CII Conference on Business of Sports

LIVE Comments from Session 1: Building a profitable sports enterprise

Speakers and Panelists

Ayaz Memon ( Editor and Commentator) is the Session Chair

Raghu Iyer (CEO, Rajasthan Royals)- yes, multiple leagues can be successful in all sports, identifying key stakeholders(franchises, players, sponsors and broadcasters) will help long term sustainability, there should be maximum amount of due diligence done by the league for all the teams and franchises, unfortunate some of the measures were lacking, Rajasthan royals has always been a team of ethics and all possible diligence has been done. The IPL model is a robust one- broadcast deal guaranteed revenue for each franchise from the central revenue, the real killing comes in the valuation of the league and franchise.

Amrit Mathur (Former COO, GR Sports & Adviser, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India)- general buzz about sports in the country, ecosystem is pro-sports in the country from all aspects ie the government, corporates as well as the family support. All IPL Teams have failed on the merchandizing aspect. Increasing awareness about women sports and leading role models

Vivek B Singh (Joint Managing Director, Procam International)- investment variables include passion and connect of th masses with the sport, marathon as a run for all categories- more than 100 events, need of federations of investing back the funds and revenues back into sports by ensuring complete transparency.

Mustafa Ghouse (COO, JSW Bangalore FC)- Factors for choosing bangalore for football- history of football, corporate prospective, aiming to be self sustaining and satisfy various stakeholders.

Adrian Wright (Marketing Director, West Bromwich Albion Football Club, UK)- well established Indian UK community, capture and engage with the soccer mad audience, bring in participation at all levels

Vidur Naik (Executive Vice President, 21st Century Media Pvt Ltd)- 1500 crores being pumped into the Indian hockey, faced challenges of lack of television ratings and fan engagement. 72 Olympians playing in 6 teams at HIL. We have been bringing in new technologies in the HIL to engage the audiences .