With March Madness over, the top players are making a choice whether to play on at their respective colleges’ or move on to the NBA. One of the players who hadn’t made his choice previously was USC Shooting Guard O.J. Mayo. OJ averaged 20.7 points in his freshman year. [Stats]

Now OJ believes he is ready to make the step up, by declaring for this year’s draft. [USC freshman Mayo will declare for NBA draft] Although he doesn’t have an agent yet, Mayo intends to sign one, thus ending his eligibility in the NCAA. He is being touted as a first round pick.

Meanwhile, player of the year, North Carolina’s Tyler Hanborough, has not yet declared for this year’s draft. [Hansborough Stays Quiet About His Future Options]

MLS Salaries Released

A lot of discussion has brewed in regards to MLS this week with the release of the players’ salaries. Obviously, David Beckham still heads the pack with his guaranteed $6.5 million. However, what many people may not know is that the developmental wage is a mere $12,900, which 43 players earn. Another 76 players earn under $33,000. [M.L.S. Salary Structure Is a Matter of Rich Man, Poor Man]

It’s hard to take this information on face value as the upscale is heavily weighted by the marquee (designated) player rule. But what it does highlight is that the minimum wage is marginal compared to what players would earn in other countries, not to mention in other professional sports.

Henry to Chelski

Goal.com is reporting that Chelsea FC has made inquiries about Thierry Henry joining the club in the summer. Chelsea is interested in signing the French forward, who apparently misses his daughter. His daughter is back in London with her mother.

Highest earning coaches

Staying with soccer, a list of the highest paid managers has been released. It comes with little surprise that before losing his job at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho was the highest paid, at €29 million. [Mourinho And Capello Top Earners Last Year] Maybe some people are now thinking about representing coaches instead of athletes after reading these wages. The next manager in line is former Real Madrid and now England manager Fabian Capello at €14.2 million.

A new era is beginning in Australia this weekend. The first professional women’s league for any team sport will commence on Saturday. Most of you are thinking basketball, but in fact it’s one of Australia’s biggest sports- Netball.

10 teams from Australia and New Zealand, the world’s two best coutries, will be vying for the title in the inaugural season of the ANZ Championship. The league will be in full swing, having all of their games broadcast live in Fox Sports.

In the initial season, the salary cap will be set at $268,000. This will be spread over 12 players, with the minimum contract being worth $12,000. [Search for the first million-dollar babe starts here] While this is a small amount, it’s a step in the right direction for a league that had been suffering in recent years, with players often having to pay their way to compete.

What will interesting is to see how high the profile of netballers will increase. There are already some household names. Liz Ellis, who recently retired, had media commitments in the latter stage of her career. Irene Van Dyk from NZ has endorsements off the court too. She is believed to be earning over $100,000.

Flamini talks hits a hurdle

Contract talks have broken down with promising midfielder Matthieu Flamini. The 23 year old is currently reportedly on €1m and was offered twice that for his new contract. In a sport where stars receive much more, it will be interesting to see whether Arsenal fight to retain the star, especially with Italian powerhouses Juventus and Milan waiting to swoop. [Juve & Milan Fighting over Flamini]

Luck of the Irish

Late last week the top 10 Irish sports stars list was released. On first thought, one might think that a soccer player would head the list. But alas, it is former F1 driver Eddie Irvine. He has amassed a net worth of an estimated €245m, with less than 25% of that being made from F1. [The Rich List Sports Stars] In second place is former soccer player turned manager Roy Keane, on €73m.

Of the current list, there is quite a broad breakdown. 2 in Motor Sport, 3 in Golf, 4 in Soccer and even a Jockey.

No measly amount for Beasley

Remember this time last year, prior to the NBA Draft, how figures were being thrown around about how much the top draft picks would earn? Well, then look no further than Michael Beasley. The Kansas State player is on top of everyone’s mock drafts, and Darren Rovell over at CNBC predicts a big future for him. [Sportsbiz]

Class of ’04 – Who will make the cut?

