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Some Indian players hard at work
fotocorp
The Game is Afoot
Why Indian football should take heart from the launch of the Indian Super League. By Devesh Gupta
T
his is not cricket. This story is about
Indian football, which even the diehard
optimist can only describe as sad what
with its low popularity and hardly any
viewership for domestic games. It does not help
that India is ranked 145th in the world rankings (of
the 207 nations playing the game). It also does not
help that ineffective federations and a huge policy
paralysis hold up things. But there seems to be a
silver lining around all this gloom.
Action replay
ndia was seen as a force in Asia in the ‘50s and
‘60s and was among top 20 football playing
nations. The golden era of Indian football was in
between 1951-62 when it won several international
championships including the 1951 and 1962 Asian
Games and stood fourth at the 1956 Olympics.
Some of the popular football names of those
times were Talimaran Ao (Indian captain in its first
official game in 1948 Olympics), Sailendra Nath
Manna (captain and defender), PK Banerjee and
Subimal Chuni Goswami (strikers) and Neville
D’Souza (captain). The game has a history of
more than 100 years in India with the Durand
Cup being launched in 1888 and Mohun Bagan
Athletic Club formed in 1889. IFA Shield, another
popular tournament was established in 1893.
What went wrong with Indian football - post
the ‘60s till about the ‘90s - could fill a book.
Then came a resurgence of sorts with players
like Baichung Bhutia and Sunil Chhetri attaining
celeb status, when both signed professional
football contracts with England’s Bury Town and
Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon respectively.
Some minor achievements too came the
country’s way in the form of the Nehru Cup
I
Brands and football
I
t is not as if Indian football clubs have nobody to
back them. Some examples stand out. Kingfisher
sponsors East Bengal Club, while McDowell’s
sponsors Mohun Bagan Athletic Club. Aircel is the
title sponsor for the Shillong Lajong Club, Airtel is the
biggest sponsor of the I League. There are others
that are sponsored by companies such as ONGC and
Coca Cola.
Says Samar Singh Sheikhawat, senior vicepresident, marketing, United Breweries, ‘‘We invest
in players, their coaching, upgradation of training
facilities, gymnasiums, digital promotions (East
Bengal has the largest social media fan page in
India).’’ Anupam Vasudev, chief marketing officer,
Aircel, says, ‘‘We aim to encourage the current crop
of young talent and shape them into future football
stars. Shillong Lajong FC is Shillong’s pride and their
huge fan base helps Aircel engage with the youth and
build local connect in the region.’’
According to a GroupM report, on-ground
sponsorships in Indian football increased from Rs
85 million to Rs 142 million between 2008 and
2013. Brands like Bajaj Allianz and Vodafone do a
lot of activity around the sport to connect with the
consumer. The former organises a grassroots contact
programme, Allianz Junior Football Camp. In 2013
alone, it claims to have targeted 850 schools across
120 cities, reaching out to more than 43,000 kids. Some
of the kids - after being selected - train with Bayern
Munich in Germany. Says Rituraj Bhattacharjee, head,
market management, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance,
‘‘We wanted to connect to parents and children.’’
Some of the other independent football programs run
by brands are Aircel Campus tournament, Airtel Rising
Star, Street Children Football World Cup and the
Vodafone GFDC Rising Stars Football Festival 2013.
(2007, 2009 and 2012) and a qualification to the
AFC Asian Cup (2011). That, however, didn’t stop
many clubs like Mahindra United Football Club,
JCT Mills and Viva Kerala from shutting down
recently. No media coverage, dwindling audiences,
hardly any sponsors, lackadaisical support from the
federations and increasing costs pushed football
into a hole. But things are changing now.
The super league
n April this year, the game came into focus in a
big way with the announcement of the Indian
Super League (ISL). Promoted by Star India and
IMG Reliance under the aegis of the All India
Football Federation (AIFF), the inaugural season
will be played from September to November.
