ITV

Category: Sports

  • Pro Kabaddi: Mashal Sports invites tenders to own & manage new team

    MUMBAI: Mashal Sports, in which Star Sports owns 74% stake, has, pursuant to the Invitation for Expression of Interest dated 29 March, has called for expressions of interest (“EOI”) to be submitted by eligible persons, fulfilling the criteria provided for in the Invitation, who wish to participate in a competitive bidding process proposed to be run for the award of the rights to own, operate and manage a proposed new franchise team which will compete in the Pro Kabaddi League owned and operated by Mashal (“PKL”) from and including the PKL seasons to be held in 2017 onwards, on such terms and conditions as agreed with Mashal.

    Pro Kabaddi is now set to expand to up to four new geographies. With the addition of the new teams, Pro Kabaddi is gearing up to surpass other Indian sports leagues in terms of geographic representation (teams from 11 states), number of matches (130+ matches), and duration of the league (13 weeks) in Season 5.

    The intended new states for Pro Kabaddi have been selected very carefully. Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have been primarily chosen for their high affinity towards Kabaddi with massive fan bases, significant on-ground presence of the sport, and potential commercial value to sponsors and advertisers. Both Haryana and Tamil Nadu contribute large number of players to Pro Kabaddi, as well as leading public sector teams in the country. Along with Uttar Pradesh, these states have a rich cultural tradition of highly popular local Kabaddi tournaments. The intrinsic popularity of Kabaddi in India has been most recently demonstrated in Gujarat where the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup has led to a huge surge in public following of Kabaddi.

    Pro Kabaddi became an instant hit with Indian sports fans in its very first season in 2014 as 435 million* viewers tuned in. This modern league in India’s ancient sport of Kabaddi has continued to grow from strength to strength in subsequent seasons. Its cumulative viewership growth of 51 per cent over four seasons is the highest for any sports league in India. Within a short span of 2 years, Pro Kabaddi has captured the imagination of Indian viewers and established itself as one of the highest impact television properties in key markets. It has even surpassed IPL in Andhra Pradesh and also achieved primetime slot leadership in Mumbai.

    Significantly, the high popularity of Pro Kabaddi as well as 2016 Kabaddi World Cup has evoked continually surging sponsor interest. Pro Kabaddi Season 4 had a total of 64 league and franchise sponsors on board. This fast growing interest from sponsors from diverse sectors of the economy mirrors Kabaddi’s pan-India appeal – cutting across key consumer segments from metropolitan markets to heartland as well as pan-geographical regions. In a remarkably strong endorsement of Kabaddi, the latest edition of an annual report jointly prepared by the leading media investment advisory firm ESP Properties and Sportzpower, a provider of sports business news, states, “…in terms of absolute numbers added to the Sports Sponsorship pie, India’s ancient contact team sport was THE story of 2016.”

    “Even for an optimist like me, the response we have seen for Kabaddi is surprising. Having seen its affinity in the country, it would be a disservice to the sport if we do not grow it further. All stakeholders have decided to come together to expand the league and given the pace at which this is growing, it might be just the first in a series of expansions in the coming years”, said Star India chairman and CEO Uday Shankar.

    A father figure to Indian Kabaddi, International Kabaddi Federation president Janardan Singh Gehlot stated, “Pro Kabaddi is a truly unique example of how a modern league has transformed the much loved but traditional Kabaddi into a modern sport. Star Sports as well as Mashal have created a magnificent example for the growth of India as multi-sport nation.”

    An All India Kabaddi player hunt 2017 was organised by Mashal Sports in association with AKFI as part of its talent development programme across 14 cities in India. Over 4600 participants between the age groups of 18 to 22 years got a chance to showcase their Kabaddi talent. This initiative will play an important role in catalysing the on-ground Kabaddi eco-system and providing a future pipeline of players.

    Mashal Sports is inviting Expression of Interest from reputable corporate entities having a vision for investing in the overall development of the sport from the ground up and participating in the success of PKL through their active involvement as a franchise team. Mashal Sports will shortlist selected interested participants and invite them to participate in a transparent tender process. The selection of the winning bidders will be done by a panel of eminent people based on both qualitative and financial criteria. The process is expected to be completed by 5 May, 2017 providing enough time for the new franchise to prepare for Season 5 starting in July 2017.

