ICL to get the Lal Bahadur Stadium on lease for three years

Zee Network delegation’s efforts to get the Lal Bahadur Stadium on lease for three years for its Indian Cricket League – a parallel body to the official BCCI – ended in deadlock as the State Government insisted that it be paid a minimum of Rs.1 crore per year for conducting the ICL tournament at the venue.

This was the outcome of the high level talks in the city on Friday, a day after the ICL successfully lured eight Hyderabad Ranji cricketers into its fold.

Initially, the Zee officials offered Rs 7.5 lakh for 60 days of which matches will be held only for 45 days.

A senior official of the State Government informed The Hindu that the Zee delegation was in no mood to accept the proposal of sharing the gate money and the ad revenue to be generated by the ICL matches at the floodlit venue.

“They also put forward a condition that the venue should not be given for any other activity during that 60-day phase,” he revealed. Initially, the Government was reluctant, but later relented when the Zee officials made it clear that they would give the stadium a facelift, including modernising dressing rooms and laying of two turf wickets.

The senior official is confident that the Zee will come back with an enhanced figure if not exactly what the Government put forward on Friday, as “they are aware of the significance of getting the venue”.

S.N. Mohanty, Principal Secretary to State Government (Y & AT), headed the Government delegation at the talks which had seen P.Chinnappa Reddy, Technical Advisor to State Government (Sports & Physical Education), also participate in earlier round.

Although Zee officials promised to come back, sources in the Zee said they may not be willing to pay such a huge amount and would instead prefer the Railway Grounds, especially because Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had recently spoken in favour of the ICL.

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