IMG in doubt for role in IPL: Indian senior officials of BCCI met the top officers of IMG in Mumbai to look after the clarifications regarding their role in the various allegations related to the Indian Premier League. The IMG team in Mumbai also included its senior legal counsels Paul Manning and John Laffhagen, the latter having drafted the player contracts while from Indian side, senior official also included the president of BCCI, Shashank Manohar and secretary, N Srinivasan. IMG’s senior vice-president, Andrew Wildblood described the meeting in short and friendly manner to media. IMG has played key role in the IPL during almost every activity. They are involved in the area like formulating the franchise bidding, player contracts and auctions, the media rights issues, the broadcast rights and especially the day-to-day running of the league. Role of IMG came into doubt after the suspension of Lalit Modi from the post of the IPL chairman. Board wanted to know whether IMG was aware of the Modi’s activities. These activities involved the alleged bad behavior of Modi and charges related to the rigging of the initial bids for a couple of franchises in year 2008. BCCI president Shashank Manohar had pointed fingers at the IMG immediately after the IPL governing council meeting on April 26. He said that council trusted the IMG and Lalit Modi both for running to league fairly as professional. He gave this response in a query about the responsibility of council in the IPL mess.
Rs 27 crore fixed for IMG from third season: Shashank Manohar, BCCI president said that if you expect that every governing council member come to office on time in morning and work till late night then there will be no need of any other staff to which they have to pay. He said that they do not pay amount of Rs 27 crore to IMG annually and they do not need a CEO to run the Indian Premier League. All the roles will be played by the council staff itself. He said that an institution runs on the trust and everyone should be responsible towards their job. IMG was also in controversy in past for their role in the IPL. The board was not happy with the original deal signed by the Indian Premier League with the IMG which involved a management fee of ten per cent of tournament revenue. In the first season of the Indian Premier League held in India, IMG was paid Rs 43 crore while in next season i.e. 2009, which was hosted in South Africa, they were paid Rs 33 crore. BCCI asked IMG to submit a revised proposal including all the details. IMG failed to submit any such report within given deadline time and as a result their contract was terminated in year 2008. Later the contract was renegotiated by both the parties. After that matter was settled for a figure of Rs 27 crore as annual payment from the third season the Indian Premier League.
IMG in controversy for parallel IPL in UK: BCCI also expected to ask the role of IMG in the proposed parallel IPL in the United Kingdom. There was charge on them from the ECB chairman, Giles Clarke regarding it. He alleged that Lalit Modi was trying to induce counties to set up a rebel Twenty20 league that would dent the ECB. IMG was dragged into this issue as the two of its senior officials Wildblood and Peter Griffiths who are in board of directors were present in meeting on March 31 where Lalit Modi met the representatives from Lancashire, Warwickshire and Yorkshire. IMG denied allegations that they were involved in helping set up a parallel IPL in England, and that they just facilitated an informal meeting between county representatives and Lalit Modi. Representatives of certain ECB member-counties requested a meeting with Mr Lalit Modi through IMG. They clarified that there was an informal lunch meeting subsequently took place on 31st March 2010 in Delhi and was attended by IMG executives. The matters discussed at the lunch included a general conversation about the challenges currently facing English cricket and a theoretical discussion about the possible modeling and commercial potential of an English Twenty20 cricket competition. Later the BCCI issued a second show cause to Lalit Modi in the Giles Clarke affair. They gave time to submit his reply in 15 days and the deadline is decided on May 21, 2010.
About IMG: IMG was founded in year 1960 by Mark McCormack and gold legend Arnold Palmer. They took the company into big heights at global level. IMG is counted among the world’s premier and most diversified sports, entertainment and media companies. They partner with the world’s leading marketers and media networks to help them grow their businesses through our event properties, media production and distribution, talent brands, sponsorship consulting, brand licensing, sponsorship sales and other services. From emerging leadership in areas like digital media, licensing and entertainment programming, to our long-standing strength in sports, fashion and traditional media, IMG is committed to providing business-building solutions. Their partners include many of the world’s most famous brands, media outlets, sports governing bodies, national and local governments, athletes, entertainers, models and fashion designers. IMG is the global leader in event management and talent representation across golf, tennis and fashion and has a significant presence in many other sports, cultural and lifestyle categories. IMG’s media division is one of the world’s top independent producers of sports and entertainment television across multiple genres and is an emerging leader in video and interactive content creation for broadband and mobile platforms. In year 2004, IMG was acquired by well known entrepreneurial pioneer Ted Forstmann and he further developed the company with creativity and strategic decisions. Company is linked with the Indian Premier League as well as with some other activities of BCCI. They handled several important activities during three season of the IPL whether those were auctions of the players or some other deals. They are managing the deals in cricket with other counties as well.
IMG In Doubt For Role In IPL
May 17th, 2010 
Sachin 
Posted in Sports 
