Shah Rukh looks to exit Kolkata Knight Riders

After dropping “Kolkata” from Indian Premier League team (IPL) Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), actor Shah Rukh Khan has started discussions with Nokia, Sahara, the Anil Ambani group, and several other companies to sell the team he bought just over a year ago for Rs 300 crore, and exit the business.
According to sources in Red Chillies Entertainment, KKR’s holding company, “Shah Rukh Khan has been trying to sell a stake in KKR for some time now. But since most companies he approached also wanted management control, Khan is now talking to Nokia, Sahara, Anil Ambani and others to sell his entire shareholding.”
Khan’s public relations officer, however, said she would not be able to confirm the development because she had not met the actor.
None of those who have reportedly been approached confirmed the development. Sahara India’s communications director Abhijit Sarkar said: “We have not been approached by Shah Rukh Khan yet. But if he does, we would be happy to buy the team.”
D Shivakumar, vice-president and managing director (markets), Nokia India, sent a text message saying: “Shah Rukh Khan will keep the team.”
A Reliance Communications spokesperson declined to comment. “A lot of people negotiate with Anil Ambani. I cannot comment unless there is something concrete on table.”
According to the Red Chillies official, Khan wants to exit, owing to the team’s poor performance — so far the team has won only one rain-curtailed game under the Duckworth Lewis method — and rising costs.
“If the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) does not increase the number of teams for next year, Khan could get double what he paid,” said the Red Chillies official.
Khan is supposed to pay Rs 30 crore per year for the next 10 years. The total annual cost for the team is about Rs 75 crore.
Khan had earlier said that KKR was easily the most successful IPL franchise, making a Rs 13 crore profit last year. However, his costs trebled last year owing to interventions from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Cricket Association of Bengal.
According to initial calculations, Red Chillies had to pay Rs 90 lakh per match and was supposed to earn Rs 3 crore if all stadium tickets were sold at Eden Gardens. Red Chillies had to pay Rs 20 lakh to the police and municipal tax of Rs 5 lakh. So its expenses per match would have been over Rs 1 crore. But this figure had trebled.
Last year, however, Kolkata Police demanded Rs 2 crore as security fees, against Rs 50 lakh that the organisers of the IPL offered. Then, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) demanded Rs 25 lakh from Red Chillies as amusement tax for holding IPL matches at Eden Gardens.
To settle the dispute between Kolkata Police and the IPL organisers over the cost of security arrangements at Eden Gardens, Red Chillies Entertainment had to agree to pay Rs 75 lakh as security fees.
About 5,500 uniformed personnel and about 1,500 sleuths were deployed to secure the stadium and its surrounding areas, since many celebrities were expected to watch the IPL matches at Eden Gardens.
Source: Business Standard

Is IPL and ICL merging?

The ICL business head Himanshu Mody told media that Zee backed cricket league is far from closing down and it is actually being wooed by the BCCI for making up with the official guardian of Indian cricket.

Rumors have been making rounds for past few weeks. Has the pinch of recession gone too hard for India’s rebel cricket league that it is considering a close down! But at the peak of the rumors, ICL issues a statement to inform the cricket news media that neither the league lacks resources nor has it got any plan for closing down ICL. They are as committed to holding twenty-20 tournaments across the country as before. “There is no question of being bankrupt. We are committed to holding the ICL,” ICL business head Himanshu Mody said in the statement.

The business head added that BCCI, who has created enough trouble for the Indian Cricket League, now wants to walk the path of peace. In a mood to patching up the old row, India’s cricket board offers to make a deal to Subhash Chandra owned league. The deal calls for the dissolving of ICL on the part of Zee group and a gift of Indian Premier League franchise in return. As expected, the deal was not acceptable for the ICL founder. “The BCCI has been offering a peace deal to ICL promoter Subhash Chandra asking him to take up a franchise in return for winding up the league, but this is unacceptable to the Zee boss,” Mody was quoted as saying.Subhash Chandra not only has turned down BCCI’s peace deal, he sent out clear message that he is firm on his grounds on certain issues. And most important among them is striking off the ‘rebel’ tag behind the names of the ICL players. The Twenty-20 league is currently waiting for the decisions of International Cricket Council's executive Board meeting to come out. It is scheduled for April 17-18 in Dubai. The outcome of the meeting will decide the fate of Indian cricket league - whether or not the league would be granted official status. If it fails to produce any satisfactory result, ICL will go for the legal options, Mody makes it clear. “If a resolution does not come through at the next ICC Executive Board meeting, we will pursue legal options. Our stated position is that we will take ICC to court in the UK citing precedents -- Tony Grieg vs. Doug Insole (England) and Kapil Dev and other players vs. BCCI in Indian courts.” Mody says in his statement.
ICL’s releasing of NZ players Shane Bond and Darryl Tuffey and Pakistani players Mohd. Yousuf and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Abdur Razzak, sparked off rumors that a recession-hit ICL is on the verge of collapse. The business head of the league however made it clear that the release has been granted only on a temporary basis to accommodate with the players’ commitments for their national teams. He says letting players representing their countries in international cricket only add value to their profile and that in turn make them more valuable for the League too.

However, ICL makes it a point to gain back the ICC recognition for the players. The business head also said that the league will remain firm on its demands that the “rebel” tag should be removed from it and both the domestic as well as international cricket bodies should recognize the players’ official status and restore pension and other benefits. A the same time he made it clear that cancellation of last ICL was due to the pull out of Pakistani cricketers in the aftermath of Mumbai attack. “People are spreading canards about the ICL going belly up and that due to this we are releasing players. This is all nonsense. Yes, we cancelled one event due to 26/11 but that doesn't mean the ICL is defunct. We are looking at two tournaments in October-November, a league in 8-9 cities on the round-robin format followed by the World Series," Mody said in an attempt to quash the rumors about ICL closing down.