ET BureauPRO-IPL VIEW Why I may still want to buy an IPL team if the system is cleansed
TRPs are still intact, ad revenues are rising, and IPL remains the most viewed sport in the country
By Harsh Goenka (The writer is chairman of RPG Enterprises)
I must confess that in the beginning I was a total sceptic about the Indian Premier League (IPL). The stakes were high and I was not convinced about the city-based model. However, when the IPL bidding process started, we bid for the Kolkata franchise. Why I lost the bid is still a mystery to me because, up to a point, I was the only interested bidder. Anyway, it is good Shah Rukh Khan got it and he brought in a lot of glamour to Kolkata Knight Riders.
My second flirtation with IPL was when Deccan Chargers was up for sale. I was negotiating with them, but I did not get the right signals from BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket] and finally the Sun Group got it. I did not submit a bid for Pune or Kochi in 2010 as I got a feeling that everything was pre-decided.
Today, if you look at IPL, you have two teams under suspension and if they are sold by BCCI they can go to court. BCCI had suspended Kochi and now the team has been asked to pay a fine.
Several of the other teams are also up for sale. Market rumours say that Diageo wants to sell Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and they are looking for takers.
I also know a couple of other teams that are willing to sell but have exaggerated expectations on valuations. IPL has suddenly become a bad word. At one point anyone involved in horse racing immediately invited negative vibes. Today, IPL is attracting similar negative vibes for anyone associated with it. It has not been a very good omen for many people; think about the fortunes of some of the owners or even Lalit Modi and it will be clear what I mean.
There were two reasons for people to bid for IPL teams. First was the trophy value — you could be seen with the cream of Indian society, top industrialists, film stars and cricket players. The second part was the brand-building part — the TRPs. We have been involved, with CEAT as a major sponsor during IPL matches, and are happy with the rub-off on our brand and sales. There is also a third kind of value around IPL team ownership.
With complimentary seats as giveaway, owners use this as a good relationship-building tool.
Now, if we look at IPL, the trophy value is suddenly zero or even negative. The teams themselves are not making much money; in fact, most of them are making losses. Today there are alternatives too — like the Indian Soccer League, or Pro Kabaddi League. In fact, the kabaddi League has proven to be a phenomenal success with a clean image, high television viewership and good returns to the franchise owners.
On the contrary, IPL has not been managed very transparently. The team ownerships are somewhat opaque. Few players and officials have vested and conflict of interests. The bidding process is almost pre-decided. One hears of so much muck from the team owners — a team-owner had confessed to me that he was sure two of his players were throwing games, but he had no proof and another told me in one game he was sure the umpire was compromised. To invest in a team now will mean dealing with losses for some time.
In the 11th year [2018], IPL is supposed to move to a revenue-sharing model where the teams only pay a percentage to BCCI and only then the profitability of the teams will go up.
The silver lining is that the TRPs are still intact, advertising revenues are also going up and IPL still remains the mostviewed sport in the country. Though I am under pressure from friends and family not to be associated as a team owner, the Supreme Court judgement gives me hope that the pitch will be swept clean of corruption. I hope people stop playing games. It is time to bring the glory back to the gentleman’s sport. I am sure the naysayers will change their mind and I can pursue my passion and bid for a team. As told to Suman Layak
PRO-IPL VIEW Why I Want an IPL Team Franchises should now be available at a 50 per cent discount
By Venugopal Dhoot
(The writer is chairman and managing director of Videocon Industries)
We know one ultimate truth and that is: the 130-crore population of India may be following different religions but there is also another religion most of them follow and that is cricket. Cricket is like God in this country and a very big game, and the actions of a few people will not affect the brand. While IPL teams and team owners may lose credibility, the game of cricket will not lose its attraction in the long run. For a consumer-facing company like ours, involvement with IPL and cricket will always make sense for brand-building.
As a group we have invested in cricket for long. In Kolkata we have the Videocon School of Cricket. In Aurangabad, where we have the registered office of Videocon Industries, we have been organising cricket matches for many years. We are also involved with the IPL. We are the main sponsors of the Mumbai Indian cricket team and that was a Rs 22-crore deal. Apart from the IPL, we have other sponsorship deals in sports. We also coown the FC Goa Football club of the Indian Super League and sponsor the Dabang Mumbai hockey team of the Hockey India League. We have also been involved with the filmi-cricket matches.
