)
Midfielder Ramandeep Singh, 20, has become the highest paid player for the next season of the Hero Hockey India League (HIL). The Uttar Pradesh Wizards franchise got him for $81,000 (Rs 50.9 lakh) at the auction on Friday, 300 per cent over the base price of $2,600 (Rs 1.6 lakh). The second season of the league is scheduled to be played between January 25 and February 23, 2014.
Ramandeep, from a village in Amritsar, will walk away with $162,000 at the end of the third season of the HIL in 2015. “His life is set to change with this,” said an official associated with the sport. He beat Sardar Singh, team captain, who was taken last season for the highest price any Indian hockey player had seen till then, at $78,000.
Ryan Archibald of New Zealand has gone for the second highest amount in Friday’s closed bid, at $71,000.
The top billing remains with Dutch player Teun de Nooijer, who was had for $87,400 in the first season of the league. Uttar Pradesh Wizards was the bidder.
Ramandeep, employed with Punjab and Sind Bank, made a mark during the Asia Cup in September with his top score. He’s coached by Olympian Balwinder Shammi.
Vidur Naik, executive vice-president, marketing, Twenty First Century Media Pvt Ltd, the exclusive marketing and commercial partner for HIL, says the young player is fond of music and movies, when there’s time after practice. Does he have a girlfriend? “That’s unlikely, given his schedule,” a team associate laughs. There’s no time or inclination for higher education, either!
Indeed, hockey is now about serious money. The money spent by six franchisees in the latest auction was $1.37 million (Rs 8.6 crore) and the bid amount for the three seasons totals $12 mn.
Kalinga Lancers from Odisha, the franchise which took Archibald, bought 24 players in all. Welcoming them, Hockey India secretary general and HIL chairman Narinder Batra, said: “it is great to see that promising junior players have been bought by franchises at higher than expected amounts, which is a good sign for the future of Indian hockey.”
Of a total of 154 players available, 49 were bagged by six franchisees—Kalinga Lancers 24, Dabur Mumbai Magicians 11, Jaypee Punjab Warriors 5, UP Wizards 4, Delhi Waveriders 4, Ranchi Rhinos 1.
While cricket is still way ahead in advertising and viewership money, the Indian Badminton League (IBL) and the Hockey India League together managed to raise around Rs 170 crore of broadcaster revenues. That’s an estimated fifth of cricket’s Indian Premier League (IPL) earnings.
HIL in the previous season was telecast in 146 countries and total viewership was 69.7 mn, including 41.4 million for India. As for Facebook likes, it was 110,000 for IBL and 544,000 for the hockey league. While the latter had an average viewership of 1.59 mn a day in the 26-day tournament, badminton had an average 1.2 mn viewership. The average viewership of IPL-6 was 3.5 mn a day.
Ramandeep, from a village in Amritsar, will walk away with $162,000 at the end of the third season of the HIL in 2015. “His life is set to change with this,” said an official associated with the sport. He beat Sardar Singh, team captain, who was taken last season for the highest price any Indian hockey player had seen till then, at $78,000.
Ryan Archibald of New Zealand has gone for the second highest amount in Friday’s closed bid, at $71,000.
| A NEW TREND |
|
The top billing remains with Dutch player Teun de Nooijer, who was had for $87,400 in the first season of the league. Uttar Pradesh Wizards was the bidder.
Ramandeep, employed with Punjab and Sind Bank, made a mark during the Asia Cup in September with his top score. He’s coached by Olympian Balwinder Shammi.
Vidur Naik, executive vice-president, marketing, Twenty First Century Media Pvt Ltd, the exclusive marketing and commercial partner for HIL, says the young player is fond of music and movies, when there’s time after practice. Does he have a girlfriend? “That’s unlikely, given his schedule,” a team associate laughs. There’s no time or inclination for higher education, either!
Indeed, hockey is now about serious money. The money spent by six franchisees in the latest auction was $1.37 million (Rs 8.6 crore) and the bid amount for the three seasons totals $12 mn.
Kalinga Lancers from Odisha, the franchise which took Archibald, bought 24 players in all. Welcoming them, Hockey India secretary general and HIL chairman Narinder Batra, said: “it is great to see that promising junior players have been bought by franchises at higher than expected amounts, which is a good sign for the future of Indian hockey.”
Of a total of 154 players available, 49 were bagged by six franchisees—Kalinga Lancers 24, Dabur Mumbai Magicians 11, Jaypee Punjab Warriors 5, UP Wizards 4, Delhi Waveriders 4, Ranchi Rhinos 1.
While cricket is still way ahead in advertising and viewership money, the Indian Badminton League (IBL) and the Hockey India League together managed to raise around Rs 170 crore of broadcaster revenues. That’s an estimated fifth of cricket’s Indian Premier League (IPL) earnings.
HIL in the previous season was telecast in 146 countries and total viewership was 69.7 mn, including 41.4 million for India. As for Facebook likes, it was 110,000 for IBL and 544,000 for the hockey league. While the latter had an average viewership of 1.59 mn a day in the 26-day tournament, badminton had an average 1.2 mn viewership. The average viewership of IPL-6 was 3.5 mn a day.
