The Indian Premier League is spawning off a slew of affiliated products and services that are basking in the reflected glory of India’s biggest sporting spectacle ever, says siddharth nahata
A staggering sum of $724 million is what BCCI auctioned the eight IPL franchises for; $1.5 million is what star player MS Dhoni
fetched when he went under the hammer; Andrew Symonds went for $1.35 million, while the others went for similar hi-flying, though under-a-million sums; Sony Entertainment Television-World Sports Group combine pocketed the 10-year telecast rights for IPL at a mind-numbing Rs.40 billion. And that’s just for starters. The Indian Premier League (IPL) has kicked off a nuclear chain reaction of sorts, with not only the incumbent businessmen (read: franchise owners like Mukesh Ambani, Vijay Mallya, Shahrukh Khan, etc.) raring to make multi-million dollar profits, but even spawning off an entire list of ancillary industries that are betting on making more than just a quick buck off the ongoing IPL craze. Be it the advertising business, restaurants and eating joints, the sports goods & apparel industry, almost every related sector is grooving to the beats of India’s biggest sporting spectacle ever.
To begin with, the cricket goods industry is going through a cyclical upturn. The Jalandhar and Meerut based world-class sports goods companies, Sanspareils Greenlands (SG) & BDM sports goods, have seen a significant surge in their order books. A senior executive at SG told this magazine that, “Orders have gone up by over 20% thanks to IPL. Not only there’s an increase in demand from players’ camp, but local clubs are also giving more and more orders.” As per his dealer feedback, individual sales in stores have gone up by a significant percentage. “Sales of medium price range goods have received the maximum boost,” he adds.
A staggering sum of $724 million is what BCCI auctioned the eight IPL franchises for; $1.5 million is what star player MS Dhoni
fetched when he went under the hammer; Andrew Symonds went for $1.35 million, while the others went for similar hi-flying, though under-a-million sums; Sony Entertainment Television-World Sports Group combine pocketed the 10-year telecast rights for IPL at a mind-numbing Rs.40 billion. And that’s just for starters. The Indian Premier League (IPL) has kicked off a nuclear chain reaction of sorts, with not only the incumbent businessmen (read: franchise owners like Mukesh Ambani, Vijay Mallya, Shahrukh Khan, etc.) raring to make multi-million dollar profits, but even spawning off an entire list of ancillary industries that are betting on making more than just a quick buck off the ongoing IPL craze. Be it the advertising business, restaurants and eating joints, the sports goods & apparel industry, almost every related sector is grooving to the beats of India’s biggest sporting spectacle ever.To begin with, the cricket goods industry is going through a cyclical upturn. The Jalandhar and Meerut based world-class sports goods companies, Sanspareils Greenlands (SG) & BDM sports goods, have seen a significant surge in their order books. A senior executive at SG told this magazine that, “Orders have gone up by over 20% thanks to IPL. Not only there’s an increase in demand from players’ camp, but local clubs are also giving more and more orders.” As per his dealer feedback, individual sales in stores have gone up by a significant percentage. “Sales of medium price range goods have received the maximum boost,” he adds.