    Details of Invitation for Expression of Interest:
    Every EOI in response to the Invitation must be submitted, in accordance with the Invitation, by no later than 11:59 pm IST on 9 April, 2017. Such EOI must be submitted by way of an email (with all relevant attachments) to pkl@mashalsports.com. Every EOI submitted pursuant to the Invitation must contain all of the following information and documents:

    Corporate Profile: A brief overview of the background and history of the bidder, its group and affiliates including promoter and current business and operations.

    PKL Proposal: A brief description of bidder’s reasons for wanting to participate in the PKL, plans for the growth and development of the sport of kabaddi, PKL and the team.

    Sports Experience: Details of any previous experience in any sports related activity, including participation in any sporting leagues, sports sponsorships, sporting bodies, academies or otherwise.

    Certificates: (a) Net worth certificate furnished by a chartered accountant certifying the Net worth of the bidder (or of the parent) as of March 31, 2016, and (b) a certificate executed by an authorized signatory of the bidder certifying compliance with the fit and proper criteria listed below.

    Consortium Information: Details of each consortium member, and a description of each member’s interest in the consortium, including effective voting / controlling interest and economic interest, and identification of the lead member and representative All of the information and documents listed in (a) to (d) above must be provided in respect of each member of the consortium.

    The EOI must contain a certificate, duly executed by the authorized signatory of the bidder (in the case of an EOI submitted by a consortium, duly executed by the authorized signatory of each member of the consortium), certifying each of the following with respect to each bidder and each member of the consortium:

    None of the bidder, its affiliates or any of its or their respective directors, partners, executives or key managerial personnel (each, an “Identified Person”) have been convicted by a court of any offence involving moral turpitude, economic offence, securities laws or fraud;

    No application for winding up, liquidation, bankruptcy or insolvency has been admitted by any court of competent jurisdiction against any Identified Person;

    None of the Identified Persons have been declared insolvent or bankrupt or is subject to striking off, disqualification or de-recognition by any professional body or authority;

    None of the Identified Persons are currently, or have previous been, banned by the governing body of any sport from involvement in the administration of or any form of participation in such sport, for any reason;

    None of the Identified Persons own any form of interest (whether by way of shares, units, securities or any other form of voting or economic interest) in any club, league, team or organization, which is or has previously been expelled from any competition organized by or under the auspices or sanction of any governing body or authority for any sport;

    None of the Identified Persons are, or have previously been involved or interested in, in any manner, the production or provision of goods or services which are illegal; and

    None of the Identified Persons are in default of any of their obligations to a financial institution or have defaulted on any of its obligations to a financial institution in the last 3 (three) financial years.

  • IPL: Sony will have Telugu, Tamil & Bengali feeds, non-committal on Sidhu

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks India is planning to inject adrenaline into the 10th season of the annual cricket fever beginning 5 April.

    Having over 361 million viewers glued to the screens during the last season, Sony network will continue to have Telugu feed for this year’s edition as well. The broadcaster this year aims to sustain the viewership growth by continuing the Hindi, Tamil and Bengali feeds as well.

    The English feed will be available on Sony Six channels whereas the Telugu, Tamil, Bengali and Hindi feeds will be available on Sony ESPN channels. Sony Max will exclusively air the Hindi feed.

    SPNI EVP and business head of the Sports Cluster Prasana Krishnan said that IPL was the most successful start-up in the history of sport. IPL was an ode to viewers and fans and local flair resonated better with the IPL followers, Krishnan said.

    If Navjot Singh Sidhu (now a minister) would be part of the team, Krishnan said that was a decision the government of Punjab would take. He said they would love to have him as he was one of the most popular faces and voices. This year, the six-member panel of commentators will include former international cricketers Venugopala Rao and Venkatapathy Raju, besides former Andhra and Deccan Chargers paceman Kalyan Krishna. Backing the trio will be P. Chandrasekhar, Sudheer Mahavadi, and C. Venkatesh.

    Krishnan played down competition from other global cricket leagues. There was no evidence of IPL slowing down, he remarked. The viewership in India is about 25 times that of other leagues, he added.

