Tag: Atletico de Kolkata

Ola to ride as official cab partner for 4 Indian Super League teams

MUMBAI: The personal transportation app Ola has jumped on board as the official cab partner of four teams playing in the on-going Indian Super League (ISL) namely Mumbai City FC, FC Pune City, Delhi Dynamos FC and Atlético de Kolkata.

Ola will also give away free VIP, VVIP and Hospitality passes for the games of these four teams on select days to Ola customers, straight from their app.

Ola vice president Sudarshan Gangrade said, “Football is catching up as a major sport in the country with the formation of popular leagues like the ISL. The young and fast growing Ola user base has a large number of sporting enthusiasts and this is a wonderful opportunity for us to engage with them. With this partnership, Ola users not only gain instant access to their favourite ISL matches, but also to convenient and hassle free mobility options to reach the venue- all from the Ola app.”

Atlético de Kolkata secretary Subrata Talukdar added, “We are delighted to partner with Ola. Ola’s partnership will go a long way in helping us reach out to millions of fans across the country as well as solve the mobility issue for everyone coming to see the matches. Parking and traffic hassles can be significantly minimized with fans now being able to use Ola for reaching the match venues.”

In another sports associations earlier this year, Ola was the official cab partner for five Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 cricket teams namely Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab.

October 7, 2015
Hero Indian Super League 2015 to kickoff on 3 October; extended by 9 days

MUMBAI: Hero Indian Super League (ISL), which sparked a football revolution in India with its inaugural edition last year, featuring eight city franchises, renowned international footballing stars, coaches and a host of Indian talents, is all set to stage its second season starting Saturday, 3 October, 2015.

The promoters of Indian Super League, Football Sports Development— a joint venture between IMG, Reliance Industries and Star India; has announced the fixtures for its second season, featuring 61 games spread across 79 days.

The League stage will witness 56 games in a home and away format, followed by two-legged semi-finals starting 11 December, 2015 with the ‘Super Sunday’ final scheduled on 20 December, 2015 at a pre-decided venue to be announced at a later date. All the matches will kick off at 1900 hrs (IST).

Chennaiyin FC will host the opener when they take on the might of Hero ISL defending champions Atletico de Kolkata on 3 October, 2015 at their home ground Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The action will then move to Goa the next day with FC Goa pitted against Delhi Dynamos FC, while fans in Mumbai will witness the ‘Maharashtra Derby’ on 5 October, 2015 when Mumbai City FC locks horns with FC Pune City at D Y Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai.

The Hero ISL bandwagon will reach Kerala on 6 October, 2015 when last year’s runners-up Kerala Blasters FC play their first home fixture against NorthEast United FC. The newly laid pitch at Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata will be put to test for its first big match night when Atletico de Kolkata tussle with arch rivals FC Goa on 7 October, 2015. Delhi Dynamos FC, FC Pune City and NorthEast United FC will host their first home matches on 8, 9 and 16 October, 2015, respectively.

The inaugural year of Hero Indian Super League witnessed an unprecedented response in the history of Indian football, achieving a rare feat of being the fourth most watched football league in the world. For the first time in Indian football, globally renowned players like, Alessandro Del Piero, Nicolas Anelka, Robert Pires, Fredrik Ljungberg, David James, Luis Garcia, David Trezeguet, Elano Blumer and Joan Capdevila played alongside the best Indian football talents.

Hero ISL’s first edition saw participation of footballers from 36 varied nationalities, including India; changing the way football was perceived in the country so far. The globally viewed tournament had 129 goals scored at an average of 2.11 goals per game.

Over 1.5 million fans made their way to eight city based club’s home stadiums to witness this footballing event unfold. As per the data released by the broadcaster, the inaugural season of Hero ISL was watched by 429 million viewers on TV in India, which was more than 2.5 times of the viewership of 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Talking of the engagement on social media, a release says, “The social media presence of Hero ISL has grown exponentially since the inaugural season with over 1.7 million ‘Likes’ on the League’s official Facebook page in addition to another 120 thousands that follow @IndSuperLeague on Twitter. The ISL website www.indiansuperleague.com has received 3.4 million unique visitors and over 28 million page views over the duration of the League with 32 million online views on www.starsports.com.”

