Definition of “Commercialization”

The process by which a new product or service is introduced into the general market. Commercialization is broken into phases, from the initial introduction of the product through its mass production and adoption. It takes into account the production, distribution, marketing, sales and customer support required to achieve commercial success. As a strategy, commercialization requires that a business develop a marketing plan, determine how the product will be supplied to the market and anticipate barriers to success.

What is Commercialization of Sports?

 The commercialization of sports is that aspect of the sports enterprise that involves the sale, display, or use of sport or some aspect of sport so as to produce income, in course to make the sport better, with more world-class facilities.

When India won the first world cup of cricket in 1983 then the prize money was 14.3 lacks but in 2011 the prize money was 13.8 cores because the sponsored form all around the world contribute for the cricket world cup. This sum of money indicates that the cricket has progressed lot in field of commercialization. The all credit goes to the spectators that love cricket more than thoughts.

Purpose:

IPL is one of the biggest cricket tournaments of the world. There is a lot happening behind the scenes. The money, fame, fans; all make IPL larger than life.

So, what makes IPL such a Huge Brand? What are the investments behind it?

How teams make a profit? How do the brands associated with them gains?

These economics behind the IPL make me think & fascinate about it.

This is the reason why I took this project.

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Indian Premier League ( IPL ): An Introduction:

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a Twenty20 cricket championship league in India. It was initiated by Lalit Modi and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), after an altercation between the BCCI and the Indian Cricket League. The league is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, and is currently supervised by BCCI Vice-President Ranjib Biswal, who serves as the league's chairman and Commissioner. It is contested by nine teams as of 2013, consisting of players from around the cricketing world.

The Premier League is generally considered to be the highest-profile showcase in the world for Twenty20 (T20) cricket, the shortest form of professional cricket with just 20 over's per innings, but the IPL is perhaps as well known for its commercial success as for the cricket played – during the sixth IPL season, in 2013, its brand value was estimated to be around US$2.99 billion.

Live rights to the event are syndicated around the globe, and in 2010, the IPL became the first sporting event to be broadcast live on YouTube. In 2012 the naming rights for the series was awarded to Pepsi. Two eligible bids were received, with Pepsi winning over Airtel with a bid of 3968 million. However, the league has been the subject of several controversies where

allegations of cricket betting, money laundering and spot fixing were witnessed.

The income of BCCI over a period of 5-10 year is in US billion dollars. Previously, The about television right was purchased by Sony Entertainment and World sports group for 10 year in US $ 1.91 million. The biggest Indian property developer DLF group paid US$50 million to the title sponsorship of the tournament for 3 years from 2008 to 2010. The company likes Hero Honda deal in $22.5 million, PepsiCo deal in $12.01 billion, Kingfisher deal in $26.5 million.    The IPL negotiated a contract with the Canadian company Live Current Media Inc. to run and operate its portals and the minimum guarantee has been negotiated at US $50 million over the next 10 years. The official website of the tournament is www.iplt20.com. DCI Mobile Studios (A division of Dot Com Infoway Limited), in conjunction with Sigma Ventures of Singapore, have jointly acquired the rights to be the exclusive mobile application partner and rights holder for the Indian Premier League cricket matches worldwide for the next 8 years.

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History of IPL:

The IPL is a Twenty20 cricket tournament which was inaugurated in 2008. Twenty20 cricket was first introduced at a competitive level by the England and Wales cricket board in 2003 but the Indian Premier League is largely credited with being the institution that projected the format of the game onto the world stage.

The Indian Premier League was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and has been an enormous success. The annual tournament played in the months of April and May has gone from strength to strength and is largely viewed as being the 'richest' tournament in world cricket.