Staying on basketball, the NBA draftees on 2004 are coming to the end of their rookie contracts, and Sports Illustrated has done a great job of dissecting these player’s contracts and whether they’ll be playing at their original teams next year.

Also, Gilbert Arenas still wants to opt out of the last year of his contract, for less pay? [Arenas will take pay cut to return to Wizards]

The worldwide presence of the MLB almost came to a grinding halt this week as the Boston Red Sox threatened to boycott their season opener against Oakland in Japan due to a pay dispute. But this wasn’t any old pay dispute. The players weren’t interested in an increase on their $40,000 appearance fee, but rather they wanted an increase in the amount paid to their support staff who were traveling with them. The Red Sox prevailed, with their staff receiving the exact same amount as the players for the trip. [Red Sox call of Japan no-show]

Punter paying off

It’s well known that Ricky Ponting makes quite a nice living off his chosen sport of cricket. But now details have emerged about how much he actually makes off the field.The aforementioned article highlights just how marketable Australia’s captain is. As I reported last year, Ponting was recognized as the most marketable Australian in the Sweeney Sports Survey.

Brands would be jumping over backwards to get Ponting to represent their brand. Just some of the sponsors that he has includes (dollar figure in brackets):

Adidas, who have their own line of Ricky sunglasses ($150,000).
HarperCollins, who publish his ‘Captain Diaries’ each year ($100,000-$150,000).
Kookaburra Bats, who is his bat sponsor ($350,000).

It’s good news to both current and future Cricket agents that Cricket Australia is quite relaxed on allowing several individual sponsors, unlike in England where most of the image rights are retained by both the National and County Associations.

Lampard not happy at Chelsea

Frank Lampard, Chelsea’s attacking midfielder is not happy with Chelsea at the moment. The England player has under 18 months left to run on his contract, and has expressed interest in extending his stay. [Lampard frustrated about contract]

But despite the club telling him everything is going along smoothly, they are yet to get back to him, and Frank is not happy.

As Frank told the London Evening Standard:
“I’ve been approached a few times by the club saying they are going to come to me with something and they haven’t, hat means they’re saying they will have to wait until the summer and I don’t really know what that means. I said at the beginning of the season I didn’t want to talk about my contract because I wanted to concentrate on my football.”

It would be frustrating for someone in Frank’s position, who would expect to be given a new contract as he is the current captain of the club.

March Madness

As March Madness sweeps all over the US, it’s not just the players that are showcasing if they can make it in the big time- but also the coaches. As this Sports Illustrated article suggests, there are some teams who are headed for the Sweet 16 who may be suited by bigger teams they knocked out to get there. Speaking a little bit out of my depth here, and a bit gutted over USC’s first round loss, I ask you the readers to suggest who you can see being suited during the other ‘March Madness’?

Just when you thought all the Indian Premier League teams were finalized, they hold a second auction. Only a handful of International players were available this round.

Of the 28 players, 14 were Under 19 Indian cricketers. The Under 19 players were chosen by a draft system.

The most expensive player to be chosen this time round was James Hopes ($300,000), possibly off the back of his wonderful performance in the second final of the recent tri-series. [Hopes the biggest draw in low-profile auction]

Pakistan’s Twenty20 star performer Misbah-ul Haq was picked up for $150,000.

One of the biggest surprises of the day was the first and only England player to be playing in the tournament. Dimitri Mascarenhas was picked up by Hampshire. England was believed to not be involved in the IPL, as they have committed to an international tour during the time, not to mention it conflicts with the start of County cricket season. But Mascarenhas received a special exemption from his County side.

Matt Giteau re-signs

Good news for Australian Rugby this week with Matt Giteau signing on till the end of the 2011 World Cup. The Western Force five-eighth is an integral part of the Australian team, and was the highest paid player when he signed for the Western Force in their inaugural year.

However, Matt has inserted a clause in his contract which states that he has the right to negotiate terms with another Australian club for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. His contract with the Western Force expires at the end of 2009. [Brumbies return option for Giteau]

While the Force is disappointed he hasn’t committed for longer, Matt insists that it’s just in there because he had to think for the future and is very happy at the Force.

The clause has brought up speculation that Matt Giteau may return to where he began his Super 14 career- the Brumbies. ACT is where his family also resides.

Brumbies coach Laurie Fisher has expressed interest in signing Matt Giteau if he becomes available, and if Matt continues his fantastic form, the Brumbies will surely attempt to sign him.

Yao Ming is still King

Without Yao Ming, the Rockets are continuing on their winning streak by winning their 20th game tonight. But Yao is not a forgotten man.

Despite missing the rest of the NBA season, Yao’s marketability is still at a high. [Even on sideline, Yao is marketable]

China’s number 1 athlete earns around $25 million from endorsements every year. This includes deals with Reebok, Coke and Visa. Some of these sponsors including Coke, have tied Yao in with their Olympic Campaigns.

The ads featuring Yao and Olympic-related sponsors will remain, as their is still a hope that he will play.

The buzz that is generated around Yao at the moment is at an all-time high. The big question that is debated is will he play in the Olympics or won’t he, and thus Yao is receiving a large amount of coverage from the media. This will be refreshing news to Reebok, who is missing out on their main source of exposure- Houston games.

While the details of his contracts with sponsors are not known, he may suffer in the short term if there are clauses in regards to injury. But in the long run, he is still the No.1 athlete in China, and only 27, so there are many more sponsorship dollars to be made.

As I have previously reported, Sports Agent Ricky Nixon at Flying Start has developed a Sports Agent Course that can be completed online. It’s a 12 week course, with weekly lectures that are run by Ricky Nixon, and include special guests.

Ricky’s course has been so popular that it has now been integrated into a university subject at Victoria University. [Show me the money, Ricky Nixon]

Not only that, Ricky is pushing for the course to be mandatory to be completed for all agents who represent players in the AFL. He believes that through proper education, smarter, ethical agents will be running the lives of our professional athletes.

What has been surprising is the amount of current footballers who are completing the course. Western Bulldogs player Brad Johnson has undertaken the study, and is considering being an agent after his career. With current players completing the course, this will allow them to improve how they are being represented.

Cricket Riches

So now the IPL auction is over and players are at their teams. As we saw Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni will be paid the richly sum of $1.5 million for competing for about a month and a half. To put this on a comparative scale, Dhoni would earn US$12 million for a year, putting him in the same league as top earners in basketball and soccer.

But could this figure have been more? The IPL was set with a salary cap of $5 million, thus the bids for players had to be chosen wisely by teams. The question that is asked is that if there was no salary cap in place, would the figures of the circketers have been more or less? Competitive forces would have kicked into place and I think the figure could have been much higher.

If the IPL turns out to a success, will the salary cap increase, and more importantly, will cricketers become the highest paid athletes in the world? [Will cricket outpay soccer?]

Mayweather ready to rumble

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has accomplished a lot in boxing, he’s even been on Dancing with the Stars, and now he’s adding another accomplishment to his resume. On March 30, in Florida, Floyd will be competing in Wrestlemania XXIV. And Mayweather will get $20 million for one match: against the Big Show. [Mayweather to get $20 million to wrestle]

Mayweather will receive the same amount he normally gets for boxing fights, and I think I can see why WWE chose the move.

Wrestling’s big events are a staple on pay-per-view, as are boxing. What the WWE are trying to do is bring fans of boxing over to WWE.

The WWE don’t only see Mayweather as a fighter, but will realize the potential of him as a ‘brand’. It will be no surprise to see shirts, posters and other merchandise being available of the fighter.

Show me the…friendship?

As reported earlier Randy Moss re-signed with the New England Patriots for a further 3 years. Randy’s agent, Tim DiPiero believes he could have got more money. But Randy wasn’t all about the money. It was the relationships he created with the people at the team. [Patriots 'intangibles' helped Moss make his decision to stay]

As Randy’s agent explains, sometimes people lose sight of the value of non-monetary factors.

