Despite the Supreme Court allowing Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings to be a part of IPL-7, image experts and media planners believe that with the brand tarnished, advertisers will push for bargain deals.

“It is going to be a fractured league, low on credibility and image. The contest will be in question and the brand and economics of the league will be impacted,” said Shailendra Singh, Joint MD of Percept Ltd.

However, this will be positive for advertisers, who will drive a hard bargain, said Jagdeep Kapoor, CMD of Samsika Marketing, a marketing consulting firm.

Hard negotiations ahead

“We expect sponsorship budgets to be reduced by 30-40 per cent as companies will negotiate hard with the organisers,” said Kapoor. He, however, felt that as a brand, the IPL would grow stronger with high viewership, saying it offers both sports and entertainment.

Others are not so sure. Realty company, Supertech, which has been a sponsor of Rajasthan Royals since 2011, said it would evaluate its decision to be associated with the IPL. “These sponsorships are just a medium for advertising and the medium should be clean. We will only be sponsoring once we know the actual situation in the next few days,” said Mohit Arora, Director, Supertech.

On the other hand, Cosmetics company L’Oreal, which has been associated with Rajasthan Royals and Hyderabad Sunrisers, remains unfazed. “We are grooming partners and our association will continue,” a L’Oreal spokesperson said.

However, Sanjoy Chakrabarty, Managing Partner of Zenithoptimedia, said engagement levels of viewers is expected to come down.

Poor timing

Marketing consultant Lloyd Mathias said that factors such as elections, credibility of the IPL and its administration, and scheduling of the tournament right after the T20 World Cup could be a challenge for the league.

According to brand valuation consultancy firm Brand Finance, the T20 league’s brand value was worth $3.03 billion in 2013.

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