There are the eight franchises that field teams to play in the IPL (in brackets original cost of franchise in $/million):

Chennai Super Kings, CSK (91) Delhi Daredevils, DD (84) Kings XI Punjab, KXIP (76) Kolkata Knight Riders, KKR (75.1) Mumbai Indians, MI (111.9) Rajasthan Royals, RR (67) Royal Challengers Bangalore, RCB (111.6) Sunrisers Hyderabad, SRH (159)

The following three teams have played in the IPL but due to financial constraints have ceased to exist:

Kochi Tuskers Kerala, KTK (333) Deccan Chargers, DC (107) Pune Warriors India, PWI (370)

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The tournament has been won by five different teams:

2008 Final: Chennai Super Kings vs. Rajasthan Royals; Winner: Rajasthan Royals

2009 Final: Deccan Chargers vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore; Winner: Deccan Chargers

2010 Final: Mumbai Indians vs. Chennai Super Kings; Winner: Chennai Super Kings

2011 Final: Chennai Super Kings vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore; Winner: Chennai Super Kings

2012 Final: Chennai Super Kings vs. Kolkata Knight Riders; Winner: Kolkata Knight Riders

2013 Final: Mumbai Indians vs. Chennai Super Kings ; Winner : Mumbai Indians

As evident from above, the Chennai Super Kings are the most successful side in the history of the IPL, being winner twice and reaching the finals five times edging over their rivals Mumbai Indians who have won it once and are current IPL Champion.

Until 2012, the Indian Premier League was sponsored by DLF after they paid $50 million for the five year sponsorship. Pepsi will take over the contract for the 2013 IPL after paying close to 4 billion rupees for the 5 year contract.

In 2008, Sony paid $1 billion for the broadcasting rights over a ten year period. The IPL is watched across the world and in 2012 made history by becoming the first sporting event to be broadcast live on YouTube.

The Indian Premier League has had its controversies over the year, with Lalit Modi being suspended as chairman and Commissioner of the IPL on 2 April 2010 for what were deemed “alleged acts of independent misdemeanors”. Recently the player Mohnis Mishra was suspended from the game after becoming embroiled in a match fixing scandal during the 2012 tournament.

The tournament is the largest, best known and most prestigious Twenty20 tournament in cricket.

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Franchises:

The winning bidders for the eight franchises were announced on 24 January 2008. While the total base price for auction was US$400 million, the auction fetched US$723.59 million.

On 21 March 2010, teams from Pune & Kochi were unveiled as the two new franchises for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League. The base price was $225 million. While Pune was bought by Sahara Adventure Sports Group for $370 million, the Kochi franchise was bought by Rendezvous Sports World Limited for $333.3 million. The process was to have been completed on 7 March but was postponed by two weeks after many bidders and the BCCI objected to stiff financial clauses. The second franchise auction fetched total $703 million.

The rights to the Hyderabad franchise were awarded to the Sun TV Network in October 2012.

Mode of selection by each Teams & Tournament rules:

There are five ways that a franchise can acquire a player: In the annual auction, signing domestic players, signing uncapped players, through trading, and signing replacements. In the trading window, the player can only be traded with his consent. The franchise will have to pay the difference between the old contract price and the new contract price. If the new contract is worth more than the older one, then the difference will be shared between the player and the franchise selling the player.

Some of the team composition rules are:

Minimum squad strength of 16 players plus one physiotherapist and a coach. No more than 11 foreign players in the squad and maximum of four foreign players

should be in the playing eleven. A minimum of 14 Indian players must be included in each squad. A minimum of six players from the BCCI under-22 pool in each squad.

The total spending cap for a franchisee in the first player auction was US$5 million. Under-22 players are to be remunerated with a minimum annual salary of US$20,000 while for others it is US$50,000.

Highest paid player’s in Season 1 (2008):

The auctions were conducted on 20 February 2008 with Mahendra Singh Dhoni winning the highest bid of US$1.5 million.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India) – Chennai Super Kings – 1500000 USD Andrew Symonds (Australia) – Deccan Chargers - 1350000 USD Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) – Mumbai Indians – 975000 USD Ishant Sharma (India) – Kokata Knight Riders – 950000 USD Jacques Kallis (South Africa) – Royal Challengers Bangalore – 900000 USD

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Conceptual Framework:

IPL Cricket Facts, Statistics & Trends: (IPL Season 6)

Revenue and Soaring Viewership of IPL 6 Cricket season:

Though the IPL 6 has observed a setback due to some of the recent controversies, the revenue continues to paint a rosy picture.

The hike in ad rates has led to speculation of MSM (Multi Screen Media) raking in ad revenues of above Rs 800 crore.

