Wednesday, February 4, 2009

IPL SECOND AUCTION

Second season of the fancied Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament is expected to start off between April 10 and May 24. The exact schedule, though, will be declared only after the election schedule is announced.


The auction for the second edition of the IPL is scheduled to be held on February 6 in Goa where 43 cricketers will be auctioned. The auction money is capped at USD 2 million per team and teams with Pakistani players will be able to spend extra after initial auction is complete.


Lalit Modi, Chairman and Commissioner of the IPL, said the slowdown won't have an impact on auctions. "I myself have been getting a lot of enquiries for investment opportunities in the IPL teams."


"There is a great interest for a lot of players in the league and that they have close to 21 spots up on the auction," he said.


Modi said that three teams were profitable in Season I and that Chennai Super Kings was one of them and added that the appreciation of Rajasthan Royals is 3700%.


Likewise, N Srinivasan of India Cements said the interest in cricket has not come down in the current economic environment and he sees phenomenal increase in value in season two. He added he did not make any losses on his team.