The fourth edition of the IPL will be held one week after the Cricket World Cup ends and yet, there is a good chance that the BCCI may have to rethink the dates.

The reason for this is that the dates were announced based on the fact that the player auctions will be held in January 2011. However, with the case between Punjab/Rajasthan and the BCCI having gone to the High court, it is evident that the player auctions will not go ahead as planned.

What is funnier is that it has been reported that the auctions could be held during the World Cup.

World cup? You must be kidding. So here we have teams trying to focus their minds on the games that they have and there, on the other hand, a few of their players will be keeping a close eye on what they could potentially earn out of the deal with their new franchise.

Really, this is the silliest thing that BCCI could come up with in recent times – there should be some kind of restraint shown by them and not hog the limelight even during the World Cup.

The valuation, a part of a series on the top 200 sporting properties, was done by SportsPro, a UK-based magazine, that claims to be the “No. 1 international monthly publication for the sports industry” focussing on “the sponsorship and financing of sport, as well as marketing and management.”

The magazine’s July issue is centred around this top 200 list, which they say was arrived at after “months of analysis and close examination of statistics, trends and finances” puts the National Football League ($4.5 billion) at the top of the heap. The NFL is followed by Major League Baseball ($3.9 billion), the NBA ($3.35 billion) and Nascar ($1.9 billion) with the IPL in fifth place.

The study places the Ferrari F1 team (7th) at a value of $1.55 billion as the highest valued European team, followed by Manchester United Football Club (8th) at $1.495 billion.

Not surprisingly golf legend Tiger Woods ($1.25 billion) is the highest valued individual athlete property, followed by Jack Nicklaus ($1 billion). Golfers topped the list principally because they earn huge sums for designing courses, the magazine explained. The next highest athlete, in 88th place, was footballer David Beckham’s Beckham Brand Ltd at $ 375 million.