So while cricket retains its aura, it is a different story with IPL. Owning an IPL team is no longer a lucrative business proposition and now even the owner’s reputation is sometimes at stake. We had bid $230 million for the Pune team in 2010, but at that time Sahara bid $370 million and beat us. We had also shown interest in the erstwhile Deccan Chargers team (now Sunrisers Hyderabad). Today, I feel the IPL teams should be available at a 50% discount.
Given the likely drop in price, for a consumer facing company like us, cricket will make even more sense as a brandbuilding exercise. A sports brand is a strategic media asset for our business.
So we will wait for the BCCI to come out with its policy. By bringing in transparent rules and regulations and also appointing able and efficient administrators, BCCI can take this forward. Our choice of city or franchises depends on the BCCI’s action on the number of teams and what they want to do with these two suspended teams going forward. Also, I think these 45 players in the two suspended teams will be available for new buyers.
Personally, I do not see the Lodha Committee report as action against the game of cricket, but action against specific individuals.
My view is that while for the time being it seems cricket has lost its appeal to some extent, once the clean-up at BCCI is over, it can regain the lost ground. In a way this can be the right time to invest.
(As told to Suman Layak)
THE NON-CRICKET VIEW
Support Hockey, Football, Kabaddi, Golf; Cricket has had enough support
There is a need to promote non-cricket sports for India to emerge as a sporting superpower.
By Pawan Munjal (The writer is chairman, managing director & CEO, Hero MotoCorp)
Watching Anirban Lahiri on television get off to an excellent start at the British Open at St Andrews this week has been a sheer delight. I am sure all Indian fans of golf have been following Anirban’s emergence as a top international golfer over the past year or so.
It is no coincidence that Anirban happens to be a Hero MotoCorp brand am ambassador for the past several years. And not just him, some of the other top Indian golfers such as Gaganjeet Bhullar, Shiv Kapur and Sharmila Nicollet are also Hero ambassadors. We spotted the talent and promise in them quite early in their career and extended our wholehearted support so that they could focus on their game.
Cricket has for long received a lot of corporate support due to its massive popularity, and this has undoubtedly helped the game grow. But if India has to emerge as a sporting superpower in the future, then we need a concerted effort by all stakeholders to promote non cricket sports as well.
Hero has been the title sponsor of the Hero Indian Open for men since 2006 and the Hero Indian Open for women since 2010. Today, golf is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country.
I have always believed that sports can be used as a tool to nurture the youth of our country. As a nation, we can build generations of youngsters robust in health and sharp in mind if we get them to engage in various disciplines of sports.
A country of over 1.25 billion people, India is definitely capable of producing world champions in all disciplines of sport but for that to happen we need to build the right kind of infrastructure and systems to identify and groom talent and give them the platforms to prosper.
One excellent example is the recent surge in the popularity of kabaddi thanks to way the game has been promoted on various media platforms.
Hockey, our national game, needs long-term, sustained support to bring back the days of its old glory. So in addition to our partnership with FIH [International Hockey Federation] — the apex governing body of international hockey — we are also supporting the popular Hero Hockey India League as its title sponsor. Again, it is no coincidence that Indian hockey captain Sardar Singh also happens to be a Hero brand ambassador.
Last year, I was in Brazil to watch the FIFA World Cup and I kept wondering how much we would like to see India participate on the highest stage of global football one day.
In FIFA rankings, India may have been languishing way below, but the game is increasingly becoming popular among youngsters in the country. So there is a need to support football as well. In addition to Hero Indian Super League, we are, therefore, also supporting the Hero Federation Cup and the Hero I-League as title sponsor.
(As told to Lijee Philip)
THE NON-CRICKET VIEW Why I Do Not Want to Buy an IPL Team
The craze about cricket leads to over-indulgence, which leads to irrational behaviour and rot
By Ronnie Screwvala (The writer is founder of Unilazer Ventures and Sawdes Foundation)
Three things strike me when asked whether I would like to own an IPL team: One, I love new challenges, being disruptive, looking at something that’s not been done before and, consequently, on the impact I could make. And in cricket, today, the simple answer is: Nothing.
Two, India needs investment in sports at the grassroot level — spotting them young and creating an ecosystem where it’s aspirational to pursue a career in sports for life. Don’t get me wrong: a league is great entertainment and sports is also entertainment, plus a league positions the sport and takes it to the next level. But, at end of the day, all team ownerships worldwide are mostly a vanity game, a brand extension of one’s perceived self. Now you may say wait a minute — you own the U Mumba kabaddi team, so are these double standards? And I guess to some it may appear so, but for me that has been very different as there is no better challenging feeling than looking at a sport at such a “ground-up” level and work with team and talent, when they are absolutely starting up.
