IMG plan legal action over sacking

Tuesday, September 1, 2009 -- The IMG sports management group has said that there was no basis on which their contract with the IPL could be severed by the BCCI. The IMG managed the first two editions of the IPL, and earned Rs.43 crores and Rs.33 crores respectively during the two seasons. However, the BCCI thought that the group was charging a little too much for its functioning and has decided to annul the contract based on that.

The BCCI had earlier shot off a letter to IMG informing them of the sacking. In reply, Andrew Wildblood, the senior VP at IMG wrote back a letter to the BCCI telling them that there was no reason for the BCCI to let go of them. It is apparent that IMG is planning to take the legal course if the decision to axe them gets ratified by the BCCI.

The franchises are obviously not a happy lot. Four of the eight franchises, including the biggies in the form of Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders had already written to the BCCI expressing their concern, and this was followed by two of the other franchises doing the same. The owner of the seventh franchise, Vijay Mallaya is said to have had a word with Sharad Pawar regarding the same.

The Chennai Super Kings, owned by N.Srinivasan though, has kept mum in the issue, because Srinivasan himself is the secretary of the BCCI and would have been a party to the decision.

The contract that IMG had in the first year of the IPL was based on a fixed plus variable pay model (10% of the revenue), whereas this was negotiated to a fixed Rs.33 crores for the second year.