MUMBAI: Sahara India Pariwar, a major business conglomerate and the owner of IPL team Pune Warriors, has taken for an undisclosed amount the Lucknow franchise of the ?Hockey India League? (HIL), the franchise-based Hockey league started by Hockey India.

Hockey India, the official body of the sport in India, is launching its own franchise-based league to rival World Series Hockey which is co-promoted by Indian Hockey Federation and Harish Thawani?s Nimbus Sport.

Sahara India chairman Subrata Roy Sahara said, ?By taking up this franchise we are sure that fresh talent will be identified at city and regional level, who in turn will bring laurels to our beloved nation. We are also hopeful, that following our efforts to encourage Hockey, other corporate entities will also come forward to support this league which will eventually benefit the game and its exponents."

The HIL will initially comprise six teams who will play each other on home and away basis. The league is expected to debut in January next year with the International Hockey Federation giving it a one month window from 1-30 January to ensure the participation of top foreign players.

The HIL will have six city-based teams selected from a pool of 12 cities that have infrastructure and facilities to host a match.

The six teams can have a maximum of 24 players in their squad with six Indian and foreign marquee players each. HI has fixed the salary cap at Rs 30 million with players divided into four slabs selected through IPL style auction in September.

Hockey India Secretary General Narendra Batra said, ?I am grateful to ?Saharasri? and Sahara India Pariwar, for again coming forward in support of Hockey. The Group has always come forward and supported the sport of hockey at all times by providing it the much needed support.?

Apart from being sponsor to the Indian Hockey Team, Sahara India Pariwar had also joined hands with Federation Internationale De Hockey (FIH) in 2004, the World?s apex Body for Hockey, and became the fourth Global Partner of the Federation for a period of three years.

HI will work with its exclusive marketing partner Twenty First Century Media to launch the league. TCM is responsible for handling sponsorship, media rights and getting franchises on board for the league.

Earlier, Sahara had renewed its sponsorship deal with HI forking out Rs 400 million over a five-year period.

MUMBAI: The Elite Football League of India (EFLI) has retained Madison Street Capital, a provider of corporate finance and mergers and acquisition (M&A) advisory services, to raise capital and explore equity finance opportunities for it.

Ten Sports will telecast later all the 31 matches that the first season for the EFLI will have. The tournament has been preponed from November to 20 July in Sri Lanka.

Eight teams will take part, five of which are from India, two from Sri Lanka and one from Pakistan. They will compete in American-style football.

Madison Street Capital senior MD of the Capital Markets Group Barry Petersen said,?We are excited to be partnering with a highly experienced management team in media/entertainment who raised the initial equity and secured the global partnerships that will produce a successful first season launch. Given the demographics and the proven success of the IPL, Ten Sports and the WWE in India, the opportunity is substantial.?

EFLI director of operations Tausif Sheikh said that the company is not selling team franchises to corporates in the first year. "We want to take it to a stage where we establish value. People should feel that it is a good time to get involved. Once it airs on Ten Sports, people will come to know what it is all about. For the first year, we focussing on doing sponsorship deals for the teams. We are doing the event in Sri Lanka partly due to the monsoons. The players are ready to play and holding the event in November would not have made sense.

The tournament will be held next year in India. "We could hold it either just before the start of the IPL or just after," said Sheikh.

EFLI has support from high-profile sports and entertainment figures such as Kurt Warner, Mark Wahlberg, Mike Ditka, Michal Irvin, Brandon Chillar, and Ron Jaworski.

Coaches and players for the current eight-team league were selected from a field of 10,000 applicants, and were trained by US-based football coaches affiliated with EFLI.

EFLI will use the same model as the IPL, which recently received $2 billion for a 10-year broadcast contract, utilising a single stadium as the venue. The broadcast team is led by Sandy Grossman, the only television executive to direct 10 NFL Super Bowls.

The EFLI was established by the Elite Football Federation of India, the first sanctioned and recognised American football federation in India. The Federation acts as a pass-through entity for EFLI, distributing 15 per cent of its revenue to the Sports Ministry of India to help maintain its ongoing programs and facilities.

MUMBAI: Cricketer turned commentator Tony Greig is an outspoken commentator and at times controversial but all that has little impact on the man who is more in the news these days for his tirade against the BCCI and its progeny, the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Speaking at the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, Greig has blamed India (read BCCI) for most of the ills inflicting the game.

He suggested that the only way out from the current country versus club conflict is reducing the length of IPL and expanding it to make it a pan-Asia league which would include teams from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

According to Greig, the understanding between the BCCI and these cricket boards would be that no international cricket would be scheduled during the IPL which would mean extra income for these cricket boards and their players which would also address the issue of player availability.

"India (BCCI) should agree to reduce the length of the IPL in its current form as a trade-off for the other countries not scheduling Internationals in opposition to it. That is, unless it adopts my Asian League proposal which I shall discuss in a minute," Greig stated.

"It should agree to expand the IPL to say an Asian League and include extra teams from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The cricket boards of these countries should be given a financial interest in the competition, which would enable them to under-write most of their cricket.

"Those funds would compensate 10 the boards for not running domestic Twenty/20 competitions of their own as they are planning to do now. This expanded league would enable players from the have-not countries to earn good money and still be available for Internationals."

He further stated that England and South Africa should set-up their own IPL styled leagues which would also include teams from neighboring countries for example Australia could include New Zealand in the Big Bash League.

"England should set up its equivalent of the IPL and include teams from the West Indies and one team from Ireland, which would have a financial interest in the competition. Similar arrangements should be made by South Africa for Zimbabwe and Kenya. And Australia‘s Big Bash should include New Zealand teams.

At the same time he also contended that the ICC should not grant window to any of the domestic Twenty20 leagues that have sprouted in many cricket playing nations.

The former English captain also chided BCCI for its dictatorial ways of stalling major decisions citing the example of Decision Review System which was implemented but later withdrawn due to BCCI‘s pressure.

He said the ICC was just a namesake governing body of the game. In reality it‘s the BCCI which calls the shots courtesy its fledging cricket market which helps the game survive globally.

"Currently, there are 10 full members of the ICC and the constitution requires the approval of 70%, or seven members, to advance any motion, which means 40%, or four members, can block any motion," said Greig.

"Much of the game is controlled by the BCCI because it controls enough votes to block any proposal put forward at the ICC board meetings. The reason for this is some countries would not survive without the financial opportunities India provides."

However, Greig also had a word of praise for the powerful board. He lauded BCCI‘s effort to reward former cricketers with a one-time payment for their services to Indian cricket.

He was of the firm belief that the problems of world cricket can be addressed if India adheres to the spirit of cricket.

"Mahatma Gandhi had said that a nation‘s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people. As cricket certainly resides in the hearts and souls of Indian people I am optimistic India will lead cricket by acting in the best interests of all countries rather than just for India," he averred.

He also recommended that every international team should be required to play at least three Tests, three ODIs and three Twenty/20 matches against all the other teams in a given home and away cycle for the ICC"s Future Tours Programme to work well.

Five, World cricket should do everything possible to not only help the West Indies become a dominant Test force again but to ensure Pakistan cricket survives the extraordinary situation it finds itself.