| Lalit Modi, Chairman and Commissioner, Indian Premier League said, "The Title Sponsorship race was tightly contested between three participants, with DLF emerging the final winner through a fair and transparent process. I am truly happy to have India's leading real estate company DLF as our Title Sponsors as they happen to share a common vision with the BCCI to make the Indian Premier League, one of finest cricketing leagues in the world. It is exciting to have an eclectic mix of elite Indian Businessmen, Bollywood personalities and Corporates as our allies, working collectively as one to ensure the success of the IPL. On behalf of the IPL Governing Council, I would like to thank everyone who participated and supported us throughout the bidding process." |
| Rajeev Talwar, Group Executive Director, DLF Limited said, "It gives us immense pleasure winning the Title Sponsorship rights of IPL, which will now be known as the DLF Indian Premier League. At DLF, we always emphasise on nurturing and recognizing talent and this is one more achievement towards nurturing professional talent for the game of cricket in this country. This is game which has mass appeal all over India and both cricket, as well as DLF will grow hand-in-hand." |
| Now with the Media Broadcast Rights, the Eight Team Franchises and Title Sponsorship rights having been declared, all eyes are on the Players auction scheduled to take place on February 20th 2008 through the open bid process in association with IMG "� the worlds leading sports media and entertainment agency. As many as 85 international and Team India players are up for auction between the eight franchises on that day. |
| Earlier Leading sports broadcaster Sony Max & World Sport Group had bagged IPL's global media and production rights for USD $ 1.026 billion. The exclusive Franchise rights for the eight city league were won by Shah Rukh Khan (Kolkata), Preity Zinta (Mohali), RIL Pvt Ltd (Mumbai), GMR Holdings (Delhi), UB Group (Bangalore), Indian Cements Ltd (Chennai) , Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad) and Emerging Media (Jaipur). |
| The Indian Premier League is ready to kick off on April 18th 2008, with some high voltage action expected between Sharukh Khan's Kolkata franchise and Business Baron Vijay Mallya's Bangalore Team at the Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bangalore. The Indian Premier League will feature eight Franchises and will run for 44 days. Each Franchise will play all others on a home and away basis with 7 matches at home. The top 4 Franchises in the league will contest the semi finals and the victorious semi finalists will meet in the Grand Final all over one weekend, which will be played out in Mumbai. |
| The inaugural season of the IPL will showcase a grand total of 59 matches providing broadcasters and in-stadia spectators with 177 hours of live "family entertainment", which will also be viewed by a significant international audience. All matches will be during late afternoon and evening to coincide with prime time for television and providing a convenient time for the stadium audience. The Indian victory at the ICC World Twenty20 has further helped capture the imagination and entice an entire new generation of sports fans into the grounds. The LIVE In-stadia entertainment, combined with the high-octane on-field action has further hooked viewers onto this new adrenalin packed LIVE family entertainment format attracting a much younger fan base, which also includes women and children. |
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