Sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports, the telecast rights holder for the Champions League’s inaugural Twenty20 club-cricket tournament, which was postponed in the aftermath of terror attacks in Mumbai, may have the option to treat the next ICC Champions League tournament in 2009 as the first event of the 10-year annual club-cricket championship.
Also, if the India tour to Pakistan scheduled for January 2009 does not take place, the Champions League may get re-scheduled, said industry sources.
“However, after January, it would be hard to slot Champions League and the next year’s tournament may get counted as the first of the 10-year deal,” a source said.
At least, Rs 280 crore of ad-revenue was expected from the first Champions League tournament for which ESPN Star Sports paid $975 million as the telecast rights fee for the next 10 years. It was expecting to recover more than half of Rs 430 crore (Rs 4,300 crore for 10 years) from the inaugural tournament from advertising revenue, ticket sales, among other options.
As per the decided schedule, the week-long tournament would have kicked off in Mumbai from today. But due to the terror attack on Mumbai last week, the tournament was postponed indefinetly.
“A meeting of the organising body may happen soon and as we understand, the Champions League has been postponed, and not cancelled. Of course, there are provisions that will safeguard us and that will be taken up by our Singapore office with the people concerned,” said R C Venkateish, MD, ESPN Software India, the company that operates ESPN, Star Sports and Star Cricket in India.
According to the estimates of senior media planners, amidst the slowdown in advertising spends, ESPN would still have managed to make between Rs 200 crore and Rs 280 crore from advertising alone. Now, even advertisers are watching the developments.