“It is an excellent platform to enhance our brand and I can promise you it will be a kingsize premier event. This happens abroad all the time, but in India, it is happening for the first time, and we are all very excited,” Mallya told BrandLine on the sidelines of a press conference held by the UB group to announce its tie-up with Geneva-based watchmaker Hublot, a day after the bidding for the IPL teams.

The brainchild of the Board for Control of Cricket in India, IPL was formed as a sub-committee under a governing council, chaired by Lalit Modi. It is modelled on the English Premier League (EPL), which is the richest football league in the world, according to a BBC report.

“In 2001, the Premier League made £1 billion from the sale of domestic TV rights and £178 million from overseas (media) rights. For the current contract, which runs until 2010, the domestic rights cost £1.7 billion and the foreign rights had leapt to £625 million,” said the report.

The IPL, in its first year, has attracted $1.026 billion in media and production rights from Sony Entertainment Television (SET) Max and World Sport Group (WSG) for 10 years from 2008 to 2017. In comparison, the amount might seem less, but the IPL is expected to be a money-spinner as the tournament matures. From the BCCI to the franchisees, everybody is looking at it as a viable competitive business opportunity.

“The IPL is not a few days’, weeks’ or months’ association for us. We are into it, from now to perpetuity,” said R. Balachandran, President & Chief Marketing Officer, Reliance Retail Ltd. “We studied the revenue model before we went in for bidding and IPL as a venture provides an opportunity of involvement which is deeper than simply sponsoring a team,” he said.

The BCCI will have an advisory role to play in the IPL and will stand to gain monetarily too. It will get 20 per cent of the total media rights after all expenses (promotion, telecast, and so on) have been incurred, said Prof Ratnakar Shetty, Chief Administrative Officer, BCCI, explaining the revenue model of the IPL. The remaining 80 per cent of the media rights will be divided amongst the eight franchisees.

The franchisees will be spending a combined amount of $723.6 million over a period of 10 years to own the teams. “Of the franchisee rights, 30 per cent goes directly to BCCI’s gross revenues while 70 per cent will go to the 27 State associations of the BCCI,” said Prof Shetty. Each of the BCCI affiliates will receive around Rs 7.5 crore in the first year of the IPL.

The sponsorship rights won by DLF for $50 million and co-sponsor Hero Honda for a reported sum of $ 4.5 million will be shared in the ratio of 60:40 between the franchisees and the BCCI, respectively.

“The other expenses, such as travel and accommodation of the players, will have to be borne by the franchisees. It will be coordinated centrally by sports marketing agency IMG,” said Prof Shetty.

With so much money at stake, BCCI is not relying just on the nature of the game to see it through. “The format of IPL is also to bet on the entertainment value of the game. Just as in the EPL, we will have pre-match events, food outlets, and such around the stadiums,” he said. All this will go towards building a strong base of domestic supporters for the new format of Twenty20 cricket. If it works out, and each of the franchisees is able to create an audience support base, the IPL will be able to scale the heights achieved by the EPL.

“We will bring the game to the level of the EPL in the next two to three years. By pricing the tickets correctly and hosting pre-tournament events, the franchisees will be able to create the right atmosphere,” he said.

“Cricket is a religion in our country. It is bigger than the Union of European Football Associations. So there is no reason that with the right marketing touch this will not be successful. It’s breaking news on all channels, it is on the front pages of all our newspapers and is the topic of discussion whereever you go,” said Lalit Modi, Chairman, IPL.

The eight franchisees - Reliance India Ltd (Mumbai), Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment (Kolkata), India Cements (Chennai), Vijay Mallya of UB Group (Bangalore), GMR Holdings (Delhi), Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad), Preity Zinta & Ness Wadia (Mohali) and Emerging Media (Jaipur) – are a mix of corporate and entertainment ventures. The groups come with a brand quotient of their own and the challenge for them will be to promote and develop support for their individual teams. As Balachandran said, “Reliance is the first brand, Sachin the second, and the third brand in our kitty is Mumbai city. Our catchment area is large, and we are happy that we got the most sought after location. It will help us connect with the people and we will start building it in year one itself.”

The franchisees will have ample opportunity to engage with the spectator, what with them holding the rights for the merchandising, gate ticket sales and T-shirt rights within the stadiums too. They will also rely heavily on the players’ own popularity to build the brand-connect.

As the frenzy of bidding for the players is settling down, all eyes are now on the selection of the six associate sponsors who will join DLF and Hero Honda. The Indian Premier League is a heady combination of cricket loyalty and brand building, which anybody and everybody with a bit of money is ready to bet on. At least as of now.

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