Three, I think we are too obsessed with one sport — cricket. It’s great to be passionate and even obsessed; but over-obsessions shut out everything else and maybe that’s why India is pretty much a single-sport country when you look at the frenzy for cricket in exclusion to everything else. Let’s face it: even the rest of the world has moved on from cricket, which is why 80 per cent of eyeballs and revenue on cricket comes from India! I think it’s fantastic that we are all so crazy about cricket but when you let something be so much of an obsession, it does bring about overindulgence; and that leads to irrational behaviour and rot. And so in some way all of us 1.3 billion people need to take the blame for some of what is happening to the game today.
Now I am no one to comment on any ongoing controversy, but we all put people on pedestals and then they act with impunity and in some sense irrationally.
It’s just human nature… and so it’s time for overall introspection, not just pointing fingers.
Sport is something that directly reflects human passion, determination, aspiration, humility, resolve, collective unity, one for all and all for one. Cricket is a sport for all of us; it has cut across socio, economic and religious barriers and brings people together. It is not a sport that belongs to any one person; it belongs to the people and it’s because the people love it, it is what it is today. Television does not make a sport; it’s only a great platform. Players do not make the game, either. It’s first the people and the day the divide between the “owner” of a sport and its core audience widens so much, it’s a pause moment. Sport is never about complex judgment, but about fair and square winning and playing.
My tryst with kabaddi has been nothing short of exhilarating. Aside from the U Mumba team we have launched one of the largest talent-spotting and nurturing initiatives and this is just the beginning. In football, I am glad the Indian Super League has done so well, but we stayed away from team ownership and focused on grassroot talent and next month the first lot of close to 30 of our kids under 12/14/16 years of age go to Germany for six years of gruelling training, and there is no shortcut to that. When we met over 70 families to explain why their son can find a future in sports as a career for life, I realised how far we are in India from mindset changes for making us a multisporting nation.
I have always said that when India wins 10 Olympic golds and wins on a global stage at multiple sports, it will not matter if we are the third-largest economy in the world or not, as our national pride and chest-thumping will be bigger and louder than any seat on the table of any G-8. And like most India stories, it’s so near and yet so far. And I want to do my small bit in bringing it near, and I guess that’s why owning an IPL team is not for me.
TRPs are still intact, ad revenues are rising, and IPL remains the most viewed sport in the country
By Harsh Goenka (The writer is chairman of RPG Enterprises)
I must confess that in the beginning I was a total sceptic about the Indian Premier League (IPL). The stakes were high and I was not convinced about the city-based model. However, when the IPL bidding process started, we bid for the Kolkata franchise. Why I lost the bid is still a mystery to me because, up to a point, I was the only interested bidder. Anyway, it is good Shah Rukh Khan got it and he brought in a lot of glamour to Kolkata Knight Riders.
My second flirtation with IPL was when Deccan Chargers was up for sale. I was negotiating with them, but I did not get the right signals from BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket] and finally the Sun Group got it. I did not submit a bid for Pune or Kochi in 2010 as I got a feeling that everything was pre-decided.
Today, if you look at IPL, you have two teams under suspension and if they are sold by BCCI they can go to court. BCCI had suspended Kochi and now the team has been asked to pay a fine.
Several of the other teams are also up for sale. Market rumours say that Diageo wants to sell Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and they are looking for takers.
I also know a couple of other teams that are willing to sell but have exaggerated expectations on valuations. IPL has suddenly become a bad word. At one point anyone involved in horse racing immediately invited negative vibes. Today, IPL is attracting similar negative vibes for anyone associated with it. It has not been a very good omen for many people; think about the fortunes of some of the owners or even Lalit Modi and it will be clear what I mean.
There were two reasons for people to bid for IPL teams. First was the trophy value — you could be seen with the cream of Indian society, top industrialists, film stars and cricket players. The second part was the brand-building part — the TRPs. We have been involved, with CEAT as a major sponsor during IPL matches, and are happy with the rub-off on our brand and sales. There is also a third kind of value around IPL team ownership.
With complimentary seats as giveaway, owners use this as a good relationship-building tool.
Now, if we look at IPL, the trophy value is suddenly zero or even negative. The teams themselves are not making much money; in fact, most of them are making losses. Today there are alternatives too — like the Indian Soccer League, or Pro Kabaddi League. In fact, the kabaddi League has proven to be a phenomenal success with a clean image, high television viewership and good returns to the franchise owners.
