Int'l Associations of Athletics Federations President Sebastian Coe has "given his backing" to the idea of an Indian Premier League-style athletics league in which star names like Usain Bolt and David Rudisha would compete representing some of the world's major cities, according to Joe Bernstein of the London DAILY MAIL. Coe believes the global interest created by athletics as a team sport would help it survive the "high-class problem" of its No. 1 asset Bolt eventually going into retirement. Coe said, "I want to see an inter-city competition. I want to see the big global cities of the world competing against each other. I think it's a very good idea." India has revolutionized franchise sport with the introduction of cricket's Indian Premier League, "which has attracted the world's best players into a huge money-spinning Twenty20 league." Coe "would like to repeat the success" in athletics but on a worldwide scale. Coe: "You have a fixed budget. If BMW London want to spend their entire budget on Usain Bolt, that's fine. If Paris think they want Rudisha and someone else, that's fine. I think we need to be innovative" (DAILY MAIL, 10/6).
