Indian Premier League franchise Gujarat Titans has reportedly already locked in nine sponsors for IPL 2024 and is “not too far away from breaking even”.
“Sponsorship revenue will be higher for the next season (2024). From the first season to the last season, (sponsorship) revenues were 37 percent higher. There are 10 properties from your helmet down to your trousers and we have only one left,” Colonel Arvinder Singh, chief operating officer (COO), Gujarat Titans, told Moneycontrol.
Singh said that lot of the existing sponsors are returning. “We have retained sponsors for seven out of the 10 slots. This was completed in the first week of October. All these are at enhanced prices. We have signed up new partners as well,” he said.
Per Moneycontrol, brands like Bisleri, Ather Energy, BKT Tires, among others were associated with the franchise in 2023 edition of IPL.
Break-even in sight
The team joined the IPL bandwagon in 2022 when the league added two new teams. Private equity firm CVC Capital had acquired the team for Rs 5,625 crore.
Singh had earlier said that team’s revenue in 2023 was 38 percent higher than 2022 with the franchise ranking third versus the other nine franchises in terms of revenue.
“For any franchise, revenue streams include share of central revenue and BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) distributes 50 percent of it to franchises and 45 percent is equitable and 5 percent is as per your league standards. We were in top of the league both years so we got maximum revenue. Now, couple that with sponsorship and ticketing revenue. In terms of expenditure, there is franchise fees of Rs 562 crore then there is player and operation cost. We are not too far away from breaking even,” Singh told the business news platform.
The team got to play its first home and away format this year in one of the biggest stadiums, the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. As per Singh, While for most teams, ticketing revenue contributes 20 percent to overall revenues, for Gujarat Titans the share was around 40 per cent.
“In 2023, we played in our home city of Ahmedabad and our gate revenues were 20 percent higher than expected. There are a lot of learnings and using that we will begin our off season activities next month onwards which will be directed towards our target group. We will get active around the Navratri festival,” Singh told Moneycontrol.
