Interest in Dempo: Can Shah Rukh Khan save the football business in India?

June 10, 2012

Sharukh_Football_Craze

Actually, our association with football has long played out like a match that promised much but displayed only flashes of brilliance.

A brilliant moment would be the inaugural Premier League Soccer in Kolkata last year, but soon after a setback, much like an ugly tackle that breaks the rhythm of play, would arrive in the form of a free fall in rankings. Khan's entry might restore parity to Indian football, say experts.

The reason is that the business of football in India is in a shambles. In the past two years, two clubs - JCT FC and Mahindra United - were disbanded after they became commercially unviable. Incumbents are not faring any better - participants in the I-League, the top-tier Indian club format, are not making money.

Shrinivas Dempo, chairman of the Dempo Group of Companies, says no club in India is even close to a break-even.

Liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya's UB Group is said to be having second thoughts about sponsoring two Kolkata clubs, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel, which once harboured ambitions to develop football in India, is today promoting the game in Africa.

Football


*UB is principal sponsor of Mohun Bagan and East bengal, not a promoter All these teams participate in the I-League, the top-tier club format in India

Poor Business

Owners are still keeping their clubs afloat, but with minimal returns and rising costs, (see Costs of Running an I-League Team) they might as well be investing in a government welfare scheme where the money doesn't reach the needy, according to Prashant Singh, director, Octagon, a sports and entertainment marketing company.


Football__ratio

Former India captain Baichung Bhutia had earlier said more clubs will meet the fate of Mahindra United and JCT unless the All India Football Federation, the game's governing body in India, finds ways to make them better commercial entities. He said the absence of a fanbase was the undoing of those clubs.

On both counts, Bhutia was spot on. India is watching football alright, but it is the foreign kind. Tam research says only 7.8 million watched I-League on TV compared with the 25.8 million who followed the English Premier League in the last season.

The difference is because Indian football is football in slow motion, according to Singh, partly because matches are played on grounds with blades of grass that are 6-8 inches high.

In some I-League matches last season, the turnout at stadia was as low as 50, again a commentary on the quality of the game in India. The low attendance is a big blow to clubs, given that gate revenues form a lion's share of their paltry revenues.

Most clubs are hardly run as commercial enterprises. Unlike in the West, no club in India owns a stadium. Few are ready to host matches. Clearly, the culture of football clubs as they exist overseas is missing in India. Clubs around the world feed their national teams with players. It is the opposite in India.

One reason why JCT and Mahindra United folded was their reluctance to accept sponsorship, according to a person familiar with the matter. Representatives of the groups were unavailable for comment.


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Agencies
January 11,2020

London, Jan 11: Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the World Cup 2011 win has been nominated in Laureas's list for the most inspiring sporting event in the last twenty years.

The moment featuring Tendulkar has been described as "Carried on the shoulders by a nation".

On his sixth attempt at the World Cup and with India not having won the competition since 1983, Tendulkar finally became a part of the team that lifted the coveted trophy. Carried on the shoulders of the Indian team, he made a lap of honour, shedding tears of joy after the victory was sealed in his home city.

The 2011 World Cup was also the first time, in which a host nation ended up winning the trophy.

Apart from Tendulkar, England's Andrew Flintoff is the only other cricketer to feature in the list. In 2005, England managed to defeat Australia in an Ashes Test, but Flintoff chose to first shake hands with Brett Lee rather than celebrate with his side.

Matthias Steiner (weightlifting), Natalie du Toit (swimming), Sky Brown (skateboarding), Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee (triathlon), Xia Boyu (mountaineering) have been nominated in the list.

Female tennis stars also feature in the list for coming up with an equal play, equal pay campaign. After pressure from Venus Williams and others, Wimbledon announced that female tennis players would receive prize money equal to the men's.

German international footballer Miroslav Klose was playing for Lazio in Italy's Serie A in 2012 against Napoli when he rose for a ball in the early moments of the game.

