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Entertainment tax on IPL tickets will impact revenues but teams have to live with it, say the owners of the Chennai Super Kings team.
Mr Gurunath Meiyappan, owner of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), admitted ticket revenues will take a hit due to the tax.
Mr Rakesh Singh, Joint President – Marketing, India Cements, which owns the CSK team, said: “Taxes are a huge cost for us but it is a reality we have to live with. Most cities have this tax. As far as ticket pricing goes, we have tried to increase prices in some categories and reduced in some.”
The Tamil Nadu government this year announced an entertainment tax of 25 per cent on the ticket value.
CSK clocked gross revenues of Rs 140 crore last year. This year it is hoping for a 15-20 per cent rise.
The team has long-term sponsorship partnerships with Aircel, Amrapali and Gulf. This year it added Life Ok, an entertainment TV channel, at a premium.
For non-sponsorship revenue, CSK is banking on merchandise sales. It will field an entire apparel range at various price points across 380 outlets in Tamil Nadu. The team is also opening a store at the Chennai airport soon.
CSK recently announced a mascot-naming competition which has seen 54,000 entries. The team will soon announce a mascot voice hunt; the winning voice will be used in short animation videos.
On the dip in the brand value of IPL and cricket in general, Mr Meiyappan said: “After the world cup, there was a peaking interest in cricket. But it is not possible to go at that rate always. Interest will pick up again. It's a cycle.”
Ahead of IPL-5, Mr Meiyappan hopes CSK performs from the word go and does not get into a last-minute scramble for the top slot, like in the past. At the auctions in Bangalore, CSK bagged all-rounder Ravinder Jadeja for a whopping $2-million. “He will make a big difference to our camp,” said Mr Meiyappan.
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