A breakthrough in the sponsorship dispute has strengthened Australian players’ chances of playing in the inaugural Twenty20 tournament in the Indian Premier League.
CA and players’ body have reportedly worked up a compromise formula
MELBOURNE: A breakthrough in the sponsorship dispute has strengthened Australian players’ chances of playing in the inaugural Twenty20 tournament in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Australian media reported on Monday even as IPL chairman Lalit Modi maintained that issue will be resolved soon and that the racism row would not affect the players’ value.
According to The Age, it is believed the Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA), which is handling the negotiations, has struck two crucial compromises.
Under the original contract, Australians would not have been released to play for their states or attend national training camps during the billion-dollar tournament, but that stumbling block is believed to have been cleared.
However, not more than two can play for one franchise. The eight franchises can sign upto six overseas players and can have four in the team at any one time.
Significant progress has also been made in relation to players’ obligations to endorse products that may clash with Cricket Australia’s (CA) commercial partners. Previously, IPL franchises could have used the image of, say, Ricky Ponting and two other players in global advertising campaigns for their sponsors.
The revised contract is understood to limit those advertising campaigns to the Indian market. For instance, Ponting and the two other players could promote Indian airline Kingfisher but not in Australia because of a clash with Cricket Australia sponsor Emirates.
The major outstanding issue, which could yet derail the Australians’ involvement in the IPL, relates to the two CA sponsors with global protection, Foster’s and Travelex.
Player representatives are yet to see the written detail of the revised contract, but they believe enough progress has been made to inspire confidence that players such as Ponting, Brett Lee and Andrew Symonds will be available for the February 20 auction in Mumbai in which the eight cashed-up franchises bid for the best players in the world.
Most of Australia’s top players were unlikely though to be able to play in the first two years of the IPL because of tour commitments. But even so, if they sign up and are in the player auction, they can still receive a retainer worth up to 300,000 dollars.
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