On the contrary, IPL has not been managed very transparently. The team ownerships are somewhat opaque. Few players and officials have vested and conflict of interests. The bidding process is almost pre-decided. One hears of so much muck from the team owners — a team-owner had confessed to me that he was sure two of his players were throwing games, but he had no proof and another told me in one game he was sure the umpire was compromised. To invest in a team now will mean dealing with losses for some time.
In the 11th year [2018], IPL is supposed to move to a revenue-sharing model where the teams only pay a percentage to BCCI and only then the profitability of the teams will go up.
The silver lining is that the TRPs are still intact, advertising revenues are also going up and IPL still remains the mostviewed sport in the country. Though I am under pressure from friends and family not to be associated as a team owner, the Supreme Court judgement gives me hope that the pitch will be swept clean of corruption. I hope people stop playing games. It is time to bring the glory back to the gentleman’s sport. I am sure the naysayers will change their mind and I can pursue my passion and bid for a team. As told to Suman Layak
PRO-IPL VIEW Why I Want an IPL Team Franchises should now be available at a 50 per cent discount
By Venugopal Dhoot
(The writer is chairman and managing director of Videocon Industries)
We know one ultimate truth and that is: the 130-crore population of India may be following different religions but there is also another religion most of them follow and that is cricket. Cricket is like God in this country and a very big game, and the actions of a few people will not affect the brand. While IPL teams and team owners may lose credibility, the game of cricket will not lose its attraction in the long run. For a consumer-facing company like ours, involvement with IPL and cricket will always make sense for brand-building.
As a group we have invested in cricket for long. In Kolkata we have the Videocon School of Cricket. In Aurangabad, where we have the registered office of Videocon Industries, we have been organising cricket matches for many years. We are also involved with the IPL. We are the main sponsors of the Mumbai Indian cricket team and that was a Rs 22-crore deal. Apart from the IPL, we have other sponsorship deals in sports. We also coown the FC Goa Football club of the Indian Super League and sponsor the Dabang Mumbai hockey team of the Hockey India League. We have also been involved with the filmi-cricket matches.
So while cricket retains its aura, it is a different story with IPL. Owning an IPL team is no longer a lucrative business proposition and now even the owner’s reputation is sometimes at stake. We had bid $230 million for the Pune team in 2010, but at that time Sahara bid $370 million and beat us. We had also shown interest in the erstwhile Deccan Chargers team (now Sunrisers Hyderabad). Today, I feel the IPL teams should be available at a 50% discount.
Given the likely drop in price, for a consumer facing company like us, cricket will make even more sense as a brandbuilding exercise. A sports brand is a strategic media asset for our business.
So we will wait for the BCCI to come out with its policy. By bringing in transparent rules and regulations and also appointing able and efficient administrators, BCCI can take this forward. Our choice of city or franchises depends on the BCCI’s action on the number of teams and what they want to do with these two suspended teams going forward. Also, I think these 45 players in the two suspended teams will be available for new buyers.
Personally, I do not see the Lodha Committee report as action against the game of cricket, but action against specific individuals.
My view is that while for the time being it seems cricket has lost its appeal to some extent, once the clean-up at BCCI is over, it can regain the lost ground. In a way this can be the right time to invest.
(As told to Suman Layak)
THE NON-CRICKET VIEW
Support Hockey, Football, Kabaddi, Golf; Cricket has had enough support
There is a need to promote non-cricket sports for India to emerge as a sporting superpower.
By Pawan Munjal (The writer is chairman, managing director & CEO, Hero MotoCorp)
Watching Anirban Lahiri on television get off to an excellent start at the British Open at St Andrews this week has been a sheer delight. I am sure all Indian fans of golf have been following Anirban’s emergence as a top international golfer over the past year or so.
It is no coincidence that Anirban happens to be a Hero MotoCorp brand am ambassador for the past several years. And not just him, some of the other top Indian golfers such as Gaganjeet Bhullar, Shiv Kapur and Sharmila Nicollet are also Hero ambassadors. We spotted the talent and promise in them quite early in their career and extended our wholehearted support so that they could focus on their game.
Cricket has for long received a lot of corporate support due to its massive popularity, and this has undoubtedly helped the game grow. But if India has to emerge as a sporting superpower in the future, then we need a concerted effort by all stakeholders to promote non cricket sports as well.
Hero has been the title sponsor of the Hero Indian Open for men since 2006 and the Hero Indian Open for women since 2010. Today, golf is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country.