  • Sports sponsorship industry grew by over 19% in 2016 in India: ESP

    MUMBAI: Numbers don’t lie, and the numbers in the fourth edition of the ‘Sporting Nation in the Making’ India sports sponsorship report speak for themselves. Compiled by ESP Properties- the sports and entertainment programming specialist arm of GroupM, and SportzPower- leading sports portal, the report states that sports sponsorship spending grew by a little over 19%. Spending via sports sponsorship accounted for 11.5% of the Indian AdEx (AdEx numbers from GroupM This Year, Next Year 2016 report) in the Indian market. While media spends contributed to the largest chunk of the pie, followed by ground sponsorship, the total size of sports advertising rose to INR 6400 crore / $941 million, a big jump up from the INR 5363.3 crore / $825 million garnered in 2015.

    Apart from an in-depth analysis of on-ground, media spends, team sponsorships, franchises and mobile and social media data, the new report delves deeply into the evolution of technology and its effects on the mainstream digital landscape. Beyond mere number crunching, the report also strives to  educate  stakeholders  on  the  key  developments  that  could  affect  their  business,  offering  a roadmap to manoeuvre sponsorships going forward. The major insight of this report is that both Cricket and Non-Cricket held their own trajectory, and together pushed the industry forward. 2016 also seemed like a make-or-break year for some leagues, with some repositioning themselves to garner greater viewership, while others launching with a hungry audience  base. Indian Cricket was on a high in 2016, both on the field and off it.

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    ESP Properties business head Vinit Karnik believes 2017 is definitely going to gain momentum in terms of the previous year’s high and opined, “The report insights are the key to devising more refined viewer engagement. Gone are the days of male dominance in sports viewership. The year’s biggest chunk of spectators came from women and kids. This is ground-breaking data for brands to take that much desired leap of faith and traverse new grounds. Cricket continues to be the poster child  for  sponsorships,  and  non-Cricket sports  still have  a  fair  leap  to make to  match revenue. However it is interesting to focus on the mushrooming of a very defined health and fitness consciousness within the country. Young digital India is breaking barriers and creating new records especially when it comes to live feeds. Their smartphones are their all access pass to the “insider world” of sports, sportsmen and their strengths and weaknesses.  Sports start-ups are trending and the success achieved by league-based events across multiple sports indicates a strong potential to consume sports other than cricket.”

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    “Viewership data demographics have been an eye-opener in 2016,” emphasises SportzPower co-founder Thomas Abraham, and continues, “Demonetisation disruptions aside, 2016 was a great year for the industry and this year will be even more so. Team sponsorships may have experienced certain upheavals and newer leagues will change the sporting diaspora even more so this year. However, what remains to be seen is franchise sustenance, endorsement rates and the manner in which technology and data influence these numbers. We expect 2017 to only get bigger, not just on the back of growth from the leagues that are now up and running, but also from new kids on the block that are debuting in the year – Table Tennis being a notable one.” Thus, 2016 proved to be apocalyptic for some leagues that had risen out of the woodworks since 2011-12 and they finally culminated in imminent death

    Going forward, a lot is in store for sports in 2017. The first two months have already provided an indication to what promises to be an action packed year for Sportainment. Digital and offline are now two sides of the same coin. Looking forward, ESP Properties and SportzPower expect India’s sports market to grow at a faster pace vis-à-vis the last few years, aided by government policy and an increasing demand for recreational sports.

  • IPL ’17: Mumbai Indian tickets go live, exclusive for JioMoney users

    MUMBAI: Mumbai Indians today, through its website, commenced the online ticket sales for its home games in the upcoming Vivo Indian Premier League 2017.

    As Mumbai Indians’ official partner, JioMoney brings an exclusive six-day window for its users and Mumbai Indians fans. Starting today till 21 March, Mumbai Indians’ fans using JioMoney can be among the first to book vantage seats for the Mumbai Indians home matches at Wankhede Stadium. Starting 22 March, tickets will be available for purchase through various other online payment modes.

    Mumbai Indians third home game, i.e. 16 April Vs Gujarat Lions is dedicated to Reliance Foundation Education For All (EFA) where Mumbai Indians reserve the entire stadium for its NGO partners’ underprivileged children.

    Mumbai Indians tickets are priced from Rs 800/- (Sunil Gavaskar Stand) to Rs 8,000/- (Sachin Tendulkar hospitality Stand), while the corporate box tickets range between Rs 12000/- to Rs 30000/-. The commencement date for Box office ticket sales will be announced later.

    Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians will kick off the season against Pune on 6th April in an away match. Mumbai Indians home matches are scheduled as : 9th April Vs KKR; 12th April Vs SRH; 16th April Vs GL (EFA match); 24 April Vs RPS; 1 May Vs RCB; 6th May Vs DD; 11th May Vs KXIP.

  • Vivo IPL 2017: Eleven Sports gets digital rights for Singapore

    MUMBAI: Pioneering global broadcaster Eleven Sports recently announced that it will broadcast the entirety of the Vivo Indian Premier League 2017 live on elevensports.sg in Singapore, adding even more scintillating sports action to the network’s growing portfolio of rights.

    From 5 April, sports fans in Singapore will be able to enjoy live coverage of the tournament which will be the tenth edition of the professional Twenty20 cricket league founded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. In the short span of 10 years, the IPL has become one of the highlights of the cricket calendar, ranking as the most-attended cricket league, and the sixth most-attended sports league in the world.

    This year’s competition will see some of the biggest names in world cricket featuring for 8 teams – Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians, Rising Pune Supergiant, Kings XI Punjab, Gujarat Lions, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Sunrisers Hyderabad. The teams will face off in a series of round-robin and knockout matches in a bid to prove their supremacy.

    “Acquiring rights to the Vivo IPL 2017 with it’s thrilling, high-octane action ensures that we keep delivering the best and most exhilarating sports properties for the fans”, says Eleven Sports managing director Danny Menken. “We are committed to our core strategy to reach all fans with the biggest and best sports content at an affordable price with anytime, anywhere viewing options. Bringing the Vivo IPL to Eleven Sports backs up this commitment and strengthens even further our growing portfolio of world-class sports rights.”

    The first match of the tournament sees Sunrisers Hyderabad paired off against Royal Challengers Bangalore. As per custom, this opening match and the final match of the tournament will be hosted in Hyderabad – the home of the reigning champions.

    For unlimited access to all IPL matches, cricket fans in Singapore can purchase the IPL Pass at the discounted price of S$34 from now until 9 April, without being tied down to any contract.

    Other top international sporting events available on Eleven Sports in Singapore includes the English Premier League, NBA, RBS 6 Nations Rugby Championship, FA Cup and Badminton Asia Championships. All this premium sports content can be accessed anytime, anywhere on www.elevensports.sg and via the Eleven Sports app, which can be downloaded from Google Play and the Apple App Store. The network’s channels are also available in Singapore on SingTel TV, StarHub Go, Toggle, M1, ViewQwest, and Samsung TV, which offers sporting fans anytime, anywhere accessibility to premium live and exclusive sporting action.

  • Impact Wrestling filming in Q4, talks with sponsors under way

    MUMBAI: Impact Wrestling, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp., has announced the viewership results for its inaugural show that aired on PopTV on 9 March, 2017.

    Viewership on PopTV held steady week over week, but viewership on the Impact Wrestling YouTube channel and other social media outlets exploded, with new content attracting more than 2.4 million views through the weekend, an increase of more than 275 per cent over the same period last week.

    “We are thrilled to see this response from our fans. We wanted to deliver an on-screen product with a new energy that would captivate our audience. Early signs are that we are on the right track,” said Impact Wrestling chief creative officer Jeff Jarrett.

    “The new on-screen branding was matched with new graphics across all Impact Wrestling platforms. The thrilling and exciting new open to the show and the abundance of new content across all platforms, including digital, reflect the enthusiastic energy that Kevin Sullivan has brought with him in his return to the show as Vice President of Production.”

    During the week, Impact Wrestling also reached agreement with its partners in India to begin taping in India. On 30 May and 31 May, episodes of Impact Wrestling will be taped in Mumbai to be aired in the four weeks leading up to Slammiversary. Discussions are now under way with local sponsors and promotions to launch a new show featuring local talent in association with the Impact Wrestling roster to be filmed in India commencing as early as Q4 2017.

    “We are excited to be in a position to bring our show to our fans in India,” said Impact Wrestling president Ed Nordholm. “This is an initial step in what we hope will become a regular part of our programming cycle, leading to live events in all of our key markets.”

    Nordholm also commented on management additions, noting that Scott D’Amore has agreed to join the company as Vice President of International Development, adding to his responsibilities on the creative team.