The league has eight franchisees: Goa, Delhi,
Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Kochi, Hyderabad and
Bengaluru. These are owned by Bollywood celebs,
business houses and sports celebrities such as the
former cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav
Ganguly, Bollywood actors Salman Khan, Ranbir
Kapoor, John Abraham and businessmen such as
Venugopal Dhoot (Videocon), Sameer Manchanda
(represtents the Den Network), Dattraj Salgaocar
(VM Salgaocar Group) and others.
Kushal Das, general secretary, AIFF, is of the
opinion that ISL will lift Indian football. “The
idea behind ISL is to get more eyeballs and
investments. Our current properties such as the
I Leagues, Santosh Trophy and others were not
achieving this purpose, so we thought of creating
a league attracting high net worth individuals,
corporates and Bollywood stars, who will bring
traction and investment to it.”
Sanjay Gupta, COO, Star India, points out
that this investment is of a different kind. “It is
I
not a thing of one year but of many years. The
important part is getting the right players and
paying the right amount of money because we
want that a 10- or 12-year-old kid should be
thinking about becoming a footballer,” tells Gupta.
The ISL will be played on a home-and-away
format - each team gets to play seven home and
the same number of away matches. The top four
in the points table will make it to the knock-out
stage. Each team will have a squad of 22 players.
This includes one marquee player (of international
repute having recently played in a World Cup),
seven international players and 14 Indian players.
Sixty one matches will be played. Some of the
international footballers’ names doing the rounds
are Robert Pires, former France and Arsenal midfielder; Fredrik Ljungberg, former Swedish player
and ex-Arsenal mid-fielder, France’s Thierry
Henry and New York Red Bulls striker, Hernan
Crespo, former Argentinian striker and Dwight
Yorke, the former Trinidad and Tobago forward.
ad revenues will be distributed among the eight
clubs, adding to the team sponsorship and gate
receipts for seven home matches along with the
playoff match (if a club qualifies for it). According
to Gupta of Star India the total investment for the
first season would be around Rs 400 crore including
the production, marketing, players, stadium, out
of stadiums, overseas players and other costs.
“We expect the first year ad-sponsorship revenue
collection to be between Rs 150-200 crore,” he
predicts. Ticket sales provide more.
PVP Ventures (it owns the Kochi franchisee
along with Tendulkar) is banking on the fact
that football is the most popular sport in the
world. Rajeev Kamineni, executive director, PVP
Ventures says, “Our revenue will come mainly
from endorsements and sponsorship and we have
made a significant financial commitment for the
next 10 years.”
“It is like a normal business,” declares Sameer
Manchanda, managing director and chairman,
global pull
will this change?
(What the Indian football fan watches)
(Most viewed sports in India)
5.6%
94.4%
International
Football
Domestic
Football
Total:
108 Million
TV Viewership (CS M 15+ ABC All India Jan-Dec 2013)
Source: TAM Reports
IMG Worldwide, Reliance Industries and Star
India are equal partners in the league. While Star
India incurs the production costs, the other two
will bear the marketing costs. The franchisees
were decided after a bidding process conducted by
Ernst and Young.
Cost-benefit analysis
ccording to an ISL spokesperson the base
price for each city-based team was set at Rs
12 crore at the time of ‘Invitation To Bid (ITB)’
announcement. A total of 30 bid documents
were sold. “We are happy to have received a
commitment of Rs 120 crore per year from the
eight League Partners,” says an ISL spokesperson.
Vinit Karnik, national director - entertainment,
sports and live events, GroupM, explains that ISL
has an IPL-like model, but with two differences.
“IPL sold the media rights to MSM, while here
Star India is the equity partner and the broadcaster
for ISL. Secondly, the expectations from the ISL
franchisees are to develop the eco-system around
the grassroots level, unlike IPL,” adds Karnik.
ISL has created a central pool which will get
money from the licence fee of the franchisees and
advertising and sponsorships (on-ground/on-air).
The revenue stream for IMG Reliance and Star
India would be from club participation fee (licence
fee), 20 per cent of central sponsorship and ad
revenues and gate receipts for the finals.