“Oftentimes, when people judge whether a contract is a success, they look at how much it’s worth. But there is more to life than just pure money,” DiPiero said, according to The Globe. “In this case, Randy experienced some intangibles during the year, from his friendships, to his relationship with the coaching staff and others in the organization. Those intangibles had some value here.”

As ESPN further explains, Randy and coach Bill Belicheck had developed a mutual respect who are both heading towards a mutual goal.

David’s Dilemma

Last week I did an extensive wrap on the new Indian Premier League and listed all the players salaries. One of the big surprises was that of David Hussey. David was bought for $625,000 by Kolkata, and was expected to play the whole tournament. This could be a reason why he went for nearly double the amount of his brother Michael, despite Michael being a regular in the Australian team.

However, David is also contracted to Nottingham, an English County side. By playing the IPL, David will miss the first five games of County, causing a dilemma for all parties involved. David’s salary is substantially lower for county, being only $80,000 per season. [County commitments may clash]

Currently all parties are trying to work out a resolution. Conflicting dates between clubs, countries and the IPL may occur for some time, as the ICC has not given the IPL a window.

So what options are there available for resolution? They may be:

1. David forfeits part of his wage in turn for missing a portion of the tournament.

2. Nottingham and Kolkota reach an agreement where David only misses say 3 games of Nottingham.

In other IPL news:

Justin Langer has reneged on his commitment on the IPL, citing he will play for his County side Sommerset. Also a couple more Australian players are in talks to join- Luke Ronchi and Luke Pomersbach. [David Hussey in doubt, Langer pulls out]

A League Update

The A League will expand from 8 to 10 teams next season, with Gold Coast Galaxy and North Queensland Thunder the two new teams. Gold Coast Galaxy are wasting no time searching for their marquee player, with Portsmouth striker Kanu being linked to the club. [Kanu Linked With Move Down Under] However, Harry Redknapp, Portsmouth’s Manager, has dismissed this move.

In other A Leage news:

Tom Pondeljak has signed with the Melbourne Victory for 2 years. The former Central Coast Mariners defender played in their losing Grand Final last weekend. Also, Nick ward has singed a 1 year extension to his deal at Melbourne Victory. [Pondeljak returns to Melbourne]

The Indian Premier League is a new 20/20 Cricket League which will be held in India in April this year. The tournament will run for just over a month (44 days).

The tournament will be a round robin format consisting of 8 teams, with the top 4 teams playing off in semis, then the final. The prize money will be $3 million.

The 8 teams were determined by the highest bidder for different regions of India. The teams are as follows (their winning bid are in brackets):

Bangalore Royal Challengers ($111.6 million)

Chennai Super Kings ($91 million)

Delhi Daredevils ($84 million)

Hyderabad ($107 million)

Jaipur ($67 million)

Kolkata ($75.09 million)

Mohali ($76 million)

Mumbai ($111.9 million)

With the franchises established, next came selecting the players. The squads are made of 16 players, however there are some restrictions. For starters, each team could only select a maximum of 2 Australian players. This was a rule set by Cricket Australia so no teams looked like a mini Australian team.

The squad of 16 can consist of up to 8 international players bought from the auction, 4 players from their local region and 4 players which are either Indian Under 22 players or Indian ‘Icon’ Players. The 5 Icon players were pre-selected by their teams, and their wage is 15% more than the highest paid player on their team.

The salary cap is between $3.8 million and $5.43 million.

Now I’ll explain the player auction process.

In a practice unheard of before, the players were auctioned off to the highest bidder. Each team had a chance to place 1 bid for the player and the highest bid got the player. The players didn’t have a say where they ended up, similar to that of a draft. Each player had a minimum opening bid, with some players such as Glenn McGrath initially not attracting a bid. Upon this, they were re-auctioned later on.

The teams:

After the auctions, the teams shaped up. The contracts are for 3 years, and no player can be traded until the end of next season. Their annual salaries are the figures next to them, and are represented in US dollars.

