Wednesday, 25 April 2012


Serious breach of IPL accreditation process, unauthorised card withdrawn

By Qaiser Mohammad Ali in New Delhi

A serious breach of the strict Indian Premier League (IPL) accreditation process has occurred for matches at the Ferozeshah Kotla.
In the eye of the storm are a few senior DDCA officials and an International Management Group (IMG) official who allegedly overlooked the established practice to make an authorised accreditation card for the son of a former Delhi chief minister for all eight matches of Delhi Daredevils.
Now, Delhi and District Cricket Association, wary of a backlash from the IPL/BCCI, is trying to find out how many more such unauthorised accreditation cards had been made.
The issue has become big also because the DDCA has failed to deliver the usual accreditation cards to sports minister Ajay Maken and some key officials of his ministry. Their cards were allegedly stopped or delayed by Suresh Chopra, chairman of the DDCA’s IPL organising committee, as the accreditation forms were incomplete.
DDCA treasurer Narinder Batra, however, insisted that he himself filled the forms on behalf of Maken and the other officials and that they were complete in all respects.
When contacted DDCA secretary general SP Bansal said there was no delay in getting the cards ready, even as he emphasised that he had not been involved at all in the accreditation process. “The cards were made well before the first IPL match [on April 10], but they couldn’t be delivered for some reason,” he said.
Chopra, also a DDCA vice-president, said that he received incomplete forms. “I got eight or nine forms for accreditation for the sports minister and some officials. They were blank; they had no photos, no email IDs etc. I asked Mr Bansal and he sent the relevant information about them by email and we got the cards ready the next day, on April 5,” Chopra told Mail Today.
“No accreditation card is made without the ID proof. Can you imagine the additional director and joint director level home ministry officials themselves filled up their forms? If they can, why can’t others. David Clarke [accreditation in-charge from IMG] is a tough nut. He says his computer system doesn’t accept incomplete forms,” he said.
On the issue of the unauthorised accreditation card of Siddharth, son of former Delhi CM Sahib Singh Verna, Chopra said: “Ask Chetan Chauhan about this.” Chauhan, also a vice-president, said: “My only job is to forward the forms. I only forwarded Siddharth’s form. Accepting it or rejecting was their job.” Siddharth was given a duty card as a member of the DDCA reception committee, despite GMR Sports, owner of Delhi Daredevils team, managing all the affairs this year. It was discovered that his form also didn’t have one of the three mandatory signatures of DDCA officials.
Clarifying the issue, Bansal said that Siddharth’s accreditation card has been withdrawn.
Batra, however, contradicted Chopra. “I filled the accreditation forms of Maken, the sports secretary, the director general of the Sports Authority of India and others, wrote their designations and signed them. Do you have to verify their credentials?” he wondered.
“So far their mobile numbers are concerned, these people never disclose them. And what is the requirement of their e-mail IDs? If they were to make accreditation for the prime minister, or Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi, will they insist on getting their mobile numbers too?”
When contacted, Clarke declined to comment. “I’ve no comments to make. I appreciate you called, but from the IPL perspective, it’s a confidential matter,” he said.
Batra has been supervising the conduct of IPL matches on DDCA’s behalf in previous years, but not in this tournament. Now he has been sent an SOS to streamline things. “I will be joining after the April 21 match as I’m preoccupied with other things,” he said.

Tuesday, 24 April 2012

INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE DEALS THAT WENT SOUR

By Qaiser Mohammad Ali in New Delhi


IN 2010, Viacom18, which signed as the IPL entertainment partner for Rs 35 crore, alleged that the BCCI breached the agreement. Viacom paid Rs 21 crore for 2010 only, and the two parties went into arbitration

BCCI was to receive Rs 1.5 cr from merchandise distribution partner Yog Sports Pvt Ltd. for the 2010 IPL. The company didn’t pay, forcing the Board to encash its bank guarantee of Rs 50 lakh. Board admits “uncertainty” involves with the Rs 1 crore left unpaid from the sour deal

BCCI entered into a contract with Bandelier (South Africa) in 2010 for providing license to use as trademarks and designs in high end products such as Swiss watches. BCCI was to receive Rs1.6 cr or 10 per cent of the gross sales of the licensed products in 2010, but got nothing

Board paid Rs5 crore to Visual Impact towards security facilities for the 2010 IPL as per an agreement. Following discussions, Board now says it’s “confident” that it would be able to recover Rs3.5 crore after another deal got messy

According to BCCI’s 2010-11 balance sheet, it received claims, estimated to be worth Rs 3.57 crore, from various vendors, franchises and some other parties (in 2009-10, the corresponding figure was about Rs 155.25 crore)
SPONSORS WANT TO LEAVE IPL, AT LEAST ONE MOVES A COURT
EXCLUSIVE
By Qaiser Mohammad Ali in New Delhi
Downturn blues are impacting the normally recession proof Indian Premier League. Season five is staring at a sponsor pull out. A mirror image of the economic environment and, more importantly, the trough that Indian cricket finds itself in.
All this has left the IPL owner, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), in a state of flux. The Board is fighting seemingly unending battles with a host of sponsors, some of whom either want to walk out of their deals or have successfully forced the BCCI to reduce their sponsorship money drastically.
Having saved its skin in the huge battle of attrition with the national team sponsor Sahara India, the BCCI is now grappling with sponsors of the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) to make them stay put.
The unresponsive economic climate has contributed to the hard times for the BCCI, the world’s richest cricket board worth Rs 2,530 crore, is facing.
Karbonn Mobiles, the official mobile phone partner of the IPL, has managed to get its sponsorship fee reduced while the deal with Maxx Moblink, the IPL strategic partner and playoffs partner, has gone sour and has now entered litigation after the BCCI declined the company’s request for termination of the deal.
“Recently, Karbonn requested the BCCI to reduce its sponsorship fee to Rs 28 crore from Rs 30.10 crore for 2011 as they were having some problems. They also asked for the sponsorship fee to be reduced for the 2012 edition too,” a top official BCCI.
“Karbonn, however, agreed to spend the differential amount of Rs10.17 crore in marketing and promotions for the 2012 IPL. The IPL governing council has okayed both requests,” he disclosed.
However, the issue with Maxx Moblink failed to be resolved amicably. “They said that since they are facing a financial crunch, they wanted to terminate the deal as they would not be able to dish out Rs 23.8 crore for 2012 IPL. But the IPL governing council shot down the request and now the issue has gone into litigation,” the official said.
IPL chief operation officer Sundar Raman confirmed told Mail Today: “Maxx Moblink said that they were not doing well and wanted to pull out of the sponsorship deal. How can they walk out of their contractual obligation? So, the matter is now in litigation.”
Market experts say it could be a case clash of interests for Karbonn Mobile and Maxx Moblink, who both make mobile handsets.
“There’s confusion with some of the IPL sponsors. Everyone wants uniqueness for money they put in. But they are not getting that. Some players are endorsing one product in their personal capacity and another for their IPL teams,” Latika Khaneja, director of Collage Sports Management, told Mail Today.
“There’s not much value in the IPL now. In the first year in 2008, it was IPL’s uniqueness, in the second, it was a big hit because the first edition was successful, and from the third edition onwards it has been business as usual. To borrow a market terminology, cricket sentiments are down, overall. Sponsorship is always event-related and sponsors decide on their targets six months in advance.”
Vikram Sakhuja, CEO of GroupM, a media buying agency, concurred with Khaneja. “It’s not as bad as last year, but there’s less money now because people are circumspect. Overall, it’s a little down,” Sakhuja told Mail Today.
The CEO of an IPL franchise too admitted that markets were not responding well to the IPL. He summed up thus: “There’s uncertainty; markets are down; there’s too much cricket; and the Indian team is also not performing well. All this has contributed to sponsors being less enthusiastic.”
Kings XI Punjab COO Arvinder Singh said that the Indian team’s continued poor performance has affected the sponsorship scene. “Overall, the national team’s results have had an effect on sponsorships. The Indian team is the core of any sponsor,” he said.

(THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN MAIL TODAY)
Ticket revenue from Delhi-Pune IPL match at Kotla could have broken all records
By Qaiser Mohammad Ali in New Delhi
The GMR-owned Delhi Daredevils are firing on all cylinders – on and off the field. Not only the Virender Sehwag-led team has begun well in the Indian Premier League (IPL), but the revenue from the gates is also amongst the all-time best.
Saturday’s Daredevils-Pune Warriors India match at the Ferozeshah Kotla reportedly either broke the all-time IPL revenue records or came close to doing it with a collection of close to Rs 5 crore from the paying spectators.
“We sold close to 90 per cent of the tickets of the total capacity of the stadium, which is 42,931. This figure of 90 includes both the sold and complimentary tickets,” Phaneendra P, general manager (marketing) of team owners GMR Sports, told Mail Today.
“The crowd may not be the biggest of the IPL history, but in terms of revenue, it was one of the best, but I can’t disclose how much revenue we made,” he said.
However, sources said that the revenue from the gates was probably the best since IPL was launched in 2008.
“A total of 32,182 spectators purchased the tickets to watch the match as recorded by the turnstiles, according the report that was sent to GMR Sports and the DDCA. The total income from the tickets sale for the game was about Rs 4.70 crore,” said a source. “Even if this revenue did not break the overall IPL record, it’s definitely the best income at a Kotla game.”
Now, Friday’s match against the Mumbai Indians, which includes Sachin Tendulkar, is expected to do still better at the gates.
“Delhi fans have lapped up the game, as all the tickets have already been sold out. The crowd response is likely to break even Saturday’s record,” said the source. “Although it’ll be house full on Saturday, tickets would always be available in the black market. Tickets of Rs100 denomination sold for up to Rs1,500 for the Pune match, and it’s likely to be in a greater demand on Friday.”
On Saturday, fans showed unprecedented enthusiasm. Their excitement to get inside the ground quickly and grab a seat proved too hot for the turnstiles and those at the Gate No. 17 and 18 failed to bear the sudden load and broke down. The turnstile at Gate 1, from which the teams’ buses and ambulances enter and exit, also partially malfunctioned.
“Of course, the DDCA is not to be blamed at all for the turnstiles breaking down. There was such a big and sudden rush at the various gates that the machines just couldn’t bear the load,” said the source. “They will be repaired before Friday’s match.”
There are two reasons for the excellent crowd response for Daredevils’ next match: the team, after finishing ninth and last year, has begun exceedingly well in this tournament, and then Tendulkar would be part of the visiting team.
(This story first appeared in Mail Today, New Delhi)