With IPL being a highly evaluated property, brands such as Godrej launched a series of new TVCs to create maximum buzz. Though the advertising revenues have caught on towards the second half, the starting ad rates were much lower than that of IPL 5 in 2012.

The viewership statistics and trends seen till the 38th match in IPL 6 2013 (which is fifty percent of the IPL6) are staggering, so much so that no other live event has ever created this kind of reach in India.

IPL online across both boxtv.com & youtube.com/indiatimes combined recorded a 52% growth viewership over 2012 (75.2M vs 49.3M last year.).

The combined viewership of users watching highlights and clips saw a whopping 480% growth in watch hours over 2012.

Highlight and clips of Chris Gayle and Pollard seem to be attracting more netizens eyeball as the two together saw massive 480% growth in watch hours over 2012.

In India Bangalore and Hyderabad lead the viewership with 14 % each while Delhi stood at #2 with 10% viewership. Though TAM (Televisions Audience Measurement) data for April 30 (Day 28 of IPL) showed YouTube slipping next to Espn cricinfo. Surprisingly, WAM data kept Google out from top five lists, which essentially means loss in traffic related to IPL keywords.

Though the online viewership for IPL6 has been steadily increasing, its interesting to note that the television consumption for IPL has been gradually slipping. According to TAM data, while the online viewership has been pegged at 52 per cent, the television viewership has observed a sharp decline of around 13.6 per cent as compared to last year’s numbers.

According to research experts, the drop in television viewership of IPL is also contributed by introduction of DAS (Digital Addressable Cable TV). With DAS Phase 2 coming into force in Week 14 of 2013, there has been rampant switching off of analog signals across 38 cities, which has impacted not just IPL ratings, but ratings of other channel as well. Also the ongoing spot fixing controversy has dented the image of the property.

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The Advertising and Sponsorships Business spending of IPL 6 2013:

Rs 1500+ Crores: Advertisers have bet more than Rs 1,500 crore on Indian Premier

League (IPL) Season 6 so far.

100+ Brands: More than 100 brands riding the IPL 6 through direct advertising or

sponsorships or innovative associations with teams. This includes big as well small and

even local brands such as Raindrops basmati rice, Noida International University, Amity

University, Live-In Jeans, Sheltrex, R N Sports, Gilpin Travel Management and Sanskar

School.

25%+ increase in advertising revenue for MSMPL: Last year, Multi Screen Media Pvt

Ltd (MSMPL) had managed to get only seven sponsors on board and clocked in over Rs

700 crore through advertising. This year, it has 11 sponsors (including Samsung,

Panasonic, Karbonn Mobiles, Tata Photon, Cadburys, Parle Foods, Usha Appliances

International, Havells and Godrej) and 90 per cent of its ad inventory is already sold and

it is hopeful of closing the season with revenues in the excess of Rs 900 crore. MSM

began by selling its inventory at around Rs 4-4.5 lakh, but a new advertiser wanting to

hop on to the network at this stage will have to shell out around Rs 5.5 lakh per 10

seconds. A similar prime-time TV spot on the most popular entertainment shows such as

Bigg Boss or KBC costs around Rs 1-2.5 lakh.

Branding on Jerseys: As for the teams, even newbies Sunrisers Hyderabad and Pune

Warriors have their jerseys swamped with brand logos. Pune Warriors, for instance, has

its own brand Sahara, Finolex, Killer Jeans, Sansui, Lux Cozi among others while

Sunrisers has got makemytrip, Kingfisher, Garnier, 7UP, Manyavar and Live-In Jeans on

board. This year, almost all franchisees have sold a minimum of 10 active spots on their

players’ attire. The active spots referred to by Karnik include lead chest, right upper

chest, lead arm, non-lead arm, back of the jersey, on cap, on the front and the back of the

helmet, lead trousers and non-lead trousers.

GroupM is the country’s largest media buying house and has facilitated deals worth Rs

75 crore between various brands and IPL stakeholders.

