NEW DELHI: Is cricket becoming too expensive? The recent BCCI tender offer for the sponsorship of the upcoming tri-series in Singapore and Malaysia has put the minimum bid for title sponsorship and ground rights of the series involving India, Australia and West Indies at a whopping figure of $1.5m per one-day match (approx Rs 6.8-crore per match) for the seven match series.
This works out to Rs 47.3-crore for the series. In comparison the entire India-Sri Lanka-South Africa seven-match series, which starts on Monday, August 14, was sold at just $1.6-m to Unitech, or merely Rs 45-lakh more than just one match of the Singapore-Malaysia series!
Marketers and media buyers reckon that the highest ever figure of Rs 50 crore for seven matches will find few takers. Moreover, the fact that the deal does not include television time and that the winning bidder will have to contend with the additional costs of branding makes the deal too expensive to swallow.
“The opening bids have never been so high before, it will be interesting to see who goes for this,” says Sundar Raman, MD North, East and South Asia, Mindshare, part of WPP’s media buying arm Group M.
When contacted by ET, BCCI’s marketing head Lalit Modi said: “I have a few sealed (tender) envelopes, which will be opened on Monday. I have heard that Percept is one of the bidders. We will know on Monday if the minimum bid is too high, and if needed we will revise the tender.”
Industry sources said that, out of eleven interested marketers who picked up the tender documents, just about one or two submitted their bids, (which closed Friday, August 11), with the rest giving it a pass due to supposedly exorbitant price.
Till April ’06, BCCI was tied to a four-year rights window with TVS, Videocon and Pepsi for all cricket sponsorship rights in India wherein TVS and Videocon alternatively sponsored the test matches, while for ODI’s the sponsorship was rotated between Pepsi, TVS and Videocon.
Now, BCCI has taken over the mantle of marketing cricket in neutral venues as well; the first of which was the DLF Cup in Abu Dhabi that sold for $2.2m for two matches between India and Pakistan.
Brand managers insist that sponsoring a sport has to be a sustained effort carried out over a period of time much like the English Premier League-Barclays Bank tie-up, otherwise public memory is too short for any brand association with the sport.
Source : ET
This works out to Rs 47.3-crore for the series. In comparison the entire India-Sri Lanka-South Africa seven-match series, which starts on Monday, August 14, was sold at just $1.6-m to Unitech, or merely Rs 45-lakh more than just one match of the Singapore-Malaysia series!
Marketers and media buyers reckon that the highest ever figure of Rs 50 crore for seven matches will find few takers. Moreover, the fact that the deal does not include television time and that the winning bidder will have to contend with the additional costs of branding makes the deal too expensive to swallow.
“The opening bids have never been so high before, it will be interesting to see who goes for this,” says Sundar Raman, MD North, East and South Asia, Mindshare, part of WPP’s media buying arm Group M.
When contacted by ET, BCCI’s marketing head Lalit Modi said: “I have a few sealed (tender) envelopes, which will be opened on Monday. I have heard that Percept is one of the bidders. We will know on Monday if the minimum bid is too high, and if needed we will revise the tender.”
Industry sources said that, out of eleven interested marketers who picked up the tender documents, just about one or two submitted their bids, (which closed Friday, August 11), with the rest giving it a pass due to supposedly exorbitant price.
Till April ’06, BCCI was tied to a four-year rights window with TVS, Videocon and Pepsi for all cricket sponsorship rights in India wherein TVS and Videocon alternatively sponsored the test matches, while for ODI’s the sponsorship was rotated between Pepsi, TVS and Videocon.
Now, BCCI has taken over the mantle of marketing cricket in neutral venues as well; the first of which was the DLF Cup in Abu Dhabi that sold for $2.2m for two matches between India and Pakistan.
Brand managers insist that sponsoring a sport has to be a sustained effort carried out over a period of time much like the English Premier League-Barclays Bank tie-up, otherwise public memory is too short for any brand association with the sport.
Source : ET