CRICKET Australia will today address the bid by Victoria and NSW to sell shares in their Twenty20 teams to Indian investors.
CA's board meeting is sure to spark fiery debate as both states try to win approval to sell 49 percent of their Twenty20 teams for a reported $35 million each.
There is extreme angst in the corridors of CA, with the spectre of the Kerry Packer-financed World Series Cricket split 33 years ago looming as a reminder of the consequences should the parties not reach an agreement.
What will happen is anybody's guess.
More than a year ago CA decided that, in keeping with global growth of the Twenty20 phenomenon, the Australian states would compete as cities - for example, the Melbourne Bushrangers and the Sydney Blues - starting in the 2011-12 season.
From Cricket Victoria's point of view, selling a 49 per cent share of either or both their Twenty20 teams - depending on who owns the new one --is a no- brainer.
It would reap more than $30 million while retaining control and have a bankroll to recruit the best of the best big-name imports.
There are more than 80 million payTV subscribers in India - and seven dedicated cricket channels that will take all the content they can get.
Then there are multi-million-dollar gambling markets, perhaps not all legal, that also make an Australian Twenty20 league highly attractive to the subcontinent.
The biggest states in Australian cricket want cashed-up Indian partners and are prepared to challenge their controlling body to get them.
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