Cricket Australia (CA) is working overtime in order to come to a mutual agreement over sponsorship issues and conflict of interests concerning the Indian Premier League (IPL). Meanwhile, IPL commissioner Lalit Modi has already washed his hands off saying the players and their respective boards will have to deal with it.

But the present impasse isn’t giving the owners of the eight franchise sleepless night. All they are focused on right now is the forthcoming auction—be it with or without the Australians.

“There’s a lot at stake. We’re certainly not worried if Ponting or Hayden or even Warne is available this season or not. They’re stars no doubt but when we decided to bid for the franchise we were relying on a few names. We have plans and at the same time we even have contingency plans. We will first wait for the internal meeting with IPL and take it from there,” says a spokesperson for one of the franchise teams.

With the country’s leading corporate houses jumping on the IPL bandwagon, there is no dearth of marketing or financial brains in cricket now. And that’s the reason most of them are keeping their cards close to their chests. “To be very frank, even we’re not sure about what the details are. Another week, maybe, before we can actually start announcing anything,” say Emerging Media CEO Fraser Castellino.

“We are certainly working on it. This is cricket but not just cricket. There are a lot of other aspects to it. In the end, it’ll all be about innovation, coming up with ideas that will set the IPL going, not just players,” says an RIL official.

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