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Amit Mitra

Mumbai Sept. 26 The recent turmoil in global financial markets does not appear to have queered the pitch for advertisers to pitch in their lot for the Champions League T20 event that will kick off in India on December 3. It will feature eight teams from India, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan and England.

ESPN-Star Network, which bagged the 10-year commercial rights for the inter-club tournament for $975 million, says it has registered a “tremendous” response from both Indian and foreign companies in terms of advertisement.

“We have not felt the impact of the recent events in world financial markets in terms of advertisers’ response. We believe that the response will set new benchmarks,” Mr Manu Sawhney, Managing Director of ESPN STAR Sports, told Business Line on the sidelines of a function to mark the launch of the event’s logo here.

The network, which has short-listed about 10 companies, including Indian and MNCs, for the title sponsor, expects to finalise the deal within a few weeks.

Without naming the companies in the race for the title sponsorship, Mr Sawhney said the companies that are bidding are across five to six sectors such as telecom, mobile hand-set, beverages and white goods. Negotiations are on with the short-listed companies and the title sponsorship may emerge after a final round of bidding.

The ESPN-STAR deal makes the tournament the highest valued cricket event on a per-game basis, according to the organisers that comprise the Australian, Indian and South African cricket boards. Also, this is for the first time that a network has been awarded the entire package of commercial rights, ranging from ground and broadcast sponsors to umpire and on-line sponsors.

ESPN STAR, owned jointly by Mr Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and Walt Disney, has designed several packages for sponsorship that clubs different categories. “As for the title sponsor, it may not be for the complete ten-year period and, instead, it could be on a multiple-year basis,” Mr Sawhney said.

The eight teams will be playing 15 matches between December 3 and 10 at Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, where the finals will be held. They will contest for a $6-million team prize money.

Mr Lalit Modi, Chairman of the Champions League, said he was for the domestic IPL teams to go public and get listed on the stock exchange, as there will be more shareholders and investors.

He said one of the teams had sought his opinion on going public and he had responded in the affirmative. “I am for all teams going public. There is a dilution provision in the contract, which has to be followed,” he said.

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