In an economic environment that is currently struggling with a global financial meltdown, Forbes, the definitive commentator of capitalist America is usually preoccupied with the cash crunch that most businesses are struggling to cope with right now. But even Forbes was forced by the spectacular Indian Premier League bidding war to overlook the financial doldrums and pay heed for a moment to the phenomenon of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Cricket360 reporting on latest IPL cricket news came across this Forbes article, which mentions Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff as the highest paid in the IPL, with their sale prices of $1.55 million.

The article quotes Stefan Szymanski, associate dean at the Cass Business School in London as saying, "The league is not likely to be affected by the recession is that at its bedrock is a $1.0 billion broadcasting deal with Sony which has bought the rights for 10 years.” He goes on to talk about the success of the Indian Premier League, saying, "The scale of the its success was staggering in India, and during the period last year it wiped out a lot of Indian soap operas in terms of ratings.”

Szymanski has also opined that this year’s edition of IPL will generate much higher revenues than last year’s event which was organized at short notice. "There should be additional income coming in through new sponsorship rights, and they may well be able to sell tickets at higher prices,” he is quoted as saying.

The article also mentions the growing connection between Bollywood and cricket and how this addition of glamour and of cheerleaders has now put cricket on the same footing with soccer or baseball which are among the richest sports in the world. Though the prices played for cricketers cannot yet hope to match those paid to soccer stars, it is contemplated that the Indian Premier League auction prices will keep getting higher.

Though the schedule is not know yet for Indian Premier League Season 2, it is expected that it will attract similar viewership and interest as before, if not more so. The first three matches of the first IPL edition alone attracted a viewership of 18 million television viewers reports Forbes.

Cricket360 thinks that with the likes of Forbes zeroing in on the Indian Premier League phenomenon, it is likely that cricket is going Global!

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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