I have always believed that sports can be used as a tool to nurture the youth of our country. As a nation, we can build generations of youngsters robust in health and sharp in mind if we get them to engage in various disciplines of sports.
A country of over 1.25 billion people, India is definitely capable of producing world champions in all disciplines of sport but for that to happen we need to build the right kind of infrastructure and systems to identify and groom talent and give them the platforms to prosper.
One excellent example is the recent surge in the popularity of kabaddi thanks to way the game has been promoted on various media platforms.
Hockey, our national game, needs long-term, sustained support to bring back the days of its old glory. So in addition to our partnership with FIH [International Hockey Federation] — the apex governing body of international hockey — we are also supporting the popular Hero Hockey India League as its title sponsor. Again, it is no coincidence that Indian hockey captain Sardar Singh also happens to be a Hero brand ambassador.
Last year, I was in Brazil to watch the FIFA World Cup and I kept wondering how much we would like to see India participate on the highest stage of global football one day.
In FIFA rankings, India may have been languishing way below, but the game is increasingly becoming popular among youngsters in the country. So there is a need to support football as well. In addition to Hero Indian Super League, we are, therefore, also supporting the Hero Federation Cup and the Hero I-League as title sponsor.
(As told to Lijee Philip)
THE NON-CRICKET VIEW Why I Do Not Want to Buy an IPL Team
The craze about cricket leads to over-indulgence, which leads to irrational behaviour and rot
By Ronnie Screwvala (The writer is founder of Unilazer Ventures and Sawdes Foundation)
Three things strike me when asked whether I would like to own an IPL team: One, I love new challenges, being disruptive, looking at something that’s not been done before and, consequently, on the impact I could make. And in cricket, today, the simple answer is: Nothing.
Two, India needs investment in sports at the grassroot level — spotting them young and creating an ecosystem where it’s aspirational to pursue a career in sports for life. Don’t get me wrong: a league is great entertainment and sports is also entertainment, plus a league positions the sport and takes it to the next level. But, at end of the day, all team ownerships worldwide are mostly a vanity game, a brand extension of one’s perceived self. Now you may say wait a minute — you own the U Mumba kabaddi team, so are these double standards? And I guess to some it may appear so, but for me that has been very different as there is no better challenging feeling than looking at a sport at such a “ground-up” level and work with team and talent, when they are absolutely starting up.
Three, I think we are too obsessed with one sport — cricket. It’s great to be passionate and even obsessed; but over-obsessions shut out everything else and maybe that’s why India is pretty much a single-sport country when you look at the frenzy for cricket in exclusion to everything else. Let’s face it: even the rest of the world has moved on from cricket, which is why 80 per cent of eyeballs and revenue on cricket comes from India! I think it’s fantastic that we are all so crazy about cricket but when you let something be so much of an obsession, it does bring about overindulgence; and that leads to irrational behaviour and rot. And so in some way all of us 1.3 billion people need to take the blame for some of what is happening to the game today.
Now I am no one to comment on any ongoing controversy, but we all put people on pedestals and then they act with impunity and in some sense irrationally.
It’s just human nature… and so it’s time for overall introspection, not just pointing fingers.
Sport is something that directly reflects human passion, determination, aspiration, humility, resolve, collective unity, one for all and all for one. Cricket is a sport for all of us; it has cut across socio, economic and religious barriers and brings people together. It is not a sport that belongs to any one person; it belongs to the people and it’s because the people love it, it is what it is today. Television does not make a sport; it’s only a great platform. Players do not make the game, either. It’s first the people and the day the divide between the “owner” of a sport and its core audience widens so much, it’s a pause moment. Sport is never about complex judgment, but about fair and square winning and playing.
My tryst with kabaddi has been nothing short of exhilarating. Aside from the U Mumba team we have launched one of the largest talent-spotting and nurturing initiatives and this is just the beginning. In football, I am glad the Indian Super League has done so well, but we stayed away from team ownership and focused on grassroot talent and next month the first lot of close to 30 of our kids under 12/14/16 years of age go to Germany for six years of gruelling training, and there is no shortcut to that. When we met over 70 families to explain why their son can find a future in sports as a career for life, I realised how far we are in India from mindset changes for making us a multisporting nation.
I have always said that when India wins 10 Olympic golds and wins on a global stage at multiple sports, it will not matter if we are the third-largest economy in the world or not, as our national pride and chest-thumping will be bigger and louder than any seat on the table of any G-8. And like most India stories, it’s so near and yet so far. And I want to do my small bit in bringing it near, and I guess that’s why owning an IPL team is not for me.
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