Wadhawan Holdings Private Limited, the leading business house with interests in diverse sectors like Real estate, Financial services, Retail, Hospitality, Infrastructure and Education has recently entered in Sri Lanka via acquiring a franchise in the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL). It owns Wayamba United, the North Western Province franchise of the league.
Gaurav Modwel, CEO of Wadhawan Holdings spoke with Gaurav Laghate about the reason behind Wadhawan Group's interest in the SLPL.
With such diverse interests ranging from real estate to financial services to hospitality, why did you decide to enter in the sports segment? What is the reason behind acquiring team in the SLPL?
We are interested in expanding our businesses. The Sri Lankan economy is looking up and we have been thinking of expanding our hospitality and financial services business in the country when we heard about the Sri Lanka Premier League.
Unlike Indian Premier League (IPL), SLPL is not very costly affair and cricket affinity is equally big in the country. So we decided to pick up a franchise. And if you see, this is not the first time that we have been associated with sports, our group is one of the main sponsors of the Mumbai Indians (IPL's Mumbai franchise) and have also sponsored Australian team Victoria Bush Rangers and New Zealand cricket team.
Idea is to build our brand equity by the way of sports and launch other businesses.
Your team Wayamba United also did very well in the tourney. What is the total investment and when do you see a breakeven?
We acquired the team for $5.02mn for seven years, which is also the highest for any of the franchise in the competition. Over that, $2.5 million is approximate operating cost per year. We did not recover money from any media rights or otherwise, but we do expect to make money in 3 years. This year, you also have to understand, that we didn’t have much time to prepare as the opportunity came in at a very short notice.
And we are excited because the team did very well in the inaugural SLPL. We topped the table winning five of the six league matches and qualified for the semi-finals. Though we could not make it to the finals, our points and average is still highest. Mahela Jayawardene, the skipper of the team is also the icon player and we have a good balance of young and experienced players, including seven international players.
Its five years but IPL franchise owners are still not making money. What makes you think that SLPL will have better prospects?
Though SLPL is very similar to the IPL, its size is one by fiftieth of what IPL is. Also, it has 7 teams and each team plays with the other team only once so the total number of matches are just 21.
Moreover, here we don't have players auction like IPL. We have a draft base system which keeps the cost under control.
IPL is struggling commercially because only the league owners are benefiting. All the league owners should understand that any league will only grow when the franchise owners also make some money.
So what do you think is the main challenge ahead for SLPL and your team?
First fight is to increase the seven year contract to 15 years. Whoever comes and invests money, look at a larger horizon and should remain interested in investing. Seven years is too small for that.
You also got good support from fans?
It was amazing. Typically in case our team was playing, 8,000-10,000 fans used to come to watch, almost 80% of the crowd in the stadium. If we were not playing, the stadiums were deserted. The main reason was that we invested our energies to build a fan base for Wayamba United from the grassroot level.
We partnered with local colleges and orgnisations and connected with the under-14, under-16 cricket teams. Going ahead, we will fund the local teams to nurture talent. Our message is simple – we are there for our fans.
Eventually, we know that it would help build the Wadhawan brand in Sri Lanka and help us grow other businesses in the country.
But there are challenges of viewership and players?
Population of Sri Lanka is very small. So the viewership has to be created in a nation like India. The financial model has not been cracked yet. Moreover not just talent, getting international players and crowd is also a big challenge.
Now when similar league model is also explored in other countries, including US, will you be interested in acquiring teams in other leagues?
We will definitely explore US Premier League and other such leagues being planned in New Zealand, West Indies and Pakistan.