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Sponsorships the single-largest source of revenue: Sponsorships have emerged as the

single-largest source of revenue for IPL franchisees, following their share in the central

pool (includes media rights and the sponsorships that IPL management ties up with

brands). According to estimates gathered from franchisees, different teams have tied up

anywhere between Rs 25 crore and Rs 45 crore worth of sponsorship and partnership

deals. Almost all of the old teams have close to 20 tie-ups with different brands.

Value at which new deals have been struck has gone up by almost 100%: All of the

six central sponsorships owned by the IPL management were up for renewal this year.

While the number of sponsors came down to five, the value at which new deals have

been struck has gone up by almost 100 per cent. For instance, realty company DLF had

signed a five-year title sponsorship deal with IPL for Rs 40 crore a year whereas new

sponsor PepsiCo has picked up the tab for Rs 79.6 crore per year for the next five years.

The cola company is also the “pouring partner (essentially means the players will only

drink PepsiCo products on the ground)” of eight teams. The other sponsors roped in by

the IPL management include Vodafone, Yes Bank, McDonald’s and Star India. Each of

these is learnt to have bought the rights for around Rs 28-30 crore a year.

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Player Auctions and prices for IPL 6 2013:

A total of 37 players were auctioned in IPL 6 2013 and the total amount spent on them is around a whopping $11.89 million.

With 7 players purchased, Royal Challengers Bangalore team to purchase most players in

IPL 6 2013.

Sunrisers Hyderabad raked at 2nd spot with purchase of 6 players.

Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings purchased 5 players each.

Pune Warriors India purchased 4 players.

Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils purchased 3 players.

Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab purchased 2 players each.

While the most expensive player in IPL 6 Auction 2013 was Glenn Maxwell who went to Mumbai Indians for $1,000,000, the most expensive Indian player was Abhishek Nayar who was sold for $675,000. Here is the list of top most expensive players and their final auction prices for IPL 6 2013 are as follows:-

1. Glenn Maxwell- $1,000,000 for Mumbai Indian.

2. Ajantha Mendis- $725,000 for Pune Warrior.

3. Kane Richardson- $700,000 for Pune Warriors.

4. Thisara Perera- $675,000 for Sunrisers Hyderabad.

5. Abhishek Nayar- $675,000 for Pune Warrior.

6. Senanyake- $625,000 for Kolkata Knight Rider.

7. Chris Morris -$625,000 for Chennai Super King.

8. Dirk Nannes- $600,000 for Chennai Super Kings.

9. Jaydev Unadkat- $525,000 for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

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Business happening behind the scenes:

After receiving a fairly good response from advertisers for this year’s Indian Premier

League (IPL-6 ), Multi Screen Media (MSM), the official broadcaster of the IPL, has

hiked its advertising rates by 10%

MSM had earlier lowered rates by 10-15 % for IPL-6 and was charging Rs 4- 4.5 lakh for

a ten-second ad spot.

The reduced rates had made the property attractive for many advertisers as brands made a

comeback after having given the tournament a miss last year.

MSM, which has only 20% of ad inventory left currently, may further hike rates if the

tournament kicks off well.

MSM is looking to make Rs 950 crore in advertising revenue from IPL-6, up from Rs

750 crore it garnered last year.

The presenting sponsors PepsiCo and Vodafone have shelled out Rs 40-60 crore each

while the associate sponsors like Tata Photon, Karbonn tablets, Godrej, Samsung

Mobiles, Panasonic, Usha Appliances, Cadbury, Havells and Parle Foods have paid Rs

25-30 crore each for being seen on television during IPL-6.

MSM which will broadcast IPL on SET Max and Sony Six, has also struck large deals

with Coca-Cola, Parle Agro, Marico, Berger Paints and Airtel.

Godrej will launch a brand new campaign with its new brand ambassador Aamir Khan

during the 54-day Twenty20 tournament. Godrej will release as many as nine new ad

films around the masterbrand Godrej.

Soft drinks giant PepsiCo, which is doling out huge moolah around the IPL having paid

Rs 396 crore for title sponsorship, bagging pouring rights for eight of the teams and

signing on as a presenting sponsor on MSM, will back this up with strategic and high-

decibel marketing and activation plans.

Coca-Cola is planning a blitzkrieg of its own despite not being an official IPL sponsor.