Bangalore:

Rahul Dravid $1,035,000
Jacques Kallis $900,000
Anil Kumble $500,000
Cameron White $500,000
Zaheer Khan $450,000
Mark Boucher $450,000
Nathan Bracken $325,000
Dale Steyn $325,000
Shivnarine Chanderpaul $200,000
Wasim Jaffer $150,000

- Rahul Dravid was Bangalore’s Icon Player. Cameron White and Nathan Bracken are the two Australians.

Chennai:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni $1,500,000
Jacob Oram $675,000
Suresh Raina $650,000
Albie Morkel $675,000
Muttiah Muralitharan $600,000
Matthew Hayden $375,000
Michael Hussey $350,000
Stephen Fleming $350,000
Parthiv Patel $325,000
Joginder Sharma $225,000
Makhaya Ntini $200,000

- Dhoni was the highest bid player in the IPL. He was not an Icon player, and is currently India’s 20/20 Captain. Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey are the Australians.

Delhi:

Virender Sehwag $833,750
Gautam Gambhir $725,000
Manoj Tiwary $675,000
Mohammad Asif $650,000
Daniel Vettori $625,000
Dinesh Karthik $525,000
Shoaib Malik $500,000
Glenn McGrath $350,000
AB de Villiers $300,000
Tillakaratne Dilshan $250,000
Farveez Maharoof $225,000

- Sehwag is the Icon Player and Glenn McGrath is the only Australian Player.

Hyderabad:

Andrew Symonds $1,350,000
R. P. Singh $875,000
Rohit Sharma $750,000
Adam Gilchrist $700,000
Shahid Afridi $675,000
Herschelle Gibbs $575,000
V. V. S. Laxman $375,000
Chaminda Vaas $200,000
Scott Styris $175,000
Nuwan Zoysa $110,000
Chamara Silva $100,000

- Hyderabad didn’t have an Icon Payer, and Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist are their Australians.

Jaipur:

Mohammad Kaif $675,000
Yusuf Pathan $475,000
Graeme Smith $475,000
Shane Warne $450,000
Munaf Patel $275,000
Younis Khan $225,000
Justin Langer $200,000
Kamran Akmal $150,000

- No icon player, and they have retired Australians Shane Warne and Justin Langer.

Kolkata:

Sourav Ganguly $1,092,500
Ishant Sharma $950,000
Chris Gayle $800,000
Brendon McCullum $700,000
David Hussey $625,000
Shoaib Akhtar $425,000
Murali Kartik $425,000
Ricky Ponting $400,000
Ajit Agarkar $330,000
Umar Gul $150,000
Tatenda Taibu $125,000

- Ganguly is their Icon Player, with David Hussey and Ricky Ponting the Australians.

Mohali:

Yuvraj Singh $1,063,750
Irfan Pathan $925,000
Brett Lee $900,000
Kumar Sangakkara $700,000
Sreesanth $625,000
Mahela Jayawardene $475,000
Piyush Chawla $400,000
Ramnaresh Sarwan $225,000
Simon Katich $200,000
Ramesh Powar $170,000

- Singh is their Icon Player, Brett Lee and Simon Katich are the Australians.

Mumbai:

Sachin Tendulkar $1,121,250
Sanath Jayasuriya $975,000
Harbhajan Singh $850,000
Robin Uthappa $800,000
Shaun Pollock $550,000
Lasith Malinga $350,000
Loots Bosman $175,000
Dilhara Fernando $150,000

- Sachin Tendulkar is their Icon Player and they have no Australian Players.

If you’re still reading, just remember that the figure shown is the amount they will be paid per season. The season is only 44 days! This puts them up there in comparative earnings to NBA players and European soccer stars.

