The Hindu Business Line : Future Group pulls out of IPL bidding for title sponsorship

“We no longer believe that the IPL has a credible revenue model and there is too much hype being created around it. We will wait and see how the matches unfold.”

Purvita Chatterjee

Mumbai, Feb. 11 As the last day approaches for submitting the bids for the title sponsorship rights for the Twenty-20 Indian Premier League (IPL), the Future Group has backed out of the race. Others such as ICICI Bank are not interested in bidding either. Speaking to Business Line, Mr Kishore Biyani, CEO, Future Group, said: “We are out of the bidding game for the title sponsorship for the IPL. There will be enough opportunities available for us to build brands with much lower costs.”

‘Too much hype’

The Future Group had been one of the late bidders for the IPL team franchise bids earlier, but now it no longer considers it an attractive investment option to build its brand. “We did spend Rs 4 lakh on picking up the form for the franchise bids but now we no longer believe that the IPL has a credible revenue model and there is too much hype being created around it. We will wait and see how the IPL matches unfold,” states a Future group official.

Mr Sundar Raman, CEO, IPL, said, “By tomorrow evening the advance money will be paid for the bids. It is true that the Future Group is no longer bidding for the title sponsorship rights.”

‘Other opportunities’

Meanwhile, even ICICI Bank does not consider IPL the right platform to promote its brand. Ms Madhabi Puri Buch, Executive Director, ICICI Bank, said: “We feel there can be other branding opportunities. There may be other sports which may have a better fit with the brand. We have not evaluated IPL this year but in the future we could look at it.”

In fact, ICICI Bank had never been in the race to bag the title sponsorship bids and this year the bank has been evaluating sports other than cricket which would help build its brand. However, ICICI Ventures, a subsidiary of ICICI Bank, had been disqualified as a late bidder for the IPL team franchise bids held last month. .

Other bidders on behalf of their clients feel that the price being quoted by BCCI for its IPL property is too steep considering it is a nascent concept in the country. Mr Shailendra Singh, Joint MD, Percept Holdings, says, “IPL as a product still has to prove itself and the bids have been hugely priced. The product has to be first tested before being priced so heavily and it is just hype and excitement that has been created around it.” With clients such as DLF and the Sahara Group, Percept is being cautious about investing in the BCCI-promoted IPL.

However, sources close to the bidding process feel that it would be the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) which might end up becoming the title sponsor. Having lost out on the team franchise bids earlier, there is a strong possibility of the ADAG coming back as the title sponsor. Mr Rajesh Sawhney, President, Reliance Entertainment (ADAG Group), said, “We are looking at bidding for the title sponsorship and will decide shortly.”

‘Driven by owners’

In fact, more than the management it is the company owners who are deciding on the IPL bids.

As Mr Ajit Varghese, Managing Director, Maxus (the media agency for IPL), observes, “The decision to bid is being driven by the owner of the company rather than the management as there is a lot of pride and ego involved in bagging these rights. The big owners can’t help being involved with the big things in life as the game of cricket is hotting up.”

The minimum bid price has been set at $6 million. BCCI would be announcing the winner of the title sponsorship on February 13.

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