Mohit Burman, who hails from the family that owns the Dabur Group of companies, and co-owns IPL team Kings XI Punjab along with Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia and Karan Paul, discusses the team’s revenues, sponsorship strategy and other investments in sports leagues. Excerpts:

How has the year been for Kings XI Punjab in terms of sponsorship revenue?

This year has not been good for many teams for sponsorships as the environment is not very good. But we were lucky.

Historically, the team has been in the middle of the league, barring the first year.

Last year, the team did very well and this helped us retain most of our sponsors at much better prices. Also, we had an advantage as we did not tinker much with the team.

A lot of advertisers are in the ‘wait and watch’ mode because they don’t know the composition of the team. We didn’t really change much and that made most sponsors renew their deal.

Sponsors seem to be returning for longer deals. How have sponsorship revenue grown? Do you see any viewership fatigue?

Some of the controversies in the past were a cause of concern for advertisers.

A lot of companies did not mind associating with any team and waited for last-minute deals. We have struck some two-year deals this time.

We have seen a 30 per cent rise in sponsorship revenue this year and have signed up nearly 21 sponsors. There are not many forms of entertainment for middle class households who want to take their kids out for an evening at affordable ticket prices. Also, there is no viewership fatigue. The stadiums are full.

What kind of profits are you looking at? Have matches in Pune helped grow revenues?

Two years back, we broke even. Last year, we made profits of about ₹15 crore.

This year, too, we expect profits in a similar range. Our vision is to wipe out all our accumulated losses over the past years. It all depends on where you play. We cannot have all seven matches in Mohali, as people do not have the paying capacity for tickets, and further, it is challenging to sell tickets for corporate boxes. Dharamshala is challenging because of the logistics, and the stadium has a smaller capacity. In Mohali, we earn about ₹1.5 crore in ticket sales, in Pune we earned about ₹3 crore this year, while in Dharmashala we have made about ₹90 lakh in ticket sales. Additionally in Pune, there has been pent up demand, so we factored in all this. We plan to continue playing in two stadiums.

The teams play for about two months. Is sustaining the business throughout the year a challenge?

There is contemplation going on about replacing the Champions League T20 with something else, as unfortunately, revenues earned from the Champions League T20 are not much.

Yet, there has to be an incentive for winning the IPL. I believe the league should be played outside every two-three years to give IPL a global appeal.

What are your plans for future investments in other sports?

I will review all my other sports investments this year. Hockey may be the national sport, but none of the schools play hockey. We have some plans for football, which will be finalised in the next few months.

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