May 29, 2015
Varun Mathur quits Nimbus Sports; to partner ITW Sports for new venture

MUMBAI: After close to two years with Nimbus Sport as its general manager, Varun Mathur has decided to take a big leap but within the confines of his expertise – sports management and marketing.

Mathur will be partnering with ITW managing director and CEO Vikram Tanwar to lead the new initiative called ITW Sport+.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com about his new venture, Mathur says, “I will be leading the new initiative as a shareholder and director.”

Mathur will be based out of Delhi NCR.

The new unit will be focussed on three key areas. The company will be involved with rights management in non-cricket sports like football, Formula 1 and tennis amongst others. It will also look at acquiring and managing digital rights of sports. Additionally, ITW Sport+ will also explore third party right management of athletes and sports celebrities in the sports ecosystem.

“The focus will be on representation of football teams in the Indian Super League, various Kabaddi teams and sports consulting too,” informs Mathur.

Talking about the core thought behind the new initiative, he says, “Currently there is a huge empty space in the sports ecosystem for a large size sports management firm. There are many players who are doing smaller chunks of business but there is no large consolidated player. We want to change that element and are going to occupying that space.”

As far a cricket is concerned, Mathur informs that ITW already has its presence there as it looks after most of the bilateral cricketing series rights.

ITW, as a sports management company, specializes in consulting in sports rights acquisition and negotiation, licensing, concept development, in stadia branding among others. It also holds rights for international cricket.

At Nimbus, Mathur was responsible for several key deals. These include bagging a XOLO (Lava Smartphone) for the EPL club, Liverpool FC and signing of ISL team Atletico De Kolkata with the telco as Aircel as its first principle sponsor.

April 8, 2015
Nimbus Sports and the million dollar deals

MUMBAI: Many will agree that with new sporting leagues making in-roads in the country in 2014, the business perception towards each of these sports have also changed. The size of ticket sales has swelled up and so has the viewership patterns on TV- at least for a few. There have also been some interesting million dollar sponsorship deals that sports management companies have been brokering for tournaments and franchises, beyond cricket. One such company is Nimbus Sports which is the sports marketing division of Nimbus Communications.

Nimbus Sport has been involved in managing rights transactions worth over US$ 2 billion to date, claims its website. According to sources, it currently has an extensive golf portfolio worth $3.5 million which includes the Hero National Open. The National Open which will be in its 51^st edition in 2015, will be moving towards the European tour for the first time, making it the only European Championship in the South East Asia region.

The championship will have prize money of $1.5 million. Nimbus has signed the deal with Hero as the title sponsor for three years and is valued at close to $3 million. The tournament will be held from 16 to 22 February 2015. Ten Sports is the broadcaster for the European tour in India. The championship will have 50 global broadcasters delivering 650 plus broadcasts with a combined excess reach of 530 million household across six continents, says a source close to the development.

Other sponsors who have come on board for the Open are international brands like Emirates, Rolex, and EP World through three season deals. Industry experts peg these deals at quarter million dollar each.

Adding to this is another golf property, the Vodafone Tee Walk. In January 2014, the business arm of Vodafone India, Vodafone Business Services appointed Nimbus Sport to manage the corporate golf series. It was held across four cities and is currently in its sixth edition. To enhance the overall experience, the company introduced mobile apps and swing analysis. The series was telecast on Neo Sports.

For the ongoing Hero Indian Super League, the company was the official representative of commercial negotiations for Atletico de Kolkata. As part of the deal it helped the team gain a principal sponsor with telco Aircel. This deal is pegged at $1 million for a single year with the right to renew it further.

On the international front, early this year, Nimbus claimed to be the first Indian agency to broker an international deal with premier football club, Liverpool FC and XOLO. This was the clubs first regional marketing partnership in India. According to sports experts, it is a two and a half season deal worth $1 million per year. The deal offered Indian fans to enjoy content from the club on their handsets, merchandise and the chance to meet former and current players from the club.

Says a brand consultant who comments on this deal, “XOLO could have partnered with better known club like Manchester United but by partnering with Liverpool it wanted to be seen as a challenger to the existing order.”

