Billionaire Sir Allen Stanford believes Twenty20 cricket can replace football as the biggest game in world sport.http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/7365683.stmThe Texan told BBC Sport he was ready to invest in an English version of the Indian Premier League and predicted it could be worth as much as £500m.
"Twenty20 has the potential to be the most popular team sport in the whole world in maybe less than 10 years.
"But it's going to take a highly organised, highly efficient management team to run this show," he said.
Stanford, who runs his own Twenty20 tournament in the Caribbean and last year announced plans to invest almost £50m in West Indies cricket, is in London this week for talks with the England and Wales Cricket Board.
He has proposed a £10m winner-takes-all match between an England side and his own West Indies All-Stars XI in spring 2009.
But he is also ready to help the ECB further by investing in an English version of the IPL, which is currently taking place in India.
"I look at a lot of businesses to invest in, not just cricket, and I'm hugely impressed by their [ECB] organisational capacity.
"No disrespect to the Indians or the IPL, [but] they did this too fast, too quick. The ECB has taken a more logical approach, has a better structure, and if they get it, and drive and lead it, I think it can take the whole world.
"If they don't, it'll be successful, but not go to that other plateau," said Stanford.
English cricket pioneered the shortest form of the game by introducing the Twenty20 Cup competition in 2003.
It quickly caught on in other parts of the cricketing world and led to the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 tournament in South Africa last year, which was won by India.
The announcement of an unsanctioned Indian Cricket league (ICL) prompted the Board of Control for Cricket in India to set up its own tournament, the IPL, which features franchise teams headed by top players from all over the world on highly lucrative contracts.
And the attendance of Bollywood stars and involvement of American cheerleaders has added showbiz razzmatazz to the mix.
Stanford said some "real money" was needed to successfully launch an English Premier League and upgrade the domestic structure to a "different level".
He added: "The English clearly have to make a decision to take control and run with this....and I'm happy to be a supporter because I think the ECB is the right vehicle to be driving this."
