MUMBAI: Xtreme1 Racing League, the first-ever city-based professional motorsport competition in India, has entered into a long-term exclusive commercial rights agreement with the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI), Economic Times reports.
It bears noting that it was in June that the league co-founders and promoters, Armaan Ebrahim and Aditya Patel had declared support from FMSCI for the racing series, and that it would be run over four weekends, with a total of 12 races. There was also talk then of a year-long domestic season, in addition to the main league.
However, the agreement was officially signed, sealed and delivered on Sunday.
“The dynamism of FMSCI and its member clubs have enabled the growth of motorsports in India over several decades, and we are very proud today having signed this landmark agreement. We thank the FMSCI for their support of the league and backing our vision,” Patel told ET.
X1 Racing League has also hired global sports and entertainment agency Wasserman for managing and strategizing on the league structure, media rights acquisitions and advising on different ways of monetization.
“We had extensively scouted for the right partner to manage the commercial rights, both from India and overseas, and felt that Wasserman would be best suited to help us become a household name in motorsports. We are excited to start the league in 2019 and make India a global motorsports destination and create a platform for the future superstars in motorsports,” Ebrahim told ET.
The development follows their successful Rs 1 billion funding round back in June, from a consortium of the Rattha Group from Chennai, Mumbai based White Unicorn Ventures, AngelList India LLP from Delhi, Jitendra Gupta of PayU and serial entrepreneur, founder and former CEO of FreeCharge Kunal Shah.
Furthermore, institutional investors like the Rattha Group, White Unicorn and AngelList have taken a long position on the league, giving the founders freedom to invest in research and development that includes development of electric engines and hi-tech integrations, and assets like cars, engines, safety equipment and circuit infrastructure.
All the investors believe that the racing league is well-positioned with a made-for-TV and made-in-India product, that would be able to capture audiences across all age groups and gender. It is also a good mix of the traditional sports league along with the new-age technological inclusions, right from broadcasting the live content to the distribution of the content.
The X1 Racing League is expected to have a marketing budget of Rs 250-300 million to penetrate across all markets and capture a wide TG spectrum. Investors for the Racing League are backing the long-term vision of the league with a franchise-based model and unique race formats.
The championship, which is expected to kick off in the first quarter of 2019, will see eight teams competing in races at both track and street circuits in three cities.
As in the IPL, corporates will be invited to place bids for ownership of the eight franchises with the investment in teams reported to be around Rs 65-70 million, which would include custom-made cars, drivers and team operations.
Additionally, the league forecasts a break-even period of five-to-seven years for itself, while it expects the teams to break even within three years.
Each team in the league would reportedly have two four drivers per team, which would include one international male driver, one international female, one Indian international driver and one Indian domestic driver.
It was in 2011 that there was last talk of a motorsport league in India – i1 Super Series – wherein nine city-based teams in India were to participate in the racing competition that was to be held in India, UAE, Malaysia, Bahrain and Qatar. For the record, after multiple changes in launch dates, the event failed to get off the ground.
While motorsport has grown in India over the last few years, it is still far from being popular and far-reaching. The introduction of this televised league is expected to increase the reach of the sport and raise awareness about motorsport in India.
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