Beautiful Game, Poor Cousin Of Bat’n Ball

Two of the most-watched live events in Indian sports have contrasting life stories, reflecting how the games are governed by their respective national associations. The Indian Super League (ISL) and the Indian Premier League (IPL) grab the largest eyeballs, but seen as a product, one pales into insignificance beside the other. One of India’s wealthiest corporate houses, Reliance, has a stake in both ISL and IPL. The Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), a Reliance subsidiary, fully controls the ISL, a tournament officially owned by the All India Football Federation. Five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians are also owned by the Ambanis.

ISL has a market value of $57.59 million (Rs 420 crore) acc­ording to Football information website Transfermarkt. IPL is valued at a jaw-dropping $6.8 billion (Rs 47,500 crore) according to a 2019 Duff & Phelps report. IPL’s top-ranked team, Mumbai Indians’ (MI) brand value is Rs 809 crore, while ISL’s top-valued franchise Kerala Blasters FC is worth Rs 48.5 crore. These numbers indicate the gulf between India’s top sports league and its most valuable football property.

ISL’s weakness, and that of Indian football, lies in its inability to market the game and establish a sustainable commercial model. In contrast, the BCCI and its units have marketed and sold rights from Test series to local state level leagues.  

The commercial high point of Indian football was the selling of the master rights to FSDL for 15 years in 2010 for Rs 700 crore. At Rs 46 crore a year, this is tantamount to a distress sale—a gross undervaluation of its commercial potential. IPL’s total revenue in 2020 was Rs 4,000 crore—six times the value of the AIFF’s 15-year deal and more than 14 times the ISL’s revenue. IPL sold its media rights to Star Sports for Rs 16,347.5 crore for five years (2018-22), whereas ISL’s value on media rights is missing. The title sponsorship for IPL is sold at approximately Rs 440 crore/season whereas for ISL it is about Rs 55 crore.

Similarly, media rights and sponsorship values between the national teams for cricket and football are incomparable. Football in India is largely dependent on government grants. Indian cricketers earn between Rs 1 crore to Rs 7.5 crore in a season from BCCI alone as match fee apart from bonuses, whereas top national footballers don’t even earn Rs 10 lakh annually from fees.

If key stakeholders in football are unable to sustain ope­rations because of poor revenue, it is difficult for them to stay invested. Parth Jindal, the young owner of Bengaluru FC claimed his club is losing Rs 25-35 crore annually. Though this non-viability has been plaguing the ISL, most franchises have strangely kept mum. The annual cost of running an ISL club is between Rs 30-50 crore. The league is now in its seventh season but the revenue size is still bet­ween Rs 15-22 crore—each franchisee losing between Rs 15-35 crore annually, which is an unsustainable model.

On the other hand, each IPL team rec­eives Rs 200-250 crore as part of central revenue distribution. An IPL team’s operational cost ranges from Rs 200-250 crore—10 times that of an ISL team—for a 12-week window, compared to the months-long ISL.

More stark comparisons can be culled. In the recent IPL auction in Chennai, Rajasthan Royals spent a record Rs 16.25 crore on South African all-rounder Chris Morris—nearly equal to an ISL team’s salary budget! This no doubt limits the ISL’s talent attraction capability.

Not just ISL, even for I-League or any other clubs, losses in football are in the range of 30 per cent to100 per cent. Not one property in Indian football makes profit, except perhaps FSDL as a group. A country with one of the world’s fastest growing economies struggles to put its football economy in place. AIFF has a budget of Rs 100 crore, which is abysmal for a nation that dreams of playing the FIFA World Cup. While football’s local following may be limited to certain pockets of India, around 100-150 million Indian fans follow world football. Many countries with even a fraction of these numbers generate more commercial revenue. The truth is, Indian football is hamstrung by poor governance and lack of vision by admi­nis­trators. Blaming cricket’s dominance is just an excuse.

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Shahrukh Khan (Rs 5.25 Cr)

What’s in a name? Well, probably, a lot, in the case of Shahrukh Khan. The Punjab Kings paid Rs 5.25 crore for this uncapped player at the IPL player auction. Shahrukh, 25, is a big-hitting middle-order batsman and played scintillating knocks to help Tamil Nadu win the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Since making his List A debut in 2014, he emerged as a batter known for his ability to take pacers apart. Justifying the bid, Shahrukh scored an unbeaten 55 off 36 balls against Punjab in a Vijay Hazare Trophy match. The scouts were right.

Mohammad Azharuddeen (Rs 20 lakh)

Mohammad Azharuddeen’s world changed after hitting a 37-ball century (137 not out off 54 balls, with nine fours and 11 sixes) during a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against domestic heavyweights Mumbai in January 2021. At the 2021 auction, RCB was the only franc­hise to bid for him. His task now would be to break into the RCB XI. He’s up against fellow uncapped wicketkeeper K.S. Bharat, legend A.B. de Villiers and Aussie talent Josh Philippe. The 26-year-old from Kasa­ragod dreams of playing the World Cup. His preparations start at the IPL.

Chetan Sakariya (Rs 1.2 Cr)

Chetan Sakariya, the 22-year-old left-arm pacer was picked by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 1.2 crore. Growing up in Vartej, a village in Gujarat, Sakariya saw his tempo driver father struggling to make ends meet. But Sakariya worked hard on his game, became a Saurashtra regular after making List A debut in 2018. He blossomed after spending a couple of years at MRF Pace Foundation and trained under Glenn McGrath. Recently, he took 12 wickets in five matches at an economy rate of 4.90 per over in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

K.S. Bharat (Rs 20 lakh)

K.S. Bharat, the super-talented wicketkeeper-batsman was first spotted, literally, as a ball boy during the India-Pakistan ODI match in Visakhapatnam in 2005. A decade later, he became the first wicket-keeper batsman to score a triple hundred in Ranji for Andhra. Bharat was first picked by Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals) in 2015 but didn’t get to play. Now, Bharat will be in the RCB camp with three other wicketkeepers. If his wait gets longer, the 27-year-old will blame it on the pecking order.

Krishnappa Gowtham (Rs 9.25 Cr)

IPL teams made a beeline for Krishnappa Gowtham, an experienced domestic cricketer. Result: a record deal for the 32-year-old who had failed to impress during his stints with MI, Rajasthan Royals and the KXIP. Chennai Super Kings fended off KKR and Sunrisers Hyderabad after a bidding war for the off-spinner who can also bat. For CSK, it was about finding a replacement for Harbhajan Singh and Kedar Jadhav. Gowtham, who made his first-class debut for Karnataka in 2012, can fulfil the role of a utility player CSK were looking for.

Lloyd Mathias is an angel investor and business strategist. Views are personal