    “International growth is a top priority for us and Scott will be a key member as we forge alliances with international partners to bring Impact Wrestling to these markets,” said Nordholm. “Scott finalised a working agreement with the popular Japan-based promotion, Pro-Wrestling NOAH, this past weekend, and stars Moose, James Storm and Eddie Edwards travelled to Japan with him to compete in Yokohama at The Great Voyage 2017.”

    Scott D’Amore added: “I look forward to growing the brand on a worldwide level. In addition to this agreement with NOAH, we have reached an agreement with Crash Lucha, and I am actively working on other initiatives with local partners in Mexico, the United Kingdom and India.”

    The roster continues to grow and new faces will premiere on Impact Wrestling every Thursday night. We have already witnessed the debut of world-renowned star, Alberto El Patron, and an exciting new tag-team has burst on the scene named Reno Scum. Familiar fan favorites will also return to the Impact Zone in the coming weeks, including Karen Jarrett, Magnus, Matt Morgan and The Notorious LAX.

  • SPN India cranks up IPL 10 campaign with fan frenzy films

    MUMBAI: How do you celebrate a tenth birthday? Well, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) India, which has been airing the edge-of-the-seat action filled Indian Premier League for the past 10 years, has chosen to do with a campaign “10 saal aap ke naam”.

    “SPN and Vivo IPL have had a great journey, so far. Over the last nine years, we have seen the tournament grow in terms of stature, viewership and the buzz that it creates, and, hence it was only logical to make the tenth year a grand celebration. The marketing campaign borrows from real life insights on how viewers of Vivo IPL engage and involve themselves with the game. We believe that the fans are instrumental in making this tournament the mega blockbuster that it is, and that is why this year’s campaign is an ode to the Vivo IPL Fa. This campaign is the way of saying thank you to millions of people who made IPL what it is,” says Sony Max cluster senior EVP and business head Neeraj Vyas.

    This year’s matches are to be telecast on Sony Max, Sony Six, and Sony ESPN.

    Thus, a series of six films have been filmed and created encapsulating the fervor and madness of fans across gender, generations and geographies. The films celebrate various types of fans, be it the ‘Antaryami Fan’ who, year after year, makes predictions with confidence and even though all his predictions do not come true, he does not deter from making them again and again; the ‘Vehemi fan’ who fears that if he watches the match his team will lose so every time his team plays he is seen standing outside the door, be it a restaurant, a store or even his own house and the ‘Under Pressure fan’ who will postpone even nature’s call and be uncomfortable but will not budge from the television screen till the last ball is delivered.

    The campaign will run in 4-5 languages — English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Telugu. “The Tamil feed grew enormously last year. Twenty per cent of numbers came from Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry which is very encouraging,” informs Vyas.

    SPN India has brought in top drawer talent for its final innings with the IPL (Its rights deal with the BCCI is ending this year and a fierce bidding exercise between Star, SPN, Dsports, and Amazon is expected to take the price up to stratospheric levels.)

    DDB Mudra was behind the creative of the campaign, while the films were helmed by noted ad film director Hemant Bhandari of Chrome Pictures Media. The anthem was composed under the baton of music composer duo, Salim- Sulaiman, and singer, Benny Dayal belted out the vocals.

    With phrases like “Mahaul sajatey, Haal batatey, Halla machatey”, the Vivo IPL anthem salutes the passion of the zealot who passionately follows the game and cheers every four and six and fall of wicket

    The campaign will roll out on other media outlets too. News and regional channels are expected to be tapped into more. But most importantly is the swathe of channels that the network boast of today, reveals Vyas. “Last year when we started the campaign for season 9, the network had 17 channels and now we have 30 channels under Sony umbrella. We have popular channels. But, we will buy some (slots on the) regional (channels) for sure.”

    The good news for the SPN India is that it has managed to lock in 13 sponsor for IPL season 10. Among these figure: Vivo, Amazon and Vodafone as the co-presenters, CEAT Tyre, wire maker Polycab, Make My Trip, Vimal Paan Masala, Yamaha, Frooti, Voltas, Havells, Parle- products and Yes Bank. And, it looks to be on target to rake in Rs 1,300 crore through sponsorships.

