KOLKATA: East Bengal might well suffer the same fate as its Kolkata rivals Mohun Bagan if ongoing negotiations with its lead sponsor – beer brand Kingfisher – make no headway.
According to the Hindustan Times, officials of the hallowed (critics might say hollowed is now more apt) Kolkata club are still negotiating approvals of approximately Rs100 million due to them from the beer major owned by Bengaluru headquartered United Spirits Limited (USL). HT reports that the practice over the last five years has been that the sponsor budget for the season is approved in April-May and money starts being transferred from July.
It is worth noting that in 1998 USL took a stake in East Bengal and since then the club has operated as a joint-venture company with Kingfisher as its principle sponsor.
Club officials now fear that if agreement is not reached soon, it might go the way of rivals Mohun Bagan, which has been operating without a lead sponsor for the last three years after liquor major McDowell’s pulled the plug.
It is no coincidence that both McDowell’s and Kingfisher have the same parent in USL, which is today a subsidiary of Diageo, the world’s largest producer of spirits and a key producer of beer.
An official at the club told the daily that the sponsors have said they would drastically reduce the amount for 2017-18 stating they aren’t getting enough value for money. This was conveyed to the club around July.
The official also claimed that a pitch was made to East Bengal’s sponsors by the Indian Super League (ISL).
“Our sponsors with whom we have a relationship of nearly 20 years were told that ISL would provide better visibility and following those discussions, they came to us saying the budget for this season would be reduced by more than half,” said the official.
A spokesperson for ISL though denied to HT that any approach was made to USL.
“We had a meeting today (Tuesday) with the sponsors and will need time to sort things out. Discussions are on but nothing’s been finalised yet,” Debabrata Sarkar, de-facto secretary of East Bengal, told HT.
