Andrew Wildblood sounds remarkably relaxed considering he is responsible for transporting one of the biggest sporting events on earth to a completely new continent in a little over three weeks in the full glare of the world’s media.

The senior vice-president and corporate director for India at the sports marketing giant IMG, responsible with the Indian Premier League chairman, Lalit Modi, for coming up with the concept, revealed yesterday that South Africa was a clear winner when it came to relocating the tournament over security concerns in its homeland and said that generating local support in its adoptive country would be key to its success.

“Ultimately it was a pretty straightforward decision. If you think too much about it, you can talk yourself into it being very difficult to do,” he said. “But you have to remember we have an awful lot of people out here and a lot of the planning can simply be overlaid into South Africa. We’re talking about playing cricket in cricket grounds that host cricket matches.”

The scale of his challenge became clear as the task of scheduling 59 matches in seven weeks from 18 April dragged on past close of business yesterday. Among the many added difficulties is the decision to make all eight franchises “homeless” for the duration of the tournament and to try to include fixtures in some of the country’s smaller venues.

Wildblood said that South Africa was the clear choice once Board of Control for Cricket in India members and organisers looked into the logistics of playing 59 matches at the start of the English season. “As you got into the detail of working the schedule around the existing county and international fixtures and the potential disruption with Sky and all of that it became clear that, if Cricket South Africa was proposing to host it in a way that was consistent with the BCCI’s aims, then it was the obvious choice,” he said. “As we got into the detail, the weather was the key thing. You just can’t rely on the weather in the UK in April.”

He promised that the tournament would generate the same passion as last year’s phenomenally successful inaugural season in India, despite concerns about the potential lack of atmosphere and half-full grounds. “I disagree with the suggestion that it won’t stimulate the same fervour in South Africa. I think it will. There is already a huge frenzy here. There is a huge Indian population and a huge cricket-loving population. I think they will get together and bring it to life.”

Wildblood said it would live or die on whether it could attract local fans into the stadiums. “Our focus is putting in place strategies that ensure the stadiums get filled up. We want an event that is supported by the local population,” he said. He denied that the short lead time would be a problem and said going to a Twenty20 match was a spur of the moment decision “not dissimilar to going to the cinema”. He conceded the midday starts could be a problem on weekdays but indicated that IPL organisers were working on innovative marketing and ticketing solutions that would bring in the crowds. “We will judge the success or failure of the event by the number of people we can get into the ground. If we can build the momentum and fill the stadiums, all the other factors will follow.”

Complex negotiations over the schedule are due to be concluded today. The original plan, as laid out by CSA to potential hosts, had been to give each team a home base but such was the clamour among the franchises to be housed in Durban, the greatest Indian diaspora outside the subcontinent, that it became impossible to choose. The advantage it would have given that team, likely to play to packed houses for seven home games, would have been immense.

The subsequent plan was for each team to play an equal number of games at each venue. Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Centurion and Port Elizabeth, the “big five” Test venues, were never in doubt but such was the consternation among the other contenders for a slice of the IPL pie that a compromise plan was being put in place yesterday. Bloemfontein is the next biggest venue but has a poor attendance record. During the rugby season the largely Afrikaner population would be a hard market to tempt.

Hotel rooms have already been booked in East London and Kimberley in anticipation of some matches being played there while Benoni and Potchefstroom, the last serious candidates, are both within striking distance by road of Johannesburg and Centurion.Another potential problem emerged yesterday when global news agency Reuters reminded subscribers that it may not be able to cover the tournament due to a dispute with the organisers.

In 2008, Reuters and other international agencies refused to cover the tournament because they claimed the accreditation terms “contained discriminatory elements” to which they could not agree, including a bar on distributing pictures to websites. In November, it similarly boycotted the first Test between India and Australia before the BCCI agreed to amend its terms. Reuters said yesterday that it remained to be seen whether agreement would be reached for the IPL in South Africa.

The commercial value of the IPL was underlined yesterday when it agreed a blockbusting new broadcast agreement with Multi Screen Media and the World Sport Group, worth $1.619bn (£1.1bn) over the next nine years.
Source – guardian.co.uk