    Vyas says that there was fear that prime minister Narendra Modi demonetisation drive might impact advertisers enthusiasm to put in top dollar. “But, the IPL has such a high recall value that you can’t go wrong is what advertisers have told us and that is why the 13 sponsors,” he expresses.

    A media veteran says that the creative peg that SPN India has taken is clearly going to connect with cricket fans in India and worldwide.

    “Already the player auction saw some high-ticket prices being coughed up by the teams for certain players,” says she. “And, if Sony is going to stoke up the fan frenzy by airing the fan films showing stereotypes with high frequency and reach, one can expect the temperature and viewership for the IPL to only go up this year. Now if only the teams on the field work well to have close finishes, and Sony will be laughing all the way to the bank.”

  • Sony Six: NBA preparing for Hindi commentary in three months

    MUMBAI: NBA and Sony Six, the former’s broadcast partner in India, will soon introduce Hindi language commentary to the games.

    Speaking at the CASBAA OTT summit in Mumbai, NBA India executive Yannick Colaco said that, since audio was very important for sports content, they were actively looking at going regional. “We are already having the audio for 600 games in Chinese,” he stressed, adding that, in three months, NBA planned to have its games commentary in Hindi as well.

    It was earlier reported by www.indiantelevision.com that the Sony sports network grew majestically in 2016. From Sony Six, Six HD, Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD to a bouquet of nine sports channels (Ten Network) prove Sony is looking to be serious player.

    About the most viewed sporting event on SPN in 2016, Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) sports and distribution president Rajesh Kaul had said, “2016 was a strong year for the sports cluster of SPN and we enjoyed an excellent response to a plethora of our properties in cricket, football, fight sports and basketball / NBA. Both our marquee sports events IPL 2016 and UEFA Euro 2016 got an unprecedented level of viewership. In addition to this, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and NBA in our breakfast viewing category have also seen a substantial growth in viewership this year. Over 100 million viewers sampled UFC this year and more than 140 million viewers sampled NBA season 2015-16.”

    NBA has a wide following among Indian fans last season NBA 2015-16 being watched by more than 140 million viewers and we are expecting a strong season showing for the 2016-17 season.

    Popularity of NBA events is gaining ground in India. One of India’s leading video streaming OTT player Hotstar is making its coverage of sports in 3D Virtual Reality(VR) is known. A Silicon Valley based company called VOKE has helped stream the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four, the CBS Morning Show and live streams of concerts, NBA, NFL and college football games, courtesy its live TrueVR technology.

    Netflix had earlier picked up for streaming the  documentary of Satnam Singh Bhamra, first India-born basketball player to be drafted into the National Basketball Association (NBA). Netflix acquired streaming rights to telecast the documentary, which also features NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and NBA’s senior director of international basketball operations Troy Justice.

    Also Read:

    Sony Networks looking to change face of Indian football in ’17

    How VOKE is helping Hotstar to bring 3D VR to Kabaddi

    Netflix content offering includes Satnam Singh doc

  • Dsport to telecast Major League Soccer in India

    MUMBAI: The full season of Major League Soccer (MLS) is to be telecast on Discovery Networks’ newly launched sports channel Dsport. The channel will telecast the league live from 4 March 2017.

    Launched in 1996 with 10 teams, Major League Soccer will kick-off its 22nd edition with 22 teams, up from 20 last year. The new teams are the Atlanta United and Minnesota United.

    MLS officially kicks-off the 2017 season with a match between hosts Portland Timbers and the debutants Minnesota United.

    Portland Timbers were the MLS Cup champions in 2015 but failed to make the playoffs last season. The two teams played out a 2-2 draw in the pre-season.

    Some of the star players who are poised to figure prominently in the quest for MLS Cup 2017 glory include David Villa (New York City FC), Tim Howard (Colorado Rapids), Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders), Giovani Dos Santos (LA Galaxy), Kaka (Orlando City), Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto FC), Miguel Almiron (Atlanta United), Nicolas Lodeiro (Seattle Sounders), Cyle Larin (Orlando City), and Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers).

  • Comment: Is BCCI lbw on Star’s sponsorship googly?

    Why blame Virat Kohli & Co. for crumbling on a doctored pitch in Pune in the first Test against the visiting Ausssies? And, why should it come as a surprise? Indian cricket — administrators, (most) cricketers, sponsors, various rights holders, other stakeholders, et al — itself lives in a fairly land of its own making where games are played on dusty bowls and fiercely fought with no punches pulled. Star India’s latest googly to BCCI just goes on to amplify these. BCCI, though, has played the ball with a straight and dead bat.