Speaking on the nature of such deals, an industry expert on condition of anonymity comments, “These are not just plain vanilla deals but custom made opportunities for brands to invest. The Aircel deal indicates a region wise targeting, as the brand seems to push for a local connect. The landscape clearly is seeing business goals being integrated into better platforms not just for cricket, but other sports which are becoming popular.”

The company plans to work with leagues like Champions Tennis League, International Premier Tennis League and Formula 1 teams in the coming years. Some of the deals could see bearing fruit by 2015 or 2016. Sources say, it was approached by Pro Kabaddi League teams this year but much could not be done as they were offered a turnaround time of 15 days which was too short. But in the coming years it seeks to tap on the growing ecosystem.

December 1, 2014
Atletico De Kolkata gains a principal sponsor in Aircel

MUMBAI: With the football fever catching up in the country with the Hero Indian Super League (ISL), Kolkata franchise Atletico De Kolkata gained its first principal sponsor in Aircel. Sports management company Nimbus Sport, advised the two companies on their partnership.

Atletico De Kolkata team co owner Sourav Ganguly commented, “It is great to see corporate like Aircel coming forward and showing its commitment towards promoting sports in the country. We are very happy that they are with us now as principal sponsors and I am sure it is just the start of a lasting and rewarding relationship.”

Nimbus Sport COO Sunil Manocha said, “The partnership will be a game changer in the sports marketing landscape in India and represents the first large commercial partnership by a mainstream brand with a football team in India and will usher in a new era of sponsor investments into teams in India. Nimbus has been at the forefront of bringing brands with a vision, closer to the sport and had advised Liverpool FC and Xolo smartphones, on their celebrated partnership earlier this year. As a part of our strategy for sustained focus on football, we are our working on bringing two leading European clubs to India to play friendly matches in the summer of 2015.”

Aircel chief marketing officer Anupam Vasudev said, “Aircel is a new age brand focusing on youth. Passion, agility, energy and youthfulness are the attributes which define this sport, which are also a part of Aircel’s DNA – being one of the young fastest growing telecom players in India. We are pleased to associate ourselves with Atletico De Kolkata which is the biggest team of ISL with a large dedicated region spanning entire Eastern and Central India and Bangladesh. With Players, Coach, Technical and Brand Integration with La Liga Champions, Atletico De Madrid, we hope ATK will be the frontrunner to win the first edition of ISL.”

The Aircel logo will be used on the front of team jersey and training kits under the current sponsorship arrangements.

RP Sanjiv Goenka group chairman and co-owner Atletico de Kolkata Sanjiv Goenka added, “We are delighted to have Aircel as the principal sponsor for Atletico de Kolkata and welcome them on-board. We look forward to working with them. The decision was made easy as there are definite synergies in our vision for Atletico de Kolkata. This association symbolises a shared dream of creating a successful brand and a world–class franchise.”

September 24, 2014
Hero Indian Super League to kick off at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata

MUMBAI: Atletico de Kolkata will take on Mumbai City FC in the opening game of the Hero Indian Super League’s first season at the historic Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Sunday 12 October 2014.

All games will be played at 7 pm, including the semi-finals and finals. On days of double headers, i.e 9 and 10 December 2014, the first game will start at 5 pm followed by 7 pm game.

Delhi Dynamos FC will host the League’s second game when they play FC Pune City on 13 October 2014. The action will move to Guwahati on 15 October 2014 for the home match of NorthEast United FC against Kerala Blasters FC and then to Goa next day for FC Goa’s game against Club Chennai.

The maximum city Mumbai will see the first Hero ISL action on 17^th October 2014 when Mumbai City FC will take on FC Pune City at DY Patil Stadium, New Mumbai. Club Chennai, FC Pune City and Kerala Blasters FC will host their first home matches on 19 October, 22 October and 27 October 2014, respectively.

The semi-finals will start from 13 December 2014 with top four clubs qualifying for the knock-out stage to be played in a two-legged format with the winners moving onto the final.

The Hero Indian Super League final would be played at a neutral venue on Saturday, December 20, 2014.

IMG-Reliance and Star India who are the promoters of the League, today announced the fixtures for the much-anticipated inaugural edition, featuring eight clubs, 61 games spread across 70 days. The League stage will witness 56 games on home and away format, followed by a two-legged semi-finals and the final scheduled for 20^th December 2014.

September 3, 2014