Sri Lanka Cricket secures $30 mn bids for premier league: report

June 27, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Cricket has secured bids in excess of 30 million dollars to host its first Twenty20 premier league, a report said. Seven parties submitted bids for the August 10-31, Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) featuring seven provincial teams, each having six foreign players in their squad but with a provision that only four can be fielded in a playing XI.

The Colombo-based Daily Mirror newspaper said the bids came from Indian companies and speculated that the floor price of 3.0 million dollars must have knocked-off any Sri Lankan company from making an offer.

Neighbouring India’s money-spinning Indian Premier League, had set a base price of 50 million dollars for a franchise when the tournament was launched in 2008. It later rose to 225 million dollars when two teams were added in 2010.

India’s Wadhawan Holdings, with interest in hotels and food retail, submitted the highest offer of 5.02 million dollars for the Wayamba team.

Incidentally, Wayamba represented Sri Lanka under the flag Wayamba Elevens during the 2009 and 2010 Champions LeagueT20 tournaments.

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