Sporting Leagues hit BCCI's income

[TNAmarkFrmIndia]

New Delhi: For the first time, the BCCI has explicitly conceded that the mushrooming Indian sporting leagues have impacted its income and that’s a major reason the reserve price for the title sponsorship of the upcoming home series against the West Indies has been kept low. Ironically, these sprouting leagues have got the revenue- earning idea from one of the BCCI officials, Lalit Modi, who successfully launched the Indian Premier League in 2008. The huge success of IPL inspired other national sports federations to launch their own leagues. The various leagues, involving many Bollywood stars and occupying primetime slots on television, seem to have shaken the BCCI, so much so that it has kept the reserve price per international match for the 2014-15 season at just Rs 2 crore. That the BCCI is clearly bending backwards to attract sponsors is also clear from the package deal that it has offered, much like the tender it floated last October for the 2013-14 season. The winning bidder will, as a ‘bonus’, get to sponsor five major domestic tournaments virtually free of cost –— the Irani Cup, Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Vijay Hazare, and the D.B. Deodhar Trophy. So far, the West Indies is the only team scheduled to visit India this season. It will play three Tests, five ODIs and a solitary T20 International. At a marketing committee meeting, held in Mumbai on Tuesday, members felt that raising the reserve price might not attract many bidders and that could cause a huge embarrassment for the world’s richest cricket board, especially after last year’s experience when only one company had bid for the same slot. The tender document is priced at Rs 2 lakh and will be available from Wednesday at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. Bids can be submitted till 11 am on August 28 and are intended to be opened and the winner announced on the same day, the BCCI said in a statement. “There are two main reasons for the low reserve price. One is the various sporting leagues that are being played and almost all of them have Bollwyood stars, either as co-owners or just the face of the teams. These pretty faces have attracted sponsors and eyeballs on TV,†a BCCI source told MAIL TODAY, referring to the 22 million viewers who watched the first day telecast of the Pro Kabaddi League. “So, the BCCI felt that if the reserve price of the title sponsorship is raised beyond Rs 2 crore, we might not attract many bidders,†he said. “Anyway, we are not expecting many high bids, maybe just around Rs 3 crore per match for the nine matches against the West Indies.†Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan owns the Jaipur franchise in the ongoing Pro Kabaddi League while Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha and rapper Honey Singh are involved in the lucrative World Kabaddi League, starting on Saturday. Salman Khan, John Abraham and Ranbir Kapoor — besides Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly — are involved in the ambitious Indian Super League , slated to be launched in October. “The other major reason for keeping reserve price low is the non-confirmation of the Future Tours Programme (FTP). The BCCI is still in discussion with many countries for bilateral series,†said the source. “After we sign all the series till 2023, we can give assurance to prospective sponsors and go for longer duration sponsorships as from next year we will have two teams touring India every home season. As of now, we’ve confirmed some home series till March 2017.†For the 2013-14 season, too, the BCCI had suffered huge losses vis-à-vis title sponsorship after it reduced the per- match reserve price and kept it at Rs 2 crore, citing “low market sentimentâ€. Embarrassingly for the Board, STAR India Pvt Ltd. was the lone bidder, and by an amazing co- incidence, the Rupert Murdoch- owned company bid exactly Rs 2 crore per match. Bharti Airtel, the previous series sponsor, was paying Rs 3.33 crore per match — Rs 1.33 crore more than STAR India — between 2010 and 2013. It meant that the BCCI suffered a total loss of Rs 26 crore over 13 matches in 2014-15. This time, too, BCCI officials are not expecting a great turnaround in its fortunes. They are hoping that the FTP is signed with all the countries as soon as possible so that they could dictate terms, like they used to a few years ago. IN A NUTSHELL · Series sponsorship is for the September 2014-April 30, 2015 period. It comprises a home series against the West Indies. · The winning bidder would get to sponsor domestic tournaments — the Irani Cup, Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Vijay Hazare, and the DB Deodhar Trophy. · Reserve price per international match, be it a Test, an ODI or a T20I, is Rs 2 crore. · Bid documents, priced at Rs 2 lakh each, will be available between August 6 and 26 at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. · Bids would be opened and the winner announced on August 28. · Companies worth Rs 100 crore can bid, but not marketing agencies. · Bidders should not be associated with the BCCI.