Eighty per cent of the central sponsorship and
A
Sport
TV Viewership*
Cricket
227.5
Wrestling**
139
Football
108
Hockey
29
Tennis
26
Racing
12
Badminton
6
Golf
5
*In million (CS M 15+ ABC All India Jan-Dec 2013); **mostly WWE
choosing the bidders. June, 2014 will see the rollout of an ambitious six months school outreach
programme introducing and imparting basic
football to one million children. Together with
eight franchisees, an investment of Rs 16 crore per
year has been allocated for this. Going forward,
each franchisee has been mandated to have age
group training programmes starting with the
under-8s and by the fifth year to set up academies.
At this point of time, there aren’t too many
details available about the league - there is no
official website, no official Facebook Page or a
Twitter handle. The franchisees have not yet
shared their marketing strategies but claim that
many advertisers are interested. According to
Gupta of Star India, the marketing budget for the
ISL would be to the tune of Rs 100 crore and the
campaign is being handled by Ogilvy and Mather.
ISL and advertising
upta says that the audience for the ISL will be
the young and aspirational class of SEC ABC
in the age group of 15-30 in 1 million+ towns
such as Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai,
besides traditional football playing pockets. He
further adds that the game is growing at a rate
of 80-100 per cent year on year in terms of ad
revenues. PVP Ventures’ Kamineni is aiming for
a 360-degree campaign that will “give our team
maximum visibility.”
Four years ago, International Management
Group (IMG), a global company that has its
business in sports, fashion and media, signed a
deal (in association with Reliance) with the AIFF
purchasing the marketing rights for football in
India for a period of 15 years under which it will
also be responsible to develop the sport in the
country. The alliance owns the commercial rights
to the game including media rights, sponsorship
and advertising rights, licensing and merchandising
G
Playing ball in India
A
ll said and done, football is the second most popular
game in India after cricket. But when it comes
to TV viewership, football trails cricket and world
wrestling entertainment (see table). And within the
football-watching audience, a huge slice watches only
international football matches.
The popular international football sporting events
that Indians love to watch are FIFA World Cup,
English Premier League, Barclays Premier League,
UEFA Champions League and the Spanish League.
Sony Six owns the broadcast rights to FIFA 2014
and 2018 and the forthcoming under-17 World Cup
(that India will host in 2017), the CONMEBOL matches
from 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying rounds, qualifiers
for UEFA Euro 2016 and UEFA Euro 2016, FIFA
Confederation Cup Russia 2017 and 2018 FIFA World
Cup Russia. Says Prasana Krishnan, EVP and business
head, Sony Six, ‘‘We have positioned ourselves as the
home of international football.’’
The Indian football-watching audience is
unquestionably the youth, primarily between 14 and 27
DEN Networks (the Delhi franchisee). “It gives
us a great brand extension in the local region,” he
adds. DEN Network will also be launching the
100 Mbps broadband network in Delhi and will be
using the ISL as a medium to promote it.
ISL has made it mandatory for all the franchisees
to promote football at the grassroots level before
years. ‘‘But today an 8- or 10-year-old is also watching
football,’’ says Karnik of GroupM. In cricket it is, the
entire family watching. But the former is picking up
in the metros. Bars and pubs host special offers for
big matches. According to Krishnan, there are fringe
viewers too. ‘‘Many people come for big events only.
We have to push aggressively, nurture and market to
them to make them dedicated fans,’’ he concludes.
‘‘The success of any sport,’’ points out Joydeep
Basu of The Telegraph, ‘‘depends on the success and
result of the efforts of your national team.’’ In India,
a lot of hopes were pinned on the I League that was
started in 2007 bringing several top clubs of the country
to play each other. But it has not been able to spark
the fire.
Many people hope that under-17 Football World
Cup in 2017 will be a good opportunity for advertisers
as it will have global eyeballs. It will help in also
strengthening the infrastructure for the game, youth
development, and help in knowledge transfer from
FIFA.
rights and franchisee rights. It is also paying the
AIFF a sum of over Rs 30 crore every year as a part
of the deal to let the AIFF body bear the expenses
for its other properties such as the I League.
Football, unlike one day or T-20 cricket, does
not enjoy the liberty of huge free commercial time
(FCT) because of its unique nature. Football’s
on-air advertising opportunity lies in the beginning,
before the first half, the end of the first half, before
the second half, the end of the second half and at
the end of the match. According to experts there
will be only 900-1,000 sec fcts during every game.
Gupta feels that a tally of 8-10 advertisers is ideal
unlike cricket where there are many more. This
will ensure the intensity of ad connect with the
audience.
Onground activation will play a major role in
getting the necessary traction for the city teams
and build their brand name. The sponsors and
advertisers can further take the brand promotions
to malls, retail chains, schools, colleges and other
catchment areas. In-stadium activation with
billboards, seating advertising, ground advertising,
scoreboard advertising, along with merchandising
and the online push should round it off nicely.
The opportunities
he April announcement of the ISL became a
talking point in the digital space. According to
Meltwater, a global online intelligence platform,
ISL made headlines in 112 news pieces in March,
2014, while the count went past 380 in April.
There have been over 1,200 online news items
on it with Business Standard, Times of India,
the New Indian Express, IBN Live and Goal.
com leading the charts. Globally, there were 66
similar news pieces in the US, 15 in Canada,
17 in the UK and 8 in the UAE. On the day of
the ISL announcement there were over 2,500
conversations around the subject on social media
with more males talking about it.
In another interesting search, Meltwater says
that Tendulkar was more searched than Ganguly
when it came to the ISL especially on the day of
the announcement. Speaking about this buzz,
Zubair Timol, area director, India Middle East and
Africa, Meltwater Inc, says, “ISL is a tremendous
platform for creating fan-driven excitement and
content. Giving fans access to the buildup of the
tournament and insights into the locker room, is a
T
Club Culture
Name Owner
BengaluruSun Group
DelhiDen Network
Goa
Videocon, Dattaraj Salgaocar &
Dempo Group
Guwahati
John Abraham & Shillong
Lajong Football Club
KochiSachin Tendulkar & PVP
Ventures
KolkataSourav Ganguly, Ambuja Neotia
Group, Atletico Madrid, RPG
Enterprises & Utsav Parekh
MumbaiRanbir Kapoor & Bimal Parekh
Pune Salman Khan & Kapil and
Dheeraj Wadhawan of the
Wadhawan Group.
wonderful chance for the ISL to create a supporter
driven environment from inception. Furthermore,
the strong commercial aspect to ISL will give
advertisers an opportunity to harness their TV and
online coverage.”
Many are of the opinion that ISL has the right
mix of people that includes Bollywood celebrities,
investors and sportspersons, who can generate
traction for the game. Secondly, they believe that
it has now got the required funds that were never
put behind the game. Thirdly, they believe that
the eco-system is conducive as Star India and IMG
Reliance coming together will give it the perfect
push on television and other platforms with an apt
marketing strategy.
Some are hoping that the ISL will create
heroes, lift the standard of the game, generate
eyeballs, bring in commerce and promote football
at the grassroots level as a mandatory norm for
the franchisees. Joydeep Basu of The Telegraph,
doesn’t want to express a firm opinion. “The
only thing we know about ISL at this point is that
some people have bought the franchisees, but
what they will do with it is a mystery.” But won’t
the big money coming in play a big factor in the
development of football? “Why then,” he asks,
“do small African countries like Ghana, Senegal,
Nigeria and others do so well internationally?”
Good point.
Das from AIFF believes a lot can happen.
“There has been no structural development in
the last few years, no good grounds or effective
infrastructure. These are things that we are trying
to address.” The ISL is not expected to work a
miracle overnight. Fans like Karnik of GroupM
are of the opinion that it should be given a time
It is almost certain that the
franchiseees will not be
making money immediately.
It is an investment game
just now.
of at least 3-4 seasons before forming an opinion.
The bright side is that the ISL will, hopefully, push
the younger lot to play the game.
It is almost certain that the franchisees will not
be making the money immediately. It is more of an
investment game. Basu of The Telegraph cautions
that the business of sports is very serious. “Making
money is one thing and developing the sport is
another thing. It should not be mixed. And I do
not agree to fact that the big advertisers are here to
change the face of the game,” he points out.
In any case, the ball has been set rolling. It
remains to be seen if it finds the goal or rolls away
uselessly. n
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