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After the cash-rich annual T20 cricket tournament, Indian Premier League (IPL), it’s football that has caught the fancy of Bollywood stars, former cricketers and corporate leaders. Among winning bidders for the eight Indian Super League (ISL) football teams, announced on Saturday, were actors Ranbir Kapoor, John Abraham and Salman Khan; former Indian cricket team captains Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly; and industrialists Harshavardhan Neotia, Sanjeev Goenka and Venugopal Dhoot.
The winners of franchises for the football league, promoted by IMG-Reliance and STAR India and scheduled to kick off in September this year, were named after evaluation of bids by a seven-member panel.
Tendulkar bagged the Kochi franchise along with PVP Ventures, which also owns a team in the Indian Badminton League. Ganguly, who bid as part of a consortium with Spanish League giants Atletico Madrid and businessmen Harshavardhan Neotia, Sanjeev Goenka and Utsav Parekh, won the Kolkata franchise.
| BIG-GAME HUNTERS |
Winners of the eight ISL franchises
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The remaining three teams went to TV networks. Sameer Manchanda-led Den Network won the Delhi team, Sun Group (which also owns the Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL team) got the Bangalore franchise and a consortium of Videocon’s Venugopal Dhoot, Dattaraj Salgaocar and Shrinivas V Dempo bagged the Goa team.
According to a source close to IMG-Reliance and STAR India, the average annual franchise cost of an ISL team will be Rs 15 crore, 25 per cent more than the base price. While the franchise fees for the winning bids are not known, sources close to the development said the territories like Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata and Pune could have got a hefty premium on the base price of Rs 12 crore a year.
An All India Football Federation source said: “Besides paying a premium for the Kolkata franchise, the winning consortium had added a huge value to its bid with Sourav Ganguly’s name. The consortium paid a premium of more than 20 per cent.” The source added that the Pune franchise, too, was on the top of many bidders’ wishlist.
Videocon Group CMD Dhoot said: “We felt football was a great way to increase the visibility of our corporate brand. It is a mass sport that is gaining traction among the country’s youth and gives us a chance to engage with them more.” He added Goa was a logical choice, as the game was very popular there and the local talent was very promising. Dhoot roped in partners Salgaocar and Shrinivas with his personal equations with both.
A comparison with IPL shows the football league has got a better initial response. While IPL had managed to get 11 bidders for eight franchises at the time of its launch, ISL received 18 bids for an equal number of teams.
In terms of value generated, the average annual investment of each franchise in the first edition of IPL was Rs 36.18 crore (at 2008 dollar-rupee exchange rate). For the 2014 (seventh) edition, at the current exchange rate, the annual investment comes to Rs 58.17 crore. It might seem, on this parameter, ISL’s Rs 15 crore falls short of IPL. But in a country where cricket is considered a religion, the considerable interest and monies ISL has attracted from investors seems commendable.
Of the 11 IPL bidders, the eight winners were awarded franchises at different base prices. The total base price for the eight teams was $400 million for ten years (roughly Rs 2,400 crore). The total franchise fee after the initial bidding was $723.6 million, 80.9 per cent higher than the combined base price set by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
In the case of the other sport leagues — the Hero Hockey India League, the Indian Badminton League and the Pro Kabaddi League — the promoters met interested parties and decided to allot franchises to the best-suited contenders. Unlike IPL or ISL, there was no formal bidding in these leagues. The average price for owning a badminton or hockey team was Rs 2-4 crore a year, while that for a kabaddi team was Rs 1.5-1.7 crore.
In the case of Mahesh Bhupathi’s International Premier Tennis League, there is no clarity yet on the bidding process and identity of the four team owners. Sources at the league, however, say an announcement could be expected soon.
Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, who owns Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL’s Kolkata franchise, had also made it known he would like to own a football team. But things, apparently, did not work out for him this time. According to sources, Abhishek Bachchan had also bought a bid document. Though he did not bag a football team, he recently invested in the Pro Kabaddi League’s Jaipur team.
The football league, announced late last year, is a joint venture between IMG-Reliance (70 per cent) and Star India (30 per cent). The promoters had called for bids in the first week of March and interested parties were asked to pick up the tender documents for Rs 5 lakh and submit proposals by March 27. As many as 30 tender documents were taken and 18 bids made. The base price for bidding was set at Rs 12 crore a year for 10 years.
Venugopal Dhoot, chairman and managing director, Videocon said, "We felt that football is a great way to increase the visibility of our corporate brand. It is a sport that is gaining traction among the youth across the country and gives us a chance to engage with them more." He adds that Goa was a logical choice since the game is very popular there and the local talent is very promising. Dhoot roped in partners Salgaonkar and Shrinivas since he has personal equations with both of them. Videocon had also bid for a franchise from Chennai, which was the ninth city in contention for team in the ISL.
WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY“The Indian Super League presents an opportunity to develop a platform for youngsters to learn and enhance their talent to develop into outstanding players”
SACHIN TENDULKAR
Former cricketer - Kochi team
“We are happy to get the Kolkata franchise as the city has a rich football history. For the first two or three seasons we may not see a profit but the property has great future”
HARSH NEOTIA
Chairman of Ambuja Neotia Group — Kolkata team
"It is a moment of great pride for me to be a part of the Indian Super League and to represent Mumbai. Football has never been far away from my daily life since childhood"
RANBIR KAPOOR
Actor — Mumbai team