    A month before its contract for the Team India’s jersey sponsorship comes to an end in March 2017, Star India’s Chairman and CEO Uday Shankar has set the game up. “Given all the volatility, we are indeed concerned about the health of cricket in the days ahead. We have been very proud that our name is carried on the jersey of Team India. But given all the uncertainties, we have decided not to bid for it again. The commitments being asked for are too onerous without any clarity,” Shankar bared a marketing fang in an interview given to Times of India.

    A veteran of many journalistic face-offs earlier and now a master corporate strategist, Shankar’s message to BCCI or Indian cricket’s administrative body was clear, if not politically loaded: forget Team India’s indifferent performances at times on field, we can live with it; it’s the off-field boardroom games that’s making us uneasy to risk our money.

    If the government of the day believes that ‘desh badal raha hai’ or the country is changing, why should BCCI also not reflect that narrative? Finding itself in the throes of controversies, some which are self-induced and some inflicted by the Supreme Court, BCCI seems unable to extricate itself from conflicts with itself and those with the cricket’s international governing body, ICC. What with some past office-bearers threatening to oppose moves of the Supreme Court-appointed interim administrative body shorn of politicians, it’s a piquant situation worthy of a Bollywood potboiler. Especially when there are question marks over India’s participation in strong cricketing properties, including the Champions Trophy and the IPL prospects not looking so rosy.

    Though some cricket observers feel that Star India is playing a who-would-blink-first game with BCCI, admittedly weakened by SC-induced structural changes, subsequent internal wrangling and flexing of muscle by ICC, presently led by former Indian chief administrator Shashank Manohar, others feel Star does have a point. A big financial point.

    According to Espncricinfo.com, Star India had bagged the Indian team sponsorship rights for a four-year period, starting 1 January 2014 and ending 31 March , 2017, with a bid worth Rs 19.2 million (US$315,000 approx) per match for bilateral series and Rs 6.1 million (US$100,000 approx) per match for ICC-sponsored tournaments. This had brought to an end a 12-year partnership with Sahara.

    Star, which also holds the broadcast, internet and mobile rights to Indian cricket until March 2018, had invested a few billions of dollars in Indian cricket overall, as per Shankar’s own admission to Times of India recently. Star’s jersey sponsorship contract that expires this March-end included the right to be called the official team sponsor and to display a commercial logo on the men’s, women’s, Under-19 and `A’ players and on their teams’ kits.

    Though Star obliquely may not be in favour of Test cricket — “If there are millions of people…not so attached to Test cricket but are very excited about the T20, then there’s a certain message that needs to be taken seriously”, says Shankar — the exposure that it has got as the team sponsor of men’s and women’s Indian cricketers in Tests, one-dayers and other smaller format of the game also cannot be denied.

    However, despite wanting to control things, Star India has been unable to influence much the twists and turns in soap opera called `BCCI’s transformation’, directed by the Supreme Court, which has raised uncertainties and question marks over return on investments for Star. Especially if Team India did not play in some tournaments or against certain country (like Pakistan) owing to not only India’s national political narrative, but also waning of support from other cricket-playing nations that Star describes as ebbing of India’s controlling power over international cricket despite being the biggest contributors.

    That one of the biggest investors in Indian cricket was never consulted on matters cricketing (“I don’t think we have ever been consulted or our views have been sought. This is a bit intriguing for us…as people committed to such high sums of contractual value, we have a point of view,” Shankar says) would have been rankling Star much. But that it still continued to invest in cricket, including Indian, also highlights the gains.

    In this tug-of-war of investment vs. RoI, BCCI may seem to be on a weak wicket presently, but it cannot be denied that other stakeholders, including Star, are trying to put pressure in an effort to close the game early on this turning pitch. But don’t think it’s all over for BCCI if Star backs out as team sponsor. Even Star has left itself room to manoeuvre as Shankar in the TOI interview states: “However, given all the volatility in the cricket world, we will have to be very careful before making any further commitments.”

    Remember what they say in cricket that the match isn’t over till the last ball has been bowled. And, the last ball remains to be still bowled in this game.