The ball came spiraling off his hand and skirted into the back of the net and a goal was awarded. While most players would carry on as if nothing had happened, Klose was honest with the referee and admitted that he handled the ball.

As a result, he also finds a place on the list.

The Laureus Sporting Moment Award celebrates the moments where the sport has unified people in the most extraordinary way.

This campaign has shortlisted 20 sporting stories from the last 20 years that have left their mark on the world.

The winner will be decided on the basis of public voting. It has already started, and the final date to cast the vote is February 16.

Finally, the result will be declared on February 17.
With three knock-out rounds, the top-20 moments will be whittled down to ten then five, with the top-five moments going head-to-head.

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Agencies
January 6,2020

Washington D.C., Jan 6: 'The Irishman,' and 'Two Popes' were shut out from the winners list despite getting multiple nominations, the movies didn't win a single award at the Golden Globes Award held on Sunday (local time). Other movies in the list include 'Bombshell,' 'Dolemite Is My Name,' 'Harriet,' 'Jojo Rabbit,' 'Knives Out' and 'Little Women.'

According to The Hollywood Reporter, 'The Irishman' may have gone into the 2020 Golden Globes with the second-highest number of film nominations, tied with 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' with five nods, but Martin Scorsese's highly anticipated mob epic for Netflix was completely shut out at the award ceremony.

Netflix landed the most film nominations of any company with 17 mentions, but it won only one award which is the best-supporting actress for 'Marriage Story's' Laura Dern. Netflix's nominated films 'Dolemite Is My Name' and 'The Two Popes' was tied with 'Joker' with four mentions each and failed to grab any awards.

'Dolemite Is My Name' star Eddie Murphy was expected by a number of pundits to win for best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy.

'Bombshell', 'Harriet',' Frozen 2', 'Jojo Rabbit', 'Knives Out', 'The Lion King', 'Little Women' and 'Pain and Glory' are among the other films that received multiple nominations but didn't win a single award.

On the TV side, Netflix's 'Unbelievable' tied in the race to most small-screen nominations with 'Chernobyl' and 'The Crown' with four nominations, and 'The Crown' won only one award, for star Olivia Colman.

The three-time nominees 'Barry', 'Big Little Lies', 'The Kominsky Method' and 'The Morning Show' also didn't grab any award. 'Catch-22', 'Killing Eve', 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' and 'The Politician' who were two-time nominees that were also iced out.

'Hustlers' star Jennifer Lopez failed to take home the best-supporting actress award as she was predicted to win the award by a number of pundits. Billy porter also failed to make history with the best drama actor win for his role on 'Pose,' if he would've won the award, he reportedly would have been the first openly gay African-American to win that award.

'Chernobyl' won two of its four nominations. Despite that, star Jared Harris didn't win the best actor in a limited series Globe which was predicted by many prognosticators. The award was bagged by Russell Crowe for his portrayal of Roger Ailes in 'The Loudest Voice.' But the star was absent from the ceremony.

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News Network
March 4,2020

Mar 4: The BCCI has decided to implement strict cost cutting measures with the notable decision being IPL 2020 champions' prize money will be halved as compared to 2019. In a circular sent to all IPL franchises, the BCCI has notified that instead of a whopping Rs 20 crore, the IPL champion team will now receive Rs 10 crore only. "The financial rewards have been reworked as a part of the cost cutting measures. The champions will get Rs 10 crore instead of Rs 20 crore. The runners-up will get Rs 6.25 crore from earlier Rs 12.5 crore," a BCCI notification, in possession of news agency, read.

The two losing qualifiers will now get Rs 4.375 crore each.

"The franchises are all in good health. They also have multiple ways like sponsorships to bolster their income. Hence the decision on prize money taken," a senior BCCI source said.

However, a state association hosting IPL games will get Rs 1 crore each with franchises and BCCI contributing Rs 50 lakh each.

It has also been learnt that mid-level BCCI employees won't be allowed to avail business class flights like earlier times for flying to the Asian countries (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, UAE) where the flying time is less than eight hours.

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