners, there will be significant prize money for the teams finishing second, third and fourth.

Stuart Broad, the England quick bowler, is excited by the move. “It’s certainly an incentive for domestic sides to take Twenty20 seriously which can only help the international team,” he said after the third day’s play against New Zealand. “I’ve always thought Championship cricket is the priority because it develops players for Test cricket and that’s the ultimate. But this could change the emphasis.”

Western Australia and Victoria from Australia, Rajasthan and Chennai from the IPL along with the Dolphins and Titans from the Pro20 in South Africa have already qualified. They will be joined by the two finalists from the English Twenty20 Cup, which starts next week.

Following meetings late last week between the ECB, represented by chairman Giles Clarke and chief executive David Collier, Cricket Australia’s chairman Creagh O’Connor and chief executive James Sutherland, an agreement was reached yesterday between Clarke, IPL commissioner and BCCI representative Lalit Modi, and Cricket South Africa president Norman Arendse.

“We are extremely grateful to our great friends from Australia, India and South Africa for their hard work and determination to get this tournament off the ground,” Clarke said. “The Twenty20 Cup will be even more fiercely contested this season in the knowledge that the two teams who reach the final will qualify for the Champions League and the chance to win US$5 million.”

This event throws up a number of potential conflicts, not least involving an players linked to the unofficial ICL. Chris Read, Vikram Solanki, Stuart Law, Niall O’Brien and Paul Nixon all appeared in the ICL, and if their counties qualify their inclusion will be a major conflict with the Indian board.

The other issue that will occur is involving players who are contracted to more than one of the teams involved, for example Mike Hussey who played for Chennai in the IPL and is also from Western Australia. The clash could also happen with overseas players in county cricket, for example David Hussey, who plays for Nottinghamshire and Victoria.

Somerset chief executive Richard Gould admitted to Sky Sports News: “We’ve already had some discussions and we’re basically looking to mirror what the IPL contracts are. It was first mooted at the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa and it’s taken a while but now it’s there, I think it’s brilliant for club cricket. It gives it much more juice.”