Notable omissions are English players. They have a tour scheduled during the season, so unfortunately they will miss out for the next three years. You might also wonder why Australian captain Ricky Ponting went for such a small price, not to mention other strong performers Michael Hussey and Matthew Hayden. Australia has a tour scheduled for Pakistan during this time, and Andrew Symonds has already said he will not be going. Adam Gilchrist will be retired by the time the tour starts. So most Australian players will miss a portion of the tournament due the tour. However, state level players Cameron White, David Hussey and Simon Katich won’t miss any games as they are not in the Australian squad. This could be why these players attracted higher bids, because they can play the entire tournament.

Some might wonder what all the fuss is about, but this 20/20 league will be a huge turning point in the history of Cricket, similar to the World Series in the 70′s. What better place for it to be launched than India, where Cricket is their number 1 sport.

Compiled from Wikipedia and The Age Newspaper

Playing in the IPL is not the only potential crisis Cricket Australia (CA) has with their players.  Last week it was reported that the Australian Cricket players are now looking for a larger share of revenue. [Stars want bigger slice of the pie]

Currently the players receive 25% of the total revenues of Cricket Australia. The cricketers are already on a good wicket, with the minimum CA contracted player on $160,000 before match payments.

What the Australian Cricketers Association is now doing is reviewing the financials of Cricket Australia to see if the percentage can be improved.

IPL Update

An update on the happenings on the newly created 20/20 Indian Premier League:

- The players auction will be held on February 20, with teams bidding for the nominated players. The salary cap has been set at a minimum of US$3 million and a maximum of US$5 million. [IPL players' auction to be held on February 20]

- Channel 10 in Australia has paid $15 million to show every match live on their regular and HD channels for the next 5 years. [Australia to get lvie coverage of IPL]

- The IPL will go ahead without the Aussies. They have given the players till Sunday to sign, or they face not being able to play for three years. This stipulation will play with the minds of the cricketers who may feel they only have a year or two left, and are not guaranteed a place. [Sign by Sunday or stay out, IPL tells Australians]

Odd Transfer

An interesting transfer deal finally concluded last week.

Andrew Webster was playing soccer for Scottish club Hearts when he wanted to transfer to English team Wigan. He penned a deal with Wigan, depsite still having a year left to run on his contract Andrew found a loophole by applying FIFA’s Article 17 which allows the termination of a contract with just cause. [End of Transfer fee?]

Article 17 allows a player to cancel his contract in the third year, and move to another club in a foreign country with giving sufficient notice to his club. [Andy Webster] Between the ages of 23 and 28, player contracts are protected up to three years. ‘Sufficient’ is reported to be 15 days.

Hearts were not happy, and took the case to court, claiming a £5 million transfer fee, the players worth. The outcome? Hearts received only £150,000. This was the amount left on his contract.

This outcome may have repercussions on the soccer transfer industry. What it has effectively said is that the player’s worth can be determined by the renumeration they are to receive, and not what the club is willing to pay.

A while back I wrote about how A-League team Adelaide United may struggle to hold onto their players at seasons end. Now it is the Newcastle Jets in which the focus turns to. [Jets hold mass exodus fears] The Jets have a reported ten players out of contract at the end of the season, and already one (Mark Bridge) has departed.

But it isn’t salary cap issues that are troubling Newcastle, but rather the opposite. On top of the $1.8 million salary cap available for teams, an additional $450,000 is available. Under the Additional Services Agreement (ASA), local businesses can contribute to players on top of their wage.

Coach Gary Von Egmond has asked the community for backing if they don’t want their players going elsewhere, and because the club has given so much to the community, it is now time for them to give back.

Newcastle is also trying to elevate leading scorer Joel Griffiths to its marquee player next season. The player has been in amazing form this year, and the club wants to lock him up before rival offers come in.

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Symonds and Singh re-united

Tensions were raised this summer when Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh had a stoush which led to an ICC inquiry. But now an Indian chewing gum maker could defuse tensions by hiring two of them to appear on behalf of the company. [Offer for duelling duo to chew on] The ad may see the two players talking about how if you chew this gum, you will stand your ground. This will be an interesting deal if it happens, and will do wonders for the relations between the two teams.

