The India Cements-owned Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings (CSK) said here it is expecting a 15-20 per cent growth in the revenue during the coming season, which is starting on April 4. The growth is due to the increase in sponsorship and from its merchandise sales.
Rakesh Singh, vice president-marketing, CSK, said in the last season the team had clocked revenues of around Rs 140 crore and during the upcoming season, this would increase 15-20 per cent.
“The increase in sponsorship, increase in cost of tickets and sales of merchandise are the primary reasons for the increase.” He declined to comment on specifics. The team roped in two more new sponsors including LifeOk, a new Hindi entertainment channel and Washington Apple, for the first time a fruit brand affiliated with an IPL team.
The existing sponsors include AirCel, Gulf Oil, TI Cycles, Mansion House, Reebok, The Hindu, UniverCell, Café Coffee Day and Hello FM.
Some of the merchandise the team sells include caps, shorts, T-Shirts, 3-D mugs, sports bottle and others. “We will also now focus on fashion and lifestyle brands, including CSK ties, polo apparels along with others in non-CSK yellow colours,” he said.
Last year, the team clocked around Rs 2.5 crore from the sale of merchandise through Reebok and another Rs 1 crore from CSK’s merchandise partner Cool Maal. “We are expecting around three times this during the upcoming season,” said Singh.
“We will increase our presence in tier-II towns like Tiruchy, Madurai, Tirnueveli and other towns in the state,” he said.
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CSK is planning to partially pass on the entertainment tax which was recently announced by the Tamil Nadu government. It may be noted, in September last year, the state government introduced a bill in which it proposed to levy a 25 per cent entertainment tax for IPL matches on the total sum of cash including the tax amount paid, for getting permission to hold the T20 matches (as part of the IPL) in Chennai.
Rakesh Singh, vice president-marketing, CSK, said, “We are planning for some rearrangements in the ticket cost structure by which we will partially pass on the burden to the fans.