The cola major will be seen on the telly with campaigns for brand Coke, Limca, Sprite,

Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh and Maaza along with its Thums Up brand ambassador

Salman Khan launching a new game on the actor’s Facebook page.

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IPL Online Viewership Facts: Statistics & Trends on Digital IPL viewership:

The 2012 IPL 5 matches were streamed online by IPL official partner, Times Internet

Limited (TIL) in partnership with YouTube.

IPL 5 2012 saw a 55 per cent increase in online viewership. In comparison with 72 million

video views in 2011, 113 million video views were generated during 2012 IPL 5 season

Video views from India showed a strong growth of over 87 per cent from the previous year

standing at 80 million in 2012 compared to 43 million in 2011.

The final 2012 IPL 5 match on May 27 generated 7.5 million video views, making it the

highest single-day viewership during the entire season.

How a Franchise makes money:

A franchise normally earns revenue from:

Ticket sales

Sponsorships

A cut from the broadcasting rights sold by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

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What did the 2012 IPL 5 Victory mean for KKR (Money wise):

Here are some real statistics about how the winner of IPL 5 benefits from the win and how it impacts the business and money it makes:

The IPL 5 Player costs: It is estimated KKR spent about Rs 100 crore, including Rs 50

crore for hiring players, this season. Four players – Gautam Gambhir, Jacques Kallis,

Sunil Narine and Yusuf Pathan – alone cost KKR Rs 30 crore.

The IPL 5 Winner’s Prize Money: When Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat two-time

defending champion Chennai Super Kings to win their first ever title in the Indian

Premier League (IPL) on Sunday night, the Knights not only shed their underachievers’

tag, but also pocketed Rs 10 crore in prize money, ensuring that the T20 cricket franchise

was able to make profit this season.

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Sponsorship Money:  KKR, have 18 sponsors, the highest among all teams. After the

win, KKR may also increase in sponsorship rates for next year. A lot of existing sponsors

have contracts which have a mandatory 10 per cent cost increase clause in-built within

the contracts, but they might ask more of new sponsors from next year. The cost of a non-

jersey partnership with KKR is Rs 60 lakh and a jersey sponsorship is upwards of Rs 1.5

crore. This year, KKR made roughly Rs 35 crore from sponsorships. KKR’s sponsors

include Nokia, Birla Sun Life, Dish TV, ITC Vivel, Rose Valley, Royal Stag, Concast

Steel, Bisk Farm Biscuits, Coca-Cola, Emta, Manyawar, Freecultr and The Telegraph.

Ticket Sales Money: KKR hosts teams at the 65,000-capacity Eden Gardens. This year,

revenue from ticket sales was bolstered by the Rs 35-lakh entertainment tax relaxation

that KKR got from the state government. Eight matches were played at Eden Gardens,

and KKR sold 40,000 tickets a game at denominations of Rs 300, Rs 700 and Rs 1,500.

Also, 10 corporate boxes costing Rs 10 lakh each were sold per game.

The Business Benefit for sponsors:

The instant brand recall that the jersey logo creates works out for Rose Valley Group

which paid Rs 5 crore for a place on the KKR jersey.

KKR brand value can be considered to have more brand value since North, West and

South have more than one team to support and the East has just KKR. This means as a

brand, KKR has a larger following than any other team.

For any team to gain in brand value, three metrics have to be in place – core product

quality or the quality of cricket played, marketing effectiveness, and governance. While

KKR have consistently been a brand to reckon with, given Shah Rukh Khan’s star power

and marketing prowess, the team has never been known for its performance, making the

playoffs for the first time in the past four seasons last year. Their win will change this,

ensuring that the KKR franchise’s value gets a major push. Also, the issues around

governance and controversies that surrounded KKR seem to have been sorted out.

