Dubai: If most of the IPL franchises have fallen back so heavily on the Bollywood quotient for their brand ambassadors, it's not going to be much different with the two new teams either.
Sahara India, who acquired the Pune team by topping the bid, says that their hunt is on for the right choice while the Kochi team is reported to have zeroed in on Malayali actress Asin.
Confirming that they would be choosing a brand ambassador from the film fraternity only, a top Sahara official said nothing has been finalised. "It's very difficult to say anything at this stage. Our association with Bollywood is very long and certainly we will be having a brand ambassador for the team," Abhijit Sarkar, Head of Corporate Communications of the Sahara Group, told Gulf News.
Sponsors for the Indian cricket teams for a decade now, the Group is known to be particularly close to the family of Amitabh Bachchan, and their head honcho Subrata Roy has also expressed his desire to have the iconic actor in the team's board of directors. There is, however, no indication on who will be playing the role of a Preity Zinta or Shilpa Shetty (co-owners of King's XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals, respectively) at the venues when the team takes the field next season.
Asked whether it made business sense to pitch for an astronomical figure of $370 million (Dh1.3 billion) to acquire the franchise, Sarkar said the company is looking at it as a long-term investment. "I believe there will be operational profits for sure in the balance sheet, but gradually I am sure we will break even. However, I am looking at this as a long-term investment," said Sarkar, whose company is also looking to float IPOs in two years.
Speculation
Meanwhile, speculation is on that with the Group deciding to jump onto the IPL bandwagon, whether they would retain the same level of interest for sponsoring the national teams.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had decided to extend the contract with Sahara last December when they found no takers with increased rates after floating the tender. "As of now, we are the sponsors of Indian team and we haven't discussed any thing," Sarkar was careful this time.
Both the new franchises will be bidding for their players when the mega auction takes place in September with more than 400 cricketers coming under the hammer.
The composition of the existing teams can change radically as the current three-year contracts will be ending after IPL-3, and hence both the Sahara Group and the Rendezvous Sports World (owners of the Kochi team) can go for names of their choice.
