MUMBAI: The day after the richest, but certainly not the best run, cricket board in the world took the decision to sign up gaming marketplace Mobile Premier League’s (MPL) recently (September?) created sister athleisure brand MPL Sports Apparel and Accessories as its new kit sponsor, questions of propriety have been doing the rounds.
For the record MPL and its zero business sibling MPL Sports Apparel and Accessories are both owned and operated by Bengaluru-based Galactus Funware Technology Pvt Ltd.
The deal BCCI has signed with MPL Sports Apparel and Accessories, which is effective immediately and runs till December 2023, will reportedly see the board earn Rs 6.5 million per game over the three-year period. Additionally, the minimum guarantee being offered by MPL Sports on merchandise sales is Rs 30 million per year and royalty of 10 per cent of net sales over and above that.
Arguing for the BCCI, the first supposed positive. The deal will see an Indian player (albeit an as yet no name or reputation one) taking on the mantle from previous kit sponsors Nike. The international brand was part of the BCCI family as kit sponsors since 2006.
A top management source/s at MPL told ANI that the time is just right for the company’s recently formed athleisure apparels and accessories subsidiary “to take the leap and join hands with Indian cricket”.
Said source/s told the news agency: “I think it actually is a great time to make a disruptive e leap. MPL Sports’ roots come from digital gaming which has a user base of 80 million, and if you go by trends seen among companies like Riot Games, it’s a natural line extension to leverage this large base and e-commerce capabilities with sports merchandising.
“In the current environment, it is a huge thing. Homegrown brands need solid platforms to launch themselves and to succeed and this is definitely big for MPL Sports as it elevates them to the next level of brand partnerships.”
Riot Games? Seriously? Let’s examine that rather hollow argument for a parallel.
Riot Games is the publisher and developer of the monstrously successful multiplayer online battle arena League of Legends. Not only does it have a thriving merchandising business, in September 2019 it struck a landmark deal with Louis Vuitton wherein the venerated French fashion house provided characters from the esports world of League of Legends with luxury items mirroring the real-life brand.
Before its association with League of Legends, Louis Vuitton had already dabbled in the world of esports, previously creating similair trunks for the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup and sailing’s America’s Cup.
So while MPL Sports may try and draw parallels, the fact of the matter is that at present it has nothing to show and in effect all it has to offer is a “forward looking statement”; and a rather dubious one at that.
Where it is on slightly (emphasis ours) more solid ground is on the talk doing the rounds of ambush marketing with BCCI already having Indian fantasy sports platform Dream11 on board as an official partner.
As said MPL source/s told ANI: “Firstly I think this is a non-issue. I am really not sure who the grieving party is whose rights have been violated. The association is for MPL Sports which is athleisure sportswear and gear line extension of its parent gaming marketplace brand Mobile Premier League. They are two distinct entities.
“Also, people seem to be conflating the concept of gaming and fantasy sports. MPL is not a fantasy gaming app, it’s a hyper-casual gaming market place which has fantasy cricket (emphasis ours) as a gaming option. And as far as MPL Sports goes, it being an apparel and accessories outfit, does not compete with any brand in the fantasy sports category. And even if one wants to consider MPL, it is a gaming market place and hence not a competitor. There is a difference between Amazon which is a marketplace for brands and a single brand outlet.”
MPL’s justifications aside, Times of India accessed the kit rights tender document and it is worth a read. As per TOI, Clause 2.3.2 of the kit rights tender document says: Category of Bidders (a) Each bidder and in the case of a bid by a consortium, both members of a consortium must be: (i) a reputed athleisure company or clothing manufacturer; (ii) a company whose business is e-commerce and who has a recognised in-house label; and/or (iii) a company whose business is fashion retail business.
MPL Sports clearly fails the test on ALL three counts.
To conclude, with all due respect to MPL Sports’s stated plans, SportzPower reiterates that till tangible proof of concept is shown, forward looking statements are just that. Nothing more, nothing less.
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