[TNAmarkFrmIndia]

Ironic that what's taking money away from BCCI's pockets is their own idea.

[Precambrian]

Its a good thing for the industry. Its time BCCI stopped being a monopoly and started becoming professional. The organisation has become a joke on a global level - jealousy I can understand, but mismanaged jokers at the top - I cannot. The guy in my avatar is the most guilty one for this. Now with the ICC *****slapping BCCI, its clear that while money speaks, it is not the be-and-end-of all unless wielded by someone who has a bit of integrity. Thank you Sreenivasan - you did a good job in consolidating and helping BCCI grow to the top. But as with most villians, you are a hero who overstayed your welcome. It's a sad thing to see how prolonged exposure at the top can make so many corrupt and lose their focus and grip on the game. Happened to almost every great leader. Time has come for a complete rehaul of existing systems. BCCI needs to improve their brand image and also it's standing among other members. Right now it is viewed as a street thug who is terrorizing others with money and threats. It cannot sustain. If needed, adopt the benevolent dictator model, but with always focus on improving the game and ultimate good for cricket in our country. God, I can rant on for more time, but stopping here.

[TNAmarkFrmIndia]

Ultimately it's good for all sports IMO. BCCI has a monopoly in world cricket and cricket has a monopoly over all sports in India. I hope ISL takes off. It has great potential to be a sponsors' favorite, having ad rates that are much cheaper than that of cricket and having great value for money.

[Malcolm Merlyn]

This is just an excuse.The real reason is that BCCI has no credibility and no one wants to deal with obnoxious people like Sundar Raman and Srinivasan.

[TNAmarkFrmIndia]

This is just an excuse.The real reason is that BCCI has no credibility and no one wants to deal with obnoxious people like Sundar Raman and Srinivasan.

Not really. If these leagues didn't exist, the sponsors would surely have put more money into cricket. They have many more options now at a much lesser price than what the BCCI demands.

[Malcolm Merlyn]

Not really. If these leagues didn't exist' date=' the sponsors would surely have put more money into cricket. They have many more options now at a much lesser price than what the BCCI demands.[/quote'] So you think Kabbadi is a big eye catcher and sponsors are putting huge money into it?Do you think there is huge money investment in there?NOPES.The highest salary was around $20k. I can understand that the ISL will have big investment and will have lot of eye balls,but that league isnt even up and running yet and there are already talks of delay there. The problem is: 1)The present BCCI regime is obnoxious and have little credibility.Why will some billion dollar corporation sink in millions of dollars and then be treated like crap by 2pence people like Sundar Raman or Sanjay Patel or face the brazeness of Srini. 2)The 2 series whose rights are being talked about are for WI series,which will never get many sponsors.Once India sells rights for long term with big series in them,they will get good money. 3)There seems to be some massive bias in favour of Star sports in BCCI.They get Indian team sponsorship.They get series sponsorship.And surprisingly they even bagged internet rights for IPL,while telecast rights are with Sony.

[rajmarie]

I hope nobody apply. Will be a classic & maybe a victory for the Indian cricket fans. Personally the sponsor who gets this contract will be boycotted by me....ie no business from me to that company.

[TNAmarkFrmIndia]

So you think Kabbadi is a big eye catcher and sponsors are putting huge money into it?Do you think there is huge money investment in there?NOPES.The highest salary was around $20k.

It may not be a big eye catcher but it was very well promoted and has the leading sports network in India behind it, and it has gotten good viewership in the beginning. There's no huge investment in any sport in India as compared to cricket, but the initial hype surrounding the PKL mean that sponsors will be interested at least until the hype lasts. Star Sports has tried to make the sport more marketable, and the association with film and TV stars makes it more attractive for advertisers. Before these leagues came up there was nothing else of note in the sporting calendars (within India) that the advertisers could promote on except cricket. Now the advertisers have more options at a much lesser price but still fairly significant eyeballs and can bank on leagues like the HIL, IBL, PKL and ISL and that's taking away money that would've otherwise gone almost entirely to cricket.