Reasons to favor South Africa
The climactic conditions are the prime reason of the IPL matches to be scheduled in South Africa instead of England. In case the championship would be held in England, the IPL concluded that about 70 percent of the matches would be affected by rain.
The second reason was that Cricket South Africa and top level officers in the South African Government assured the IPL that it would get a complete red carpet treatment.
Thirdly, the county season would just get underway in England while the South African domestic season would be over just before the IPL schedule begins. Due to this reason, there are less logistical problems in South Africa.
The fourth point was that the amount of money needed to run the competition in South Africa would be considerably lesser than to run the tournament in England.
The fifth cause was that, in South Africa, the rights for both the international cricket played in South Africa and the IPL are owned by Supersport. However, in England, there would be a clash between Setanta and Sky TV.
A meeting was held between the Cricket South Africa chief executive, Gerald Majola and the IPL Commisioner, Lalit Modi on Tuesday at Johannesburg. After these talks, it was concluded that South Africa would be the host of IPL 2009. The IPL declared that the final schedule of the 59 matches and the host venues of the 8 franchises would be decided shortly.