MUMBAI: Football Sports Development Ltd, the joint venture between Reliance and Star India that owns and operates the Hero Indian Super League, has a bonanza lined up for each of the ten franchises that make up the ISL from the central revenue pool this season.
And in a first for the country’s most high profile football league, a significant percentage of those revenues will come from media rights.
But even as far as sponsorships are concerned, there is a big upside expected, industry sources tell SportzPower. Star India, which is handling advertising sales for the ISL, had managed to attract an all-time high 11 sponsors as of Saturday, ahead of the opening match of the 2018-19 season between ATK and Kerala Blasters in Kolkata from 7.30 PM IST.
Barring German sports apparel Puma, all the brands that had associated with the ISL last year have continued this year as well, the most prominent of course being title partner Hero MotoCorp. Also returning are associate sponsors Maruti Suzuki and DHL. On the official partner list, the brands that have continued from last year include Amul, Dream11, Bisleri, Zeven and Imperial Blue.
New to the table at the time this report was filed are SF Sonic Batteries and Britannia. Additionally, an ISL spokesperson as well as industry sources confirmed to SportzPower that there were two to three more partner deals that were in the final stages of being closed.
As far as what the upside will be, last year, total central revenue sponsorship revenues came to Rs 1.3 billion, SportzPower understands. Agency sources have told this website that anywhere between Rs 1.25 billion and Rs 1.3 billion is what is expected this year, when the final tally is made.
But the REALLY BIG deal this year is that for the first time, a media rights component has been added to the central revenue calculation. While the number that was thrown at SportzPower on Friday was of Rs 1 billion, on Saturday, three independent sources put that number at a massively higher figure of Rs 2.2 billion. If we take the higher figure of Rs 1.3 billion as central sponsorship money and Rs 2.2 billion from media rights, we are talking Rs3.5 billion as total central revenues. As 80% of this is passed on between the ten franchises, each team stands to pull in Rs 280 million this year IF the Rs 2.2 billion media rights figure is right on the money.
For perspective it bears recounting that last season, each team was disbursed Rs 90 million as central revenue share. Ergo what the teams are looking at this season would be over three times what they pulled in last year.
Whichever way you slice and dice it though, there is no arguing that the teams will pull in significantly higher monies from central revenues this season than was the case last year.
The tournament will further be boosted this season courtesy Star India’s marketing campaign #FanBannaPadega which has shown the country’s passion for football courtesy teams in the tournaments such as ATK, Chennaiyin FC and Bengaluru FC amongst others featuring in specially curated TVCs.
Season 5 will be telecast in six languages – English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada. More than 30 commentators across languages will enthrall fans throughout the tournament with commentary focusing on every detail of the game. The English language and regional line-up features some of the best commentators including John Helm and Mark Tompkins who commented in this year’s FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Shaiju Damodaran who has been a part of the Malayalam commentary panel for Hero Indian Super League since 2014 will get back to ISL duty after a successful commentary stint with the FIFA World Cup 2018. He will be joined by the legendary Indian football player from Kerala – IM Vijayan and Jo Paul Ancheri in the commentary box on Asianet. Shaheb Chatterjee will team up with country’s one of the most respected sports expert, Boria Majumdar as presenters for the Bangla telecast of HISL on Jalsha Movies. Debjit, Soumitro and Rajat Ghosh Dastidar will wear the commentator’s hat for the telecast of the tournament in Bengali. Besides AsiaNet and Jalsha Movies, Colors Kannada will also be making its ISL broadcasting debut in Kannada where Bengaluru FC’s fans can tune in for all the live action.
Alongside live telecast of the games, fans can also enjoy behind the scene stories with teams, their dressing room discussions, masterclasses, skills challenges and candid interviews throughout the tournament. Star Sports’ proprietary show on football – Football United Live will showcase some of the best football experts on TV bringing the best ever pre-match and post-match analysis. As a tribute to the most dedicated fans of Indian football, Star will showcase stories with football fan clubs, fan travel diaries, super fan profiles throughout the duration of the tournament.
