Australia launches Big Bash League Twenty20

Australia has just opened the floodgates for interested Indian investors to come Down Under. On Friday, Cricket Australia (CA), the controlling body of the game in the country, approved overseas private investments for its new Big Bash League Twenty20 beginning in December next year.

The eight- team competition, to be played on the lines of the lucrative and successful Indian Premier League (IPL), has already attracted Indian businessmen like Jai Mehta, Gautam Adani and Dheeraj Wadhwan.

Investors will be allowed to own up to 33 per cent stakes in a franchise. The revamped tournament, which will be owned and controlled by the CA, will be held in December-January and could spill into February.

“ Up to $ 26 million in private ownership will now pour into New South Wales ( NSW) and Victoria from separate Indian consortiums who the states have been courting for more than a year,” said a report in The Australian newspaper.

NSW and Victoria are the most sought after teams by Indian companies. Reports in Australia have even said that these two teams will have Indian part- owners as they have already sold shares to giant corporations for around ( Australian) $ 60 million.

“ It’s believed the franchises will be valued between (Australian) $ 2.5 million to $ 3 million a year for 10 years, making them comparable to organisations such as the Brisbane Broncos Ltd, which was valued at $ 36 million in April this year,” reported The Sydney Morning Herald . Little wonder then that Adani, who is the 10th richest Indian and has business interests in Australia, is reportedly interested in a Big Bash team, particularly Brisbane. Adani was unsuccessful in winning a franchise in the IPL. According to an Australian businessman of Indian origin, between $ 5 million and $ 30million was being talked about as investments in a team.

Mehta, co- owner of the IPL Kolkata Knight Riders, has been linked with NSW. The Australian reported that both NSW and Victoria have different four- man consortia from India willing to pay millions of dollars to take a minority share- holding in the new Sydney and Melbourne teams.

Dheeraj Wadhwan, whose Dubai- based company Dheeraj and East Coast sponsors Victoria Bushrangers besides co- sponsoring Mumbai Indians, is another Indian businessman who is eyeing Melbourne.

According to Herald Sun newspaper, they are ready to invest 49 per cent — the maximum allowed by the CA in a team — for which they would have to fork out $ 30- 35 million.

CA has modelled the Big Bash League on the lines of the IPL. And with the IPL running into many problems, CA, which supported the Indian Twenty20 competition when it was launched in late 2007, will be both wary and wiser from the experience.

“ There’s a lot to learn from the IPL, and I meant that in a positive and a negative sense,” CA chief executive James Sutherland said on Friday. “ There is a model there which has been incredibly successful. It’s important to reflect on the reason for this competition already attracting investors here and abroad is that it ( the Big Bash) is extremely high profile.” But nothing would stop several Indian investors, who have either failed to buy an IPL franchisee or those who aspire to get involved in the lucrative tournament, from pumping in money in the new competition.

Sutherland denied that Big Bash League could throw a challenge to the IPL. “ I don’t think we see ourselves as a competitor to the IPL (in terms of player earnings) and certainly the revenues that the CA Big Bash League can generate,” he said. “ In a small market such as Australia it’s not going to be the same as the IPL. But at the same time this league is on the international stage and the teams that play- off in the finals will qualify for the Champions League.”