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Super 14 to open up?

Australian Rugby Union coach Robbie Deans has called for a change to the current rules regarding players in the Super 14. Currently, NZ and South Africa allow foreign players to play for their Super 14 teams, but Australia does not. Also, if a player is contracted to their national team, they cannot play elsewhere. [Open up player market: Deans]

What Deans is proposing is to completely open up the league, by allowing a player of any nation to play for any team. So, an Australian player who still plays for the national team can play for a NZ based club.

The idea has all but fallen on deaf ears of the NZ Rugby Union. Both NZ and South Africa have second-tier competitions, and by opening the market, the future stars of NZ and South Africa could be contributing to another country’s Rubgy. [Proposal foreign to Kiwis]

Another problem faced with allowing players to play elsewhere is how do you limit them to only playing for Super 14 teams? The problem would be teams in strong, rich leagues such as France and England would be able to sign them. Any attempted block by the countries would most certainly be a restraint of trade.

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Trading Places

Well the January transfer window for English soccer clubs has come to a close and there were a few deadline deals worth mentioning:

- Tottenham striker Jermaine Defoe has departed and signed for Portsmouth, scoring in his first game for his new club.

- Portsmouth striker Benjani has signed for Manchester City for 6.3 million pounds.

- Middlesborough have broken their transfer record in signing Alfonso Alves from Heerenveen in Holland. The figure wasn’t announced, but is over 8 million pounds.

The full list of transfers can be found at Soccernet.com.

NZ cricketer Shane Bond has been sacked from the national team due to him participating in the rebel cricket league. [Kiwis ditch Bond over rebel league contract] To clear up the confusion, there are two 20/20 leagues. The one that Shane is part of is not sanctioned by the BCCI and is called the ICL. The one which stars such as Shane Warne have been associated with is the IPL, the Indian Premier League.

NZ cricket players are among the lowest paid in the game, and the money being offered by the leagues are luring the stars away. Shane Bond is the seventh Kiwi cricketer to sign up for this league. He was given a choice, either play for his country or play in the ICL. The money was too good to pass up in the ICL, which is offering him a reported seven times the amount he is earning playing for NZ.

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Cadels Contract Conundrum

Australain cyclist and Tour De France runner up Cadel Evans has yet to re-sign with his current racing team, Silence-Lotto beyond the 2009-10 season. [Cadel Evans may join rival team] He is willing to sign a proposal, but not a contract. Cadel is said to be unhappy with the dropping of some of his teammates; cyclists who were there to help him achieve a podium finish.

With Cadel yet to re-sign, speculation has arisen about him joining another team. His response was that if a team is capable of winning, then he might be interested.

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Engligh Transfer Update

Once again, a slow news week in the transfer window. Tottenahm continue to work on building their defense by signing highly regarded defender Johnathan Woodgate from Middlesborough.

Other that that:

- Liverpool midfielder Sissoko has left to join Juventus.
- Former Liverpool striker Milan Baros is back in England, this time on loan to Portsmouth.
- Sunderland’s recent signing Rade Prica kicked off his Sunderland career by scoring in an easy win over Birmingham.

With the window closing on the 31st of January, the deadline deals will be coming thick and fast very soon. A wash up will continue next week.

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Dellacqua on Target

Finally, a bit of old news that I failed to cover. Aussie tennis player Casey Dellacqua has signed a sponsorship with Target. The unseeded 22 year old dispersed of two seeds to get through to the fourth round of the Australian Open, including former champion Amelie Mauresmo. [Dellaqua hits the target]

Casey came into the Open sponsor-less and commented in an early press conference that she buys her training tops from Target. This prompted Target to give her a $2000 shopping spree, which eventually led to the sponsorship. However, during the Australian Open, Casey was wearing clothes by Nike, as they allowed her to pick out some items by them.

Not stopping at mentioning Target, Casey proceeded to drop the fact she drives a Holden Commodore, with dreams of driving a Monaro, and that she loves her Playstation. Will these deals follow suit?