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Analysis & Findings:

Indian Premier League – At a Glance:

Team Name City Owner’s Price Captain Head Coach

Chennai Super Kings

Chennai India Cements US$91

million

MS Dhoni Stephen Fleming

Delhi Daredevils

Delhi GMR Group US$84

million

Mahela Jayawardene

Gary Kirsten

Kings XI Punjab

Mohali Preity Zinta,Ness Wadia (Bombay

Dyeing),Mohit Burman (Dabur)Karan Paul (Apeejay

Surendera Group),The Oberoi Group

US$76

million

Adam Gilchrist Darren

Lehmann

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Shahrukh Khan (Red Chillies Entertainment)

Juhi Chawla, Jay Mehta (Mehta Group)

US$75.09 million

Gautam Gambhir

Trevor Bayliss

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Reliance GroupTeesta Retail

US$111.9 million

Rohit Sharma John Wright

Rajasthan Royals

Jaipur Lachlan Murdoch (Emerging Media)

Shilpa Shetty, Raj Kundra (UK Tradecorp Ltd)

US$67

million

Rahul Dravid Paddy Upton

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Bangalore UB Group US$111.6 million

Virat Kohli Ray Jennings

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Hyderabad Sun TV Network US$159

million

Shikhar Dhawan

Tom Moody

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DEFUNCT TEAMS

Team Name City Owner’s PriceKochi Tuskers Kerala

Kochi Kochi Cricket Private Ltd

US$333 million

Deccan Chargers Hyderabad Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited

US$107 million

Pune Warriors India Pune Sahara India Parivar US$370 million

Chennai

Super

Kings

Delhi D

aredev

ils

Kings XI P

unjab

Kolkata

Knight R

iders

Mumbai Indian

s

Rajasth

an Roya

ls

Royals

Challen

gers

Banga

lore

Sunris

ers Hyd

erabad

020406080

100120140160180

Price (USD)

Price (USD)

(Prices in Millions)

Here we can see that the prices (read – investments) of each team. The highest being Sunrisers

Hyderabad owned by Sun T.V. Network with U.S. $157 million, followed by Mumbai Indians

owned by Reliance Group with U.S. $111.9 million. Third up is U.B. Group’s Royal Challengers

Bangalore with U.S. $111.6 million.

With the other team’s total investment in the Indian Premier League, the total value of IPL

teams worth up to U.S $775.59 million.

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Brand Value of Indian Premier League

The study values the IPL brand at $3.03 billion (Rs 16,362 crore) this year, four per cent higher than last year’s $2.92 billion (Rs 15,768 crore).

CSK’s brand value has grown marginally to $45.42 million (Rs 245 crore) from $45.28 million (Rs 244.5 crore) last year. But the growth has been enough to push last year’s top ranked franchise, Mumbai Indians (value of $44.62 million, or Rs 241 crore), to the third spot (see chart).

KKR, in contrast, has jumped two notches to the second position, with a brand value of $44.98 (Rs 243 crore). The brand value of the Shah Rukh-Khan-owned franchise has grown 15.2 per cent since last year — the highest by a team.

Rank (2013) Rank (2012) Teams B.V @ ‘13 B.V @ ‘12 Change %

1. 2.Chennai

Super Kings45.42 45.28 0.05

2. 4.Kolkata Knight Riders

44.98 39.03 15.2

3. 1.Mumbai Indians

44.62 48.21 -7.4

4. 3.Royal

Challengers Bangalore

37.81 41.15 -8.1

5. 5.Delhi

Daredevils34.22 32.19 6.3

6. -Sunrisers

Hyderabad31.49 - -

7. 8.Kings XI Punjab

30.78 28.66 7.4

8. 7.Pune

Warriors29.45 28.88 2

9. 9.Rajasthan

Royals27.05 26.93 0.04

(B.V – Brand Value) (In $ millions)

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Chennai

Super

Kings

Kolkata

Knight R

iders

Mumbai Indian

s

Royal C

hallen

gers

Banga

lore

Delhi D

aredev

ils

Sunris

ers Hyd

erabad

Kings XI P

unjab

Pune Warr

iors

Rajasth

an Roya

ls0

10

20

30

40

50

60

B.V @ ‘13B.V @ ‘12

(B.V. – Brand Value) (In $ Millions)

(Line Chart showing the changes in B.V)

Third-ranked Mumbai Indians, interestingly, has seen a drop not only in its position on the league table but also in brand value. The team’s brand value has declined 7.4 per cent since last year — the second-biggest drop after Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), the value of which has eroded 8.1 per cent. RCB has slipped from third to fourth on the list, with a brand value of $37.81 (Rs 204.1 crore).

Delhi Daredevils (DD) has retained its fifth position, with a 6.3 per cent growth in brand value, the third-highest increase after KKR and Kings XI Punjab. DD’s brand value stands at $34.22 million (Rs 185 crore) this year.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, which took over Deccan Chargers this year, stands at sixth, with a brand value of $31.49 million (Rs 170 crore).

Kings XI Punjab and Pune Warriors have switched places this year; while the former is seventh with a brand value of $30.78 million (Rs 166 crore), the latter is eighth with $29.45 million (Rs 159 crore).

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Conclusion & Recommendations:

The fanfare associated with the India Premier League is subdued in a recent controversy involving bribery of players to mould their performance and help persons with vested interest to outshine their illegal business of betting and gambling. The institution of IPL is itself a lucrative opportunity for the players who are offered lots of moolah and heed to garner numerous allowances associated with game of cricket. It seems to be a lost opportunity for players now, who in spite of being so affluent are willing to transgress the ethics and integrity of their profession and sports.

The game of cricket is a much liked sports in India and people go crazy about it typically if the Match is between India and Pakistan. The zeal and patriotic instinct is so strong that sometimes Law and Order situation go out of control in certain hot spot of the locality. In such a frenetic outlook the corruption and moulded performance is a serious blow to the faith and entertainment for the people which as a result will only diminish the viewership of the game.

The revelation by Delhi police has raised brows among people about the leadership role in the BCCI which lacks ways and means to impede corruption among certain players and lobby of influential who bets millions in the sports. It's time to change now, the respect and money should divulge to others neglected sports like hockey. The players should learn to value sports and should not take it for granted to be their own autonomy. The law may be made more stringent to check such transgressions and punish the guilty with heavy fine and life ban to set an example. The process of complex nexus is still under scanner and is set to regurgitate more big names to bring shame to the instinct of sports.

The time is right to make the sports of cricket to regain its lost glory but that requires self-introspection of players and stake holders in combination with certain measures which can be as follows:

The players need to divulge their income and assets detail. The political class and corporate lobbyist stakes in sports should be

minimized. The players stay during league matches should be under scanner to

demotivate bribe take and giving incidents. The independent regulatory should set in. The BCCI should be composed of apolitical and independent persons. The IPL should be modelled on an egalitarian approach and inequity in each

player pay and allowances to be minimized.

However, in any case, IPL was and will be the most extravagant cricket league, with that money and grand affair IPL is sure maintain its strata and dazzle its audience year after year.

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Annexure – IA:

Supervisor’s Certificate

This is to certify that, Mr. Abhra Ghosh, a student of B.Com Honours in Accounting & Finance of HERAMBA CHANDRA COLLEGE under University Of Calcutta has worked under my supervision and guidance for his Project Work and prepared the project report with the title:

COMMERCIALIZATION OF SPORTS – INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (An Overview),

Which he is submitting, is his genuine and original work to the best of my knowledge.

Place: Kolkata Signature

Date: Name: Anwesha Samanta

Designation: Lecturer

Heramba Chandra College.

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Annexure – IB:

Students Declaration:

I hereby declare that the Project Work with the title COMMERCIALIZATION OF SPORTS – INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (AN OVERVIEW) submitted by me for the partial fulfillment of the degree of B.Com. Honours in Accounting & Finance under the University OF Calcutta is my original work and has not been submitted earlier to any other University/Institution for the fulfillment of the requirement for any course of study.

I also declare that no chapter of this manuscript in whole or in part has been incorporated in this report from any earlier work done by me or others. However, Extracts of any literature which has been used for this report has been duly acknowledged providing details of such literature in the references.

Place: Kolkata Signature

Date: Name: Abhra Ghosh

Address: Gopalpur, Asansol.

Reg. No: 043-1121-0515-10

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References/Bibliography:

The data for this project was taken from the following domains:

www.wikipedia.com www.google.co.in www.timesofindia.com www.iplt20.com www.bcci.tv www.slideshare.com www.hindusthantimes.com www.civilservicesindia.com

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