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No takers for BCCI's incentives [Mail Today (India)](Mail Today (India) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Board tries to attract sponsors with many discounts, but in vain C ONSIDERABLY reduced reserve price in tenders, a spate of incentives for in- stadia advertising, many bestquality seats in the stadium, a provision to sell branding space to a third party, and exclusive and free use of BCCI archives etc. have all failed to attract sponsors to cricket. If that was not enough, BCCI has, ironically, been studying how its new- found friends in the English and Australia boards, as well as 'enemy' South Africa, have been selling their rights, so that it could improve upon its failing marketing strategy. But this entire exercise to attract sponsors seems to have gone waste, as is evident from the just- allotted title sponsor's rights to Micromax. The mobile manufacturing company will pay ` 2,00,20,000 per international that India will play at home in the 2014- 15 season. This amount is just ` 20,000/ match more than the ` 2crore/ match that ESPN- STAR Sports paid in the 2013- 14 season. On both occasions, the reserve price was a mere ` 2 crore. The reserve price was the same in 2010, too, but at the time 10 companies had bid, and Bharti Airtel won the title rights for three years by quoting ` 3.33 crore/ match. The BCCI further lost its aura last year, when only ESPN- STAR Sports bid, and there was more embarrassment this time as only Micromax turned up. Having turned their backs to the BCCI, the supposedly cricket- loyal sponsors have now embraced sports like kabaddi, hockey, badminton and football — a move that has surprised BCCI officials, with one of them terming it as an " alarming situation". " Sponsors clearly have more options now. Why will they spend a huge amount on a single cricket match when they know that with the same amount they can get more mileage by sponsoring sports like kabaddi or hockey and now football [ ISL]?" a BCCI marketing committee member told M AIL T ODAY . " Now, a kho- kho league is being launched in a big way, and that's not a good news for BCCI." So far, BCCI's attempt to throw a spate of incentives has failed to woo sponsors. The enticements include " 25 best- quality VIP seats in the main VIP stand in the main pavilion building" with five car passes for each match; 25 more seats in " good areas" and " adjacent to VIP stand", and an option to buy 100 additional tickets. The BCCI further bends backwards while giving virtually unlimited space to sponsor for advertising. The title sponsor gets 12 advertising boards of 3x20- foot in the stadium and it has the freedom to decide where to place them. It can display the company's logo at eight places in the outfield for international matches. Besides, the sponsor gets exclusive branding on the stumps and tickets/ souvenirs/ banners etc., and the right to distribute branded promotional merchandise in stadiums. The sponsor also gets five premium domestic tournaments absolutely free for advertisements. At the turn of the Nineties, the Bindra- Dalmiya combine showed the world how to sell the rights. Now, said the BCCI official, things have come to such a pass that the Board has been trying to pick a leaf out of other countries' marketing strategies. " For the last few years, IPL COO Sundar Raman, the main man directing the Board's marketing strategy, has been collating the data of the Australian, English and South African boards. He has made several suggestions on how to sell the rights, but nothing seems to be working," the official said. " On Thursday [ when the rights were awarded], Sundar looked disappointed." Australia, England and South Africa have separate tenders for Tests and ODIs/ T20s. But a wary BCCI clubs the three formats because Tests might get a cold shoulder from sponsors as viewership of five- day format is very poor, said the official. Non- cricket sports events have started to attract advertisers in a big way. STAR India, for instance, has committed to spend over ` 1,500 crore on hockey over the next eight years, starting this year. All in all, these are testing times for the BCCI, on and off the